Final Montana Post - Contest Deadlines -

Thursday was an extremely big day for us. It started really early and ended really late. First thing in the morning we loaded up into two cars. 4 adults & 5 kids and headed to Gem Mountain in Philipsburg, MT. We were headed off to strike it rich......with SAPPHIRES! For a grand total of $84 we received seven one gallon buckets of dirt that was guaranteed to have sapphires. We did find sapphires, some which are big enough to cut..... But we didn't make it rich. On the way home we stopped in Butte and toured the Montana School of Mines Museum.

Then..... A wonderful thing happened. Something that I look forward to every time we go home. My mother and I went to Pork Chop Johns and picked up 10 of their very awesome deep fat fried breaded pork chop sandwiches. And just as I did when I was a little girl I had a strawberry milkshake while we waiting. Minus 3 kids and still having the car seat I buckled those puppies in for the ride home. 2 sandwiches (I normally just eat 1 1/2) I had the Thanksgiving day full tummy and was in heaven.

Later that evening (I did say that it was a big day) we went to a friend's cabin (about a 25 mile round trip) DH and the boys headed out on the 4 wheeler's, my brother, mother, and I in the truck. Now the way my brother went in the truck...... I would of only taken the 4 wheeler. But after a bunch of gasps and silent prayers we made it. About an hour after we got to the cabin a typical Montana Summer storm with hail and heavy rain came rolling in. The cabin had a huge covered porch so we all hung out there watching it. At one point I thought the DH had left the fireworks in the back of the truck, so I ran out in all of the hail. Can you say OUCH!?!?! Only to find out that he had put them in the cab of the truck when we arrived. Silly me. The storm lasted about 30 minutes and by then it was getting close to dark.

Friday we celebrated the 4th of July by going to the Gates of the Mountains.

Its north of Helena. The boat ride is a couple of hours long. Although this was about my 100th trip there Huba and DH has only been one other time. Due to it being the 4th of July the river was pretty packed full of boaters and jet skiers. This meant that all the wildlife was hiding.
Saturday was a rather casual day. We started packing things up in the morning. DH and I did some lawn work for my mother. Have earn our keep! In the afternoon we went to Wolf Creek and floated the Missouri River for a about 2 hours. The river was moving right along so it didn't take very long to cover our couple mile trip. The fishing (like the rest of the trip) was no good. Huba did jump off the raft and played in the water for a little bit. Afterwards we went to dinner in Helena at the Mother Loade Casino. While there Huba discovered Keno. While waiting for dinner we filled out a couple of cards and lost all of our money. Huba was getting into it. At one point he was praying, yes actually praying to win at gambling. The service was great and the food out of this world. Best steak sandwich I've ever had. Huba kept his keno cards as a souvenir.

Sunday.....we went home.

Okay so this is the final post of Montana. All of the information is available for the mileage contest. Please enter your guess NLT 8/15/08. The winner will be announced early the following next week.