Daryl, Cindi & Ashley's Trip to Montana
to visit April & Derrick
May 2003

    On May 16 we set out for a trip to Montana (Big Sky Country) to see April & Derrick with a stop in Longmont Colorado for a wedding of Carol & Bill's daughter, Jill to Phil Woodford. We arrived the night before the wedding and Carol & Bill put us up in the local Marriott Courtyard for two nights, very nice!  We spend the day (Saturday) at a antique mall and did some other shopping. The wedding was beautiful, the minister did a wonderful job, and it was followed by a  reception at the Fox Hill Country Club. We had brunch and watch the gift opening at Carol & Bill's on Sunday morning before heading up the road toward Montana on I25.
    We rented a Mini-van so we could travel without worry of a breakdown as both of our vehicles are getting a lot of mile on them. We find that this a good way to travel, cheaper than a car payment and gives us a chance to try out a new vehicle. The Chevrolet Venture was nice and now we want one  ;-) but I'm afraid it is out of our price range ;-(   oh well.
    We kept our driving time down to about 6 hrs per day to keep from getting to burned out. We stopped regularly for snacks, lunch, restroom breaks and stretches. We saw many deer and antelope along the way and a few cattle. Sunday night we stayed at a Days Inn in Sheridan, Wyoming. We got up early the next morning and headed on up the road toward Great Falls on I90. We took a scenic highway somewhere near Billings (Highway 12) that lead us through Lewis & Clark National Forrest following the Platte and Yellowstone rivers and into Great Falls, Montana.
    April & Derrick were in a small apartment waiting for base housing which they were moving into on the day we left them. I'm sure April will be posting photo of their new house on Webshots very soon. While in Great Falls, we stayed at the Crystal Inn. It was a very nice hotel with free internet access in the lobby so we could check our email and our eBay ads.
    Derrick had to work part of the time while we were there but he found time to take us on a tour of  Malmstrom Air Force Base and the Missile Command Center where he is a member of the Operations Group 10th Missile Squadron, very impressive - I can't say anymore about it or I will have to kill you, ha. We are very proud of Derrick and his accomplishments.
    We also visited all of the local attractions; the Paris Gibson Museum of Art,  Ulm Pishkin Buffalo Jump National Park, the C. M. Russell Museum and saw "The Cowboy Artist's" and other western works,  the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail Interpretive Center, and Giant Springs State Park and Fish Hatchery. We also sampled several of the local eating establishments. Here is a photo of April, Cindi & Ashley overlooking Great Falls (Cindi thought it was really windy), and here is one of Daryl, Cindi & Ashley. And here is a photo of Ashley sitting at one of the Hydro-electric generating Water Falls.
    We left April & Derrick on Friday (5-20) as they were moving into their home on base. On the way home we stopped again in Sheridan, Wyoming but this time we stayed at the Comfort Inn. We ate at the Golden Steer and enjoyed a pretty darn good Prime Rib and some live local music. A little further down the road we saw and interesting site for those who like old cars, this lot was full of 55, 56, & 57 Chevys, there must have been 30 or 40 of them, it was near Wheatland, Wyoming if anyone is interested.
    We were getting weary of driving along about Douglas, Wyoming so we decided to take in a local site. Natural Bridge State Park was just 4 miles off the road and we were sure glad we took the detour to see it. Now I know that almost every state has a Natural Bridge and I have taken detours that were pretty disappointing. But I was not disappointed in this one; if you ever get out that way make sure you stop to see it.  Here are some photos we took. We spent Saturday night in Longmont with Carol & Bill; they are so gracious to put us up again, this time in their home. Carol served us a great breakfast and sent us on our way about 10:00am Sunday morning.
    I have already been suckered in by the World's Largest Ball of Twine in Cawker City, Kansas and the Worlds Largest Prairie Dog near Oakley, Kansas so we didn't stop for them this time.
    We arrived home on Sunday evening 5-22-2003. It was a Great trip and we were glad to get to see April and Carol & Bill.  Ashley has become a very good traveler and mostly entertained herself by reading or coloring, I think I heard her dolls talking to her a couple of times, too. We drove a total of 3200 miles listened to every CD we own and it was an enjoyable time. We sure hated to take that van back; Oh Well, Back to Reality!

Most of our reservations were made online via Lodging.com.
   

Daryl & Cindi Davis's Family Homepage