My Hometown

Do you ever think about your hometown, the people you grew up with, and your life before becoming a "real" person? I hadn't been back to my hometown, Wisdom, Montana, for over 35 years so three (I think) years ago my Love took me back to my hometown for a grand vacation. We flew to Seattle, rented a car, and drove to Portland, Oregon. There we stayed with His daughter, Anna, saw the Japanese Gardens, the Rose Gardens, and many of the beautiful waterfalls outside of Portland.

My Stepdaughter, Anna

Multnomah Falls, Portland, Oregon

Then we drove in the sweltering heat to Spokane, Washington, where I lived for 17 years before moving to Alaska. We spent a day with my grandson who lives there and who I hadn't seen for 18 years! What a great kid!! We also had dinner with an old high school friend of mine and her husband. It was a very nice stay, but so hot!!

My Grandson, Reice - hamming it up for the camera!

Riverfront Park, Spokane, Washington

From there we drove to Missoula, Montana where my brother, Don married his childhood sweetheart, Geri. It was so great to be a part of that wonderful celebration. For their honeymoon, they went with us to my hometown of Wisdom where Don and my Love did some great fly fishing, and we saw the Battlefield which is now officially protected by the government. I remember that when I was a kid growing up there that we used to pick up arrowheads off the ground and it wasn't an official site at that time. It is where Chief Joseph and the Nez Perce Indians and the 7th Calvary battled.

My brother, Don and his wife, Geri

Sign at entrance to the Big Hole Battlefield Monument

We stayed in some cabins that my best girlfriend's parents always owned and that she now owns. I always loved those old cabins and always wondered what it would be to sleep in one! It was very comfortable!! However, I sure don't remember the mosquitoes being quite so bad!! It is very beautiful there, as I always remembered it to be, but it wasn't home anymore.

The family home had been sold a couple of times and had had a fire and the people just walked away from it, boarded it up and left it...now an eye-sore. How I wanted to buy it back, tear the house and out buildings down and start over...with a nice new home...and recover the joys of my youth!! Somehow I would learn to deal with those mosquitoes!!!!!

We had such a wonderful trip there....going there, and coming home. We travel well together...something we haven't done for a couple of years. I miss that.

Wisdom, Montana main street...small but memorable.

Wisdom is a little cow-town set in the middle of the Rocky Mountains, in a valley the Indians called the Big Hole Basin or the Land of the 10,000 Haystacks. In the summers I would work on a ranch in the cookhouse...helping cook meals for the hay crew of 35 men and boys. It was very hard work and I worked from 4:00 am until 11:30 pm with a little time off in the afternoon to either go to town or take a horseback ride or nap, At 14 years of age, you don't nap! I made a whole $14 a day and they gave me room and board in the main house with the family who were life-long friends with my parents.

Ah, memories of another time and another place....another life really. When we get older sometimes all we have are our memories and a time that seemed more carefree and with so much less responsibility. My only troubles then were to make sure the skunks didn't keep me from getting into the root cellar at 5 am or into the cook house....I would chase them away with a towel...no fear there!!! LOL

So I hope you haven't been too bored with my trip down memory lane. When we drove down over the hill from the battlefield Wisdom came into view and I found myself crying at the beautiful sight...not even believing that I was really there again. It's a trip I shall always remember and always cherish.

Thank You, my Love.
Janie