WHERE ARE THE DIXONS TODAY?: July 2016

Friday, July 29, 2016

Special Friends

Helena, MT High 91 Low 62

I forgot to tell you about the steak dinner we had with Paul while he was here. We took him up to the Marysville Steakhouse. I’ve written about this place a couple of times before. It’s an old mining town and offers one of the best steaks you can have. Jim and I shared the rib-eye and it was seasoned and cooked perfectly. If you come to Helena, you really need to treat yourself.

Last Saturday we took a drive over to Anaconda. Our good friends, Sharon and George (I’ve posted about them from when we did the cancer walks in Death Valley), were camped there and we really wanted to see them. We took Skitz with us because it was about 80 miles one way.

We stopped in Deer Lodge to have lunch. Another great find. Yak Yaks sandwich shop. Homemade bread and fabulous fixins. Put that on your list also. They have an outside table so we took Skittlez with us and were going to sit outside. A neighbor’s cat decided to come visit. He was up on the table and when he/she saw Skitz the back came up and the hissing started. I wasn’t sure how Skitz was going to react because she has never been around a cat before. She could have cared less. Paid absolutely no attention to the cat.

We found George and Sharon at Big Sky RV Park and had a wonderful visit. Sharon loves to fish and had told us about the brown trout she caught. So the three of them went traipsing down to the creek.

Warm Springs Creek is just across the road from the campground.

I stayed at the truck with Skitz cause it was time for her to eat. They didn’t catch any fish but Sharon said she learned a whole lot of things about fishing.

You can see the old Anaconda Copper Company smelter stack for miles. It was completed in 1919, and is one of the tallest free-standing brick structures in the world at 585 feet. The inside diameter is 75 feet at the bottom, tapering to 60 feet at the top. In comparison, the Washington Monument is 555 feet tall. The stack dominates the landscape like the company once dominated the area's economic life. Since the smelter closed in 1980, the stack has become a symbol of the challenges that face communities dependent on finite resources.

Back in Helena it was time to treat Jim to an ice cream cone from the Big Dipper.

Monday, July 25, 2016

Adjusting

Helena, MT High 91 Low 62

I haven’t felt like blogging since Scooter died. Been a really sad time at the Dixon house but we are slowly adjusting to just the three of us.

Skittlez is doing really good. Gets smothered with a whole lot of love. She hated to be left alone at first and cried the whole time we were gone. In fact she was so pathetic that my sister (who is not a dog lover) couldn’t stand it any longer and has been dog sitting for us when we need to go somewhere. She and Skitz have really bonded. But Skittlez is doing much better as time goes on and she realizes that we will be coming home to her.

Sunrise in Helena, MT

The house is on the market. Jim just about put himself in the grave getting it fixed up. Sure glad the kids did most of the painting for us. Now we just need it to sell quickly.

A beautiful rainbow after the storm in Billings.

It was time to give Jim a break so we packed up and headed for Helena. We’re spending a couple of weeks on my brother-in-laws lot before we head down to the KOA on Canyon Ferry for the month of August. Jim plans to do a whole lot of fishing and the campground is almost on the lake.

Our friend Paul also spent last week here in Helena and we had some really good times together. Tuesday was my birthday so he took us to breakfast at this really great little place down on Last Chance Gulch – No Sweat Café. It was excellent. Definitely going back there again.

We also went to York for a hamburger. They are known for their burgers but we were disappointed in ours. Overcooked and dry. But it was a beautiful drive up into the mountains.

Paul at the York Bar