Friendly Faces

A couple of weeks ago, my sweet friend Kyra, (who was one of my students when I started teaching and has always felt like a little sister to me)  called to find out exactly where in Montana I was living.  Her dad & younger brother were planning a fly fishing trip and we were hoping we would get to meet up somewhere while they were here.  After a little phone tag, Ray & I figured out that they were going to be about 3 hours away from me.  I was worried at the time that I was going to have to work the whole time they were here and not get to see them, but when I accepted my new job, (more on that later this week)  I was able to give them a start date that allowed me to drive over and spend a little bit of time with my old friends.  

Driving down from Bozeman to Ennis 

Ennis is the fly fishing capital of Montana (I think they claim the world, but we'll be more conservative here)  And boasts of some great rainbow and brown trout in its streams.   I met Ray & Layton in town, (They were staying about 10-15 miles south in Cameron, MT)

Main Street Ennis, Montana

While I was waiting for them to arrive, I rambled through the little downtown area and came across some John Wayne goodies that I almost wanted to bring home with me!  (Anyone who knows me knows how much I LOVE The Duke!)

This metal lunchbox was especially hard to pass up... but I did manage to restrain myself!

After lunch, we headed back to the fishing camp to hang out for a little while.  Layton loves to fish and he fished up and down the creek about twice that afternoon.  Evidently, he had a great week and got pictures with some of the brown and rainbow trout that he caught.  (Several that were in the 17-21 inch range I believe)  On a side note here, I've known Layton since he was about 8 years old and am very proud of the young man he's become.  Even more proud of him for the decision that he made to serve his country in the Marines!

The next morning I met up with the guys again and ventured into the Park with them.  We parked my car at one of the information/visitor areas and I climbed in with them to tour the southern loop of the park.  As we were driving in from West Yellowstone Entrance, we evidently passed a Moose Cow with two calves (Layton saw them, I didnt...)  But when we pulled up to park my car, there was an Elk cow wandering around the bathroom building, so we had to snap a few pictures.  We could hear her calf calling her from the trees on the edge of the clearing and she wandered off after them while we were standing there.  

We arrived at Old Faithful at almost the perfect time.  We made a quick stop to the general store and then headed over to the Visitor Center and only had about 10-15 minutes to wait until the geyser erupted.  According to the park website, Old Faithful shoots off every 60-110 minutes.

We drove on around the loop past Yellowstone Lake, the Hayden Valley & many of the small sights to drive up to the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone.  All I can say is wow... It is unbelievable what the Lord created for us to enjoy!

On the way back to where we parked my car, we saw plenty of buffalo and canadian geese, but now a whole lot more wildlife.  They dropped me off at my car and I headed home, and they headed off to fish some more before they had to head to the airport. I'm so thankful they were willing to take some time out of their trip to meet up!   I loved having that time to visit and catch up with old friends... next time I hope Kyra gets to come too!