While we loved spending the Fourth of July in historic Philadelphia with Gina and Laszlo, that meant we would not be living the entire summer in Big Sky as we originally planned.
As such, shortly after Jay and Sasha arrived to spend a few days working remotely in Montana, Julie and I flew east.
However, we packed a good visit into an extended weekend, including a few of our favorite hikes like Ousel Falls, Hummucks and Uplands Trails.
We took them to our new happy hour haunt, Tips Up, which allowed their puppy JoJo to stay with us in the lovely patio area. The absurdly cheap drink prices have been raised from $3 to $4.25, which is still obviously cheap. A bigger disappointment was that they re-did the menu...or should I say crossed out several items including the four piece fried chicken combo that Julie and I usually ordered? The fried chicken strips were nonetheless tasty, as were the two sides we added: Tater Tots and french fries.
On an unrelated front, Julie began and completed the needlework project Sasha and Jay gave her for Christmas, while Sasha did one of her own.
A particular treat for me was having everyone with me in the front yard while I played my guitar under the Aspen tree late one afternoon. The ladies worked on their crafts while Jay read and replied to work emails, occasionally walking away to take a call.
I'm usually accompanied by only robins while practicing in the front yard, although Julie sometimes has her afternoon coffee out there with me. Playing my guitar is always relaxing for me, a form of meditation in a way.
Before arriving in Big Sky, Julie and I had been packing up the condo in Redondo, so we also missed spending time in mid-June with Darlene and Brooks, who arrived a week before us. However, we again packed a good visit into a few days.
On the evening we arrived, Darlene and Brooks came by with their Pomeranian Teddy on their way to a dinner engagement with longtime friends Don and Shirley Hanson. That gave us a chance to talk over current events with pre-dinner beverages.
After a day to unpack and settle back in, we headed up to their home at the Yellowstone Club a couple of days later.
Brooks and I went to the driving range to hit balls for an hour or so. As typical for the YC, they offered snacks including fresh fruit and energy bars. I savored both.
Back at their place, we spent the afternoon solving the world's problems and watching television shows that we constantly talked over. Darlene somehow simultaneously prepared a delicious Chateaubriand dinner with all the fixings.
It's good to be a carnivore! YUM!!!
All of the above took place in about a week.
What a great life we lead!
I often ask myself, how did we come to be here?
As my dad used to regularly say, echoing the wisdom Earl Nightingale --- his favorite motivational speaker --- we become what we think about.
The aforementioned North San Diego County surf couple Don and Shirley Hanson bought a place in Big Sky back in the 1980s. Soon, Don tempted surfing buddy and business partner Brooks to try skiing Big Sky.
The fact that there was less parking and lodging than the skier capacity of the mountain made this a great choice for avid skiers Brooks, Darlene and their son Brooks, who started skiing as a toddler.
Darlene and Brooks bought a condo in Big Sky, and then a better one, and then a house...
Along the way, they regularly invited our family up, and we loved Big Sky too.
When at one point they decided to sell their Big Sky Meadow condo rather than keep it as a place for friends like us to stay, it happened to be right at the time when we had downsized from our house in Manhattan Beach to our condo in Redondo. Julie and I jumped on the opportunity. We had been coming to Big Sky regularly for well over a decade, but this was a transition to coming more frequently and for longer stays.
What's odd is that my parents kept a painting above our kitchen table, so that every time Darlene or I looked at my dad during dinner, this picture was behind him.
That painting, "Mountain Meadow," by an obscure artist named Charline Welborn, now hangs in our home in Big Sky.
The odd thing is, my parents bought that painting that includes Big Sky's Lone Peak rising above the "Mountain Meadow" about thirty years before we "discovered" the reality of Big Sky for ourselves. Julie and I only recognized Lone Peak in the painting after my mother died, long after we hung it in our Redondo Beach condo. Darlene and Brooks only recognized Lone Peak in the painting when they saw it hanging in its new placement in our hallway in Big Sky.
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| Jay's photo looking up at our Aspen |
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