Sunday was Laura’s birthday so we all slept in a bit and then Geoff made breakfast. I sat on the porch and read a bit while he went to the store and Laura and I had a chance to talk a bit. Geoff came back and made breakfast; bacon, eggs, hash browns and coffee.

After we cleaned up from breakfast, we headed out to the Rattlesnake Wilderness Recreation Area and the trailhead was packed. It had been raining off and on for the last week or so, people were ready to be outside. We hiked around 5 miles and dipped our toes in the creek that gives the area its name. They’ve had a lot of snow this year in the mountains and the creek was high and very cold. Geoff kept trying to convince us that swimming was a great idea, no one took him up on it.

We headed back and I was more than a little sore from the race on Saturday. We ate a little lunch and then read, played some music and napped until later in the evening when Laura’s friends from grad school came over for dinner. Geoff and Laura made a little bit of shade in the back yard with some speaker stands and sheets so we ate outside. Chicken legs, grilled veggies, salad and fruit and some cake to wrap things up.

After dinner, we headed out on a walk to the Scott Street Bridge. It stretches over a train yard and gave us an incredible view of the sunset. This far north, the sun doesn’t really set until after 10PM so we got back pretty late and watched a movie before turning in.

Monday, Laura had to work so we walked over to this cute little breakfast place and ate before she headed in to work. Geoff and I headed up north to Flathead Lake and had a light lunch on the lake at The Raven. Geoff had played some gigs there in the past and it had a dock where boats could pull in.

After we spent some time on the lake, we headed back to Bozeman to work on the sourdough pizza I started in the morning before we left. The afternoon was pretty relaxed, I was still stiff from the race so we didn’t tool around on the bikes or anything.

Dinner was the sourdough pizza and some salad along with leftover cake from Laura’s birthday on Sunday. We hung out at the apartment and took it easy before watching a little Stranger Things and turning in ahead of the early wake up on Tuesday.

Geoff and I got things going around 5AM for the drive in to Bozeman and we went up over the continental divide on the way through the valley. Things were a little wet but mostly uneventful until we got into Bozeman and had breakfast at Lot G, a modern breakfast place in a small development with a brewery, some offices and a kombucha bar. Drew met us for breakfast as well and then we headed to the airport.

I was really unsure about how this trip was going to go given the current circumstances but I’m glad that I decided to go ahead and come. The race was brutal, the time spent with family was invaluable and while there were certainly some low moments, it was good to be up in the last best place for a bit.