The Road to Troy, MT 07/04/06

Finally, some photos from our road trip. And believe me there’s lots more to come. But the highlight for me, and what I’ve been sooooooo looking forward to for forever, was to be there in Troy for the 4th of July with my husband and my family.

We arrived late afternoon on July 3rd (after a slight detour up into Canada) and caught up with the happenings and waited for my brother and Lynda to arrive.

My Uncle Jim showed Will how to drive Grandpa’s old tractor. Grandpa used to ride that old tractor all over their property in Ono. And it conjured up sweet memories of Grandpa, like one of his warm hugs, to see my Uncle turn it over to Will for a spin. At the end of the day we finally couldn’t stay awake any longer to wait for my brother Mike to arrive. The last I remember he had called from somewhere near Spokane, WA. And then sometime during the night I remember waking up and hearing my brother’s voice out in the hall along with my Mom and Grandma.
I was so glad that my brother and his WIFE Lynda were able to come. And by the all-caps I mean his NEW wife, Lynda. They just got married June 17th. And I’m so happy for them. I’d only met Lynda once briefly, but we had time to talk some and my brother seems to have got himself a good woman, and I know he’s a really great guy. And I know Mom was very happy to have her children together and can’t believe her spinster daughter and bachelor son are both married now. It was a long time coming for both of us and damn worth the wait.
What a beautiful town Troy is and my Grandma’s house is just as cute and comfortable as can be. It was lovely to see Elva, another wonderful woman, and to meet some of her family as well. When the morning came, we walked over to the park where they were set up for the day’s 4th of July celebration. Vintage cars, pancake and scrambled egg breakfast, crafts, live music and all kinds of other activities, like a dunking booth.
And put a boulder, stump or any elevated surface in Will’s path and he’ll hop up on it. Likes the perspective up there I guess.
After breakfast we all kind of meandered around and did our own thing until it was time for the parade to begin down the main street of Troy. Will and I walked out onto the suspension bridge to take a look at the Osprey nest. Then we bought a couple of hiking sticks from a vendor at the park along with a couple of Troy t-shirts and scored free flags to wave during the parade. Will and I got split up from the rest of the group at the parade but congregated back at the house afterwards and spent some relaxing time sitting on the porchIt was nice on the porch, visiting, playing with the dogs and drinking cold beers.
With a good chunk of the day still ahead, and until it was time for my Uncle to fire up the BBQ, he suggested we go check out the Kootenai River Falls and gave us directions on how to get to the trail head that also leads to a swinging bridge spanning the river. We pulled into the turnout and the temperature gauge was reading about 100 degrees, but as we wound our way under the canopy of trees along the river things cooled down quite a bit.

Being so far up north there is still light in the sky at 10:00 pm, consequently the fireworks weren’t to begin until 11:00. After the long hot day with bellies full of BBQ steak kabobs and chicken, everyone began dropping out, losing interest in staying up so late for the fireworks. But Will pulled a couple of chairs out onto the lawn and set his camera up on the tripod while I scooped us up a couple of Blue Bunny Ice Cream cones. And we sat in the cool evening air, eating ice cream cones and watched the fireworks. It was a 4th of July like no other. I love my family and the people in our lives and all the back roads and byways that got us here. And we have lots of road ahead of us.