Rocky Tales – Montana Momma

I titled my post Montana Momma because I went to Montana in the late-summer, early autumn last year for one reason. My dear offspring! My son, Jasper, had moved there in the summer to go to grad school at MSU, a top-tier research school. He is in it for the long haul, going for a Ph.D. in electrical engineering!

We had to get there before the weather turned too cold for our 3-season travel trailer. And we made it!

It was our first experience with a real trailer park, as opposed to all the state parks and boondocking we had done. There may have been one night in an RV park before it, but I can’t recall. Anyway, because Bozeman is yuppified, gentrified, rarefied, and up-and-coming (i.e., expensive), we experienced a few shocks: the astronomical nightly cost at the trailer park (although cheap compared to California), the sites smooshed together like sardines in a can, the close proximity to the interstate on one side and the train tracks on the other. It was definitely not a spacious state park in Iowa!

A standout memory, besides being with Jasper, were the magpies. They were in the campground, on the streets, on stop signs, everywhere.

Sadly for all those affected, Bozeman and its surrounding mountain ranges were cloaked in smoke from fires in Montana and in Idaho. So the views my son had raved about were not apparent. But I was really there to hug him, tour his new campus, hug him, take him out to eat, hug him, walk down Main Street, and hug him. I guess I am not so good with this distance stuff. (I miss my daughter, too, but she is at home and will be when I return, whereas Jasper … who knows where life will take him after potentially five years in MT?)

The timing is probably never good to visit a grad student who has just moved into an apartment, with a new research job and in his first few weeks of classes. I didn’t get to see him as much as I would have liked, but besides eating out, touring campus, and sitting around his apartment, we did one fabulous mother/son outing: the Bozeman Hot Springs! Loved them! Put me in some hot water, and I am a happy woman. The wet type of hot water, not the trouble type.

We went at night, trying the outside pools, with a musician playing. Around us, a lot of young singles were mingling. My son and I have a good relationship, so we can just be together, talk about everything under the stars, watch people, and then have a dish of ice cream on the way out. Molto bene!

I had one shopping spree on Bozeman’s old Main Street, buying birthday presents for my daughter. Only Montana-made items made it into the parcel. Loads of nice people and fun shops.

And we visited The Museum of the Rockies for an interesting few hours.

Montana State University is as pretty as you would imagine a campus in that part of the world. His grad student office was probably the worst office I have ever seen, but since we saw it, Jasper has at least obtained a desk he can fit his knees under. In any case, he spends most of his time in various laboratories, doing research that I don’t understand. The university has a Lewis and Clark tie-in, too.

And I may do a blog post about all the trains we have seen, heard, or camped beside. Luckily, I love trains, and all their sounds. But when your teacup shakes, you know they’re close.

I was obviously sad to leave Bozeman and my “baby boy” behind. And since then, have experienced my first Thanksgiving and Christmas without my kids, as well as not seeing either of them on their birthdays. Growing up is tough, and clearly, I am not ready to do it!

Next, we headed south . . . to Utah!