the wild, wild West

We spent Labor Day weekend with our friends George & Susie on their family's cattle ranch in rural Montana and it was amazing! We took our time traveling the 630 miles to the ranch and paused along the way for an overnight stay in Spokane where we visited our friends, The Molendas. A Mexican dinner, some late night conversation, a good night's sleep, and a box of doughnuts later, we were on the road again and before we knew it were crossing the Great Continental Divide and entering into the beautiful Treasure State (yea, I didn't know Montana was called that either).
I'd been wanting for a long time to see Montana and it definitely didn't disappoint me. Dan and I are big fans of the movie A River Runs Through It which features a family of fly fishermen in Montana. The movie painted such a gorgeous picture of that part of the country that I was eager to see it for myself. Well, we didn't see Brad Pitt, but we did see the Blackfoot River. It, along with all the rest of the terrain, was as gorgeous as I had anticipated. Mile upon mile I stared out the window at the breathtaking and rugged mountain views.
We finally arrived at Trapper Creek Ranch in Melrose, Montana. To say that Melrose is a small town would be an understatement. Let's just say there's not even a store in Melrose. They do, on the other hand, have two bars. Maybe their priorities are just a little skewed?
The ranch itself was absolutely gorgeous. It offered 10,000 acres of rugged mountains and provided a safe haven for a weekend of fresh air, fishing, shooting, off-roading, barbeque, and relaxing. It was just what we needed.
The ranch is home to a few ghost towns and we got to visit one of them which was pretty cool. Here's Dan checking out the safe from what was once the town bank.
This tower is the remnant of a charcoal-fueled smelting furnace which was used to process ores back in the day.
We also checked out the nearby Canyon Creek Charcoal Kilns which looked like giant beehives in the middle of the mountains. In the late 1800's these kilns were once used to produce the charcoal necessary for the smelting furnaces like the one at the ghost town.
It took 3 square miles of trees burning in the kilns for 14 days to produce enough charcoal for just 42 hours of fuel for the smelting furnaces. That seems pretty crazy to me! The kilns smelled like giant campfires which made me crave s'mores in a serious way.

My favorite cowboy really liked ranch life.
And our little cowboy loved the ranch too.The long weekend was perfect in every way. Even the ride home was extra special because we stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Missoula for Jackson's first "Southern experience" and my favorite country breakfast. Our little cowboy seemed to enjoy the rocking chairs and old country favorites playing over the loudspeaker.