Ray and I came to Montana on business. We were delivering two bronze sculptures we were selling via our fledgling art and antique consignment venture to a collector up here. After considering the price for shipping, we decided that we could drive up and enjoy a few days of vacation here rather than letting FedEx have the fun. Even better, the buyer of the bronzes is the owner of two hot springs resorts here in Montana and offered to provide a complimentary river cabin if we decided to make the trek. Needless to say, this sealed the decision.
We stopped yesterday in Salt Lake City and visited my nephew, JIm, his wife, Karri, their two kids, Eli and Sophie, and Jim’s dad, Ray, who is the former husband of my sister, Leslie, who died two years ago. These are some of our closest family so, of course, it was wonderful to see them.
Today, we left at 6:30 am for the drive up through Idaho and into Montana. We met Andre, the collector, at his first resort at around 12:30. This was in the tiny town (population 17) of Jackson. Andre is around my age, Dutch, and has lived in Montana for the past 23 years. He and his wife are former bankers, who have concluded that they enjoy running small resorts more than dealing with crises in the financial realm. Andre treated us to two very tasty turkey burgers from his lodge restaurant, then gave us the directions to the other lodge, which is about an hour and a half north of Missoula. He told us that we would be staying in the “Frederick Remington” cabin on the river.
The drive, which was filled with beautiful mountain ranges, rivers and even some snow, took all afternoon. We arrived here around 6:30 pm. The parking lot was full of the cars of Memorial Day lodgers. We saw the pools with temperatures that vary depending on your constitution. The young woman at the front desk was personable and informed us that we were not staying in the main resort, but that Andre had asked that we stay in the brand new cabins across the road. She gave us our keys, we thanked her, and we drove over to find our accommodations.
Below are the pictures of Andre’s gift to us. We are delighted. He told us to stay at least 2 nights and to consider 3. Ray and I can see that making the trek up here was a much better idea than just having FedEx come pick up the sculptures. We are sitting on the banks of a quiet river in a brand new, beautifully appointed cabin and it is so quiet that the only sound is the wind in the trees. Ah, bliss.
Thank you, Ray, for brokering this deal and, Andre, for providing such a lovely vacation spot. Tomorrow, we’ll head over to the mineral springs and experience that. But for now, I am going to go sit on our front porch and watch the river flow by.
You can see why we are so happy here!
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