I'm still on vacation and need to play a little catch up of our events. Virginia and Nevada City were okay. I was a little disappointed as they didn't have the festives going that they advertised on the internet. We walked through the towns and saw all of the artifacts. Even went to Boot Hill. But, they didn't have the old fashioned 4th of July activities going. No watermellon eating contest, no stilt walking, nothing. The kids did have a great time because the candy store was at the edge of town. The very last place we went. $30 later all 9 of us had our own special bag of treats. We then went to Ennis, Montana. Ennis sits right on the Madision river. There is a wonderful park there where we had our picnic. We walked through town and went to all of the Fly Fishing shops. Drooling. They did have a LYS but of course it was closed for the 4th. I looked in the window and the only think that I could see was the fact that it was no bigger than a master closet. When we returned home everyone took a nap. Obviously our mini day adventures were catching up with us. That evening we lit off fireworks. A couple of days earlier hubby went to Helena and purchased them. All $150 worth. Holly cow, huh? I can't say a lot about it as that is one of the highlights of the trips for the boys and really the only time we spend any amount of money while here.

Birght and early on the morning of the 5th we woke up at 5am and was out the door by 530 to go fish the hatch on Holter Dam about an hour away. I didn't catch anything. Neighbor son caught two, one before anyone else had really started casting. As soon as we stopped he jumped out of the car and ran to the river and started fishing. I didn't manage to lose a $4 kastmaster spinner. Oops. It's one of the casualties of fishing. After fishing we spent some time in Helena looking for a gold pan for Huba. He was going to make us all rich by midnight that night. After about four different stores we got a telephone call from my mother. They had gold pans at the local mom and pop hardware store in Boulder (where we are staying)

Yesterday my mother and I headed out for Billings bright and early. My grandmother lives in a small town 40 miles east. We took the long way and went through Billings to go to Wild Pearls. I guess I am really spoiled with my LYS because once again I was disappointed. I mean how many yarns stores can a knitter go in and walk out empty handed. They had a nice selection but it was all yarn I could get in Kennewick. But if you are ver in Billings it is on the 1300 block of Broadway. Go there. They are really friendly. We traveled about 230 miles one way to have lunch with my grandmother. My grandmother never knitted. She crochet. The remarkable thing is that she has been legally blind since a young child. She made angels, doilies, and all sorts of items with crochet thread. It is so amazing that she did that with her eyes being so poor. Of course I brought all of my WIP's to show off. Her hearing is almost completely gone. She took each article out of the basket and touched it, admired it, praised it, etc. And when she had went through all 7 projects she promptly informed me that I had way too many projects going and I had better focus on getting these done before I started anymore. And then I should only have 1 0r 2 going at a time. I looked at her and replied, "yes grandma."

That brings us to today. Our last full day in Montana. I really don't know what the plan is. Everyone is still asleep. But, I'm sure whatever we do today.... we wouldn't be able to do any other place than Montana.