Day 79 - Wild West Fest

This morning we decided to let everyone sleep. The last few weekends have been pretty busy. However, Christina woke up around 7. So she and I took off in search of donuts for breakfast and in addition found chocolate milk at 1/2 price (awesome). There is no Krispy Kreme here so Safeway Donuts had to do.  On the way there we had seen a garage sale so Christina asked to stop on our way home so we did.  It was for a family adopting a child. We finally made it home and just in time. Joshua and Sarah were up. So we all got to enjoy our donuts and chocolate milk. 

After everyone was up and about we decided to hit the Helena Farmer's market.  This is always a favorite because there is always fresh Kettle Corn. The kids love to watch them make it.  The lady that was making it told Gretchen that they are having to go farther and farther out to find corn because of the drought that we are experiencing.  The vegetables looked awesome so we bought a few for our dinners this week and of course we had to buy some homemade bread and Huckleberry Jam.  However one of the things we had spotted the last time we were at this farmer's market was a booth that had some awesome pictures of Montana. So we went back and got one of the mountains in glacier as a reminder of how beautiful it is here.

After a nice lunch at home and a rest we decided to go to the Wild West Fest at the Klefner Ranch which is about 10 minutes from our house.  This is an annual event in Helena and everyone has told us we should attend if we had time.  So off we went. This ranch is a really nice place and has a big old red barn with a stone foundation.  In the bottom of the barn there were booths for things like knives, guns, old time clothing, the NRA (didn't expect that did you), wood statues, and lots more.  Caleb, Joshua and Sarah took a big liking to the knife booth. In the upstairs or main floor of the barn there was a silent quilt auction. Also this room was serving as a ballroom for the Wild West Ball tonight. People dress up and come and do old time dancing.  Outside there were wagon rides and horse shows.  We enjoyed the horse show and we had a couple that enjoyed horse rides. At the horse rides we met this nice couple from Butte who told us they came here for a visit 10 years ago or so and went home and sold their home and moved here. They have been here ever since and told us not to let the winters scare us.  Yes, we told them we were headed home at the end of the summer.  This is like the 6th story we have heard like this but we are holding strong.  We got to hear some old fashioned gospel music performed by the band from the "Cowboy Church".  There was a sewing booth where Christina got to sew a little bag on an old time sewing machine worked with her feet. There was also a small set of T-Pees setup with indians which the kids enjoyed looking at. 

We left the ranch and visited one of Gretchen's all time favorite restaurants from when she was a child "A&W" where she and Joshua purchased freshly brewed Root Beer.   She has been eyeing this place since we got here in June.  We took a drive through the small town of East Helena.  We tried not to blink and miss it. Then we headed to Costco. I don't know if we have said in our blog how odd it is to us that the town of Helena rolls up the sidewalks early every day.   I am not sure that businesses here really want revenue. We walked into Costco at 5:55 and were told they were closing at 6 pm.  I had to check my watch to make sure it really was Saturday and sure enough it was.  That was the quickest trip we have made to Costco.

All in all it was a Great day and we got to see what it was like 200 years ago here in MT.