Monday, Monday...

Boy what a week it has been!  Rockin' the Rivers was last weekend and then off on the plane to Chicago, then onto Madison, WI for Ty and Danelle's wedding... only to make it home Friday night to rest up for another work week.

RTR was as fun as ever!  The headliner bands were REO Speedwagon, Warrent, Starship, Big Brother & the Holding Company, Grand Funk Railroad, The Guess Who, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and others I can't remember.  The local bands kicked some serious butt, too.  I surprised myself and didn't take one photo all weekend!  In fact, I never removed my camera from the car!  Whats up with that??!!  Our campsite was busy with the neighbors from Idaho dropping by, and anyone else that Heather K found that she wanted to party with.  All I know is the party ended at 5:30am on Friday night, 4:30am on Saturday night, and (thankfully) the party wasn't at  or near our site on Sunday night.  Troy seemed to have caught the flu on Friday...he was sick and cold all day Saturday and slept most of the daylight away.  He appeared for the evening shows, then hid away in his tent again.  Joe brought his tent camper which made for an excellent bar and storage area...Heather came with her good friend Martin, Tony and I shared a tent (of course) and Troy was by himself this year.  Julie and Lia decided to go to a hot spring resort instead.  Greg H stopped by with his girl friend Anita on Saturday, and we made a new friend named Rachael who camped next door.  Most noteable items of the weekend--the ROCK-N-ROLL screamer guy on Thursday, the WHOOHOO guy from Idaho who kept us all awake until the party ended, Heather and her Jaegermiester drinks, the half gallon of Captian Morgan being stolen early Sunday evening, the Coffee Express wagon and their frozen coffee drinks each morning, me taking a shower in the guys side because the line for the gals was long and slow (yes, there was curtians and Tony chaperoned) and finally...the defining words of this years RTR---DUDE! YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!  With a slight change of inflection, you can answer any question with that line...and Heather did!  A good time was had by all.

On Tuesday Tony and I boarded a plane at 6am for Chicago.  I hadn't been on a plane since high school...and an actual jet since 5th grade.  I was rewarded with clear skys the entire way.  I took a paperback but never opened it.  I was watching the world pass by under me.  Tony and the other passenger next to me slept most of the way so  I had free reign of the window.  We arrived at O'Hare about 2pm, picked up our rental car and did some sight-seeing.  We spent two hours at the Shedd Aquarium, then walked along the waterfront to stretch out the muscles before driving up to Madison.  It was strangely comforting to hear the katy-dids that first evening once again, and I acted like a child when I had the chance to catch and hold a lightning bug!  Its been so many years and the magic is still there.

Wednesday was a relaxed day.  Tony and I toured a botanical garden on the University of Wisconson grounds.  Ty met us there, and we followed him across town to where Danelle was waiting for him.  She didn't know we were in town so we decided to surprise her.  We were greeted with a gleefull squeal and many hugs!  Lunch at the Olive Garden (which we still don't have here in Helena) and much catching up.  We parted ways for a while.  Tony and I headed back to the hotel to relax a bit.  The rehersal dinner was to be at a small hometown pizza place in Oregon, WI.  Not knowing the area, we left early and found the town easily.  We stopped at a local drug store and a grocery to pickup a few small items to kill some time.  The Pizza was excellent and the conversation lively.  Ty and Danelle have some awesome friends!  Cassandra, Eric, and Jeremy...I'll remember you always!

The Wedding was Thursday afternoon at Olbritch Botanical Gardens.  Tony and I arrived two hours early and still didn't make it through all the areas!  Of the places we did see, the Thai Gardens and the rose gardens were the best.  The wedding was beautiful, of course, and the reception a success.  We met Ty's dad and had an interesting conversation with him.  It seems he spent part of his childhood in eastern Montana as a homesteading family.  He was excited to talk to another Montanan and didn't want to leave when his wife was ready!  Another one of his stories was of going to Norway to meet his ancesterial family...then those relatives came to America to visit him.  We all hope to have lead such a full life...

Friday was another travel day...back to Chicago, then a 3 hour layover in Salt Lake.  Unfortunatly the entire mid-west was covered by clouds this time.  The sky cleared somewhere over Wyoming and we had a good look at a couple of forest fires burning there.  I got to watch the sun set over the skys of Montana and the lights of humanity were just blinking on as we touched down in Hometown Helena.

The weekend was used to relax and get ready to go back into the working world...at least for me.  Tony had drill.  Sunday was rife with heartache, but that is another story.