Forty-four happy years of life together is a gift, but this milestone gets little recognition on the traditional anniversary gifts registry. Sandwiched between the 40 year marker of rubies and 45 year presentation of sapphires, double fours is an overlooked stepchild. I did find a source trying to correct this by designating turquoise and topaz as the jewels for this forgotten year. Sounded rather like Taylor Swift’s onyx and opalite skies, I thought. As stunning as turquoise may be, I don’t want jewelry for my present; give me the gift of shared experiences to add to the memory gems already shining in my heart. Take me to the big skies of Montana. Lets step into the mountainous painting together, with its early summer palette of sage, moss, olive, pine, and chartreuse green.
On our way in from Bozeman Airport, our favorite stop is a visit to The Coffee Pot Bakery Café for lunch. Amazing homemade soups and sandwiches and made-from-scratch baked goods are highlights on the menu.
The Café shares space with Mountain Art Pottery, a family run business that makes unique, beautiful pottery mugs and dishes.
Larry started the first morning with an early zoom meeting. No doubt his office was the coziest of all the participants.
Outside the low misty clouds did their part to gently awaken the sleepy village.
We hiked our favorite Big Sky trail, Beehive Basin. Filled with meadows of wildflowers, streams of runoff snow, forests and rocky climbs, this 7 mile out-and-back trip rises to a peak of 9,500 feet.
The music of the rippling streams is the stuff dreams are made of.
We admired each new vista. This rocky outpost features Lone Peak in the background, the star of Big Sky Ski Resort.
We were surprised the last third of the ascent was in packed snow. The weather in Montana in early June is as unpredictable as a two year old. And the lake near the top was frozen.
The same spot in July 2023.
Cheers to a cold drink of water! And “Cin Cin” to hiking the snow in shorts. :)
In the lower meadows, the wildflowers were making their debut. This is a curly clematis; I imagined it as ringing wedding bells.
Wildlife is plentiful in Big Sky. This is a cross fox, a variant of the standard red fox.
Elk demonstrating the importance of communication. I asked Larry what pearl of wisdom he would offer regarding 44 years of marriage: “learn to be unselfish.” My own observation was, always remember that you are on the same team, pulling together.
We spent our actual anniversary floating the Madison River fly fishing with our dear friend/guide, Sam. But first, I needed a minute with my old friend, Hopper, at Wild Trout Outfitters. He missed me too.
Beautiful shimmery gold color on Larry’s brown trout. It was hard to fish because the view was so distracting.
Happy married life is akin to this horizontal tree, delicately balanced on a rock in the midst of the rushing Madison. It is heaven when everything is aligned just right.
Another brown trout. I love their speckled skin, which is rather like an aquatic leopard.
Spicy Margaritas at the local watering hole, Riverhouse BBQ. Cheers to us Larry! I have no idea how I would ever be me without you.
Day two of fly fishing found us wading between two (very large) lakes, Hebgen and Quake. If I were an artist, I would paint this scene; it was one of the most beautiful places that we have been privileged to visit. We linked arms to wade across the river, a surprisingly difficult feat because of the swiftly moving water and the slippery rocks on the river’s bed.
In our clunky boots, we delicately clomped through a meadow of silvery green sage brush; the fresh fragrant herbal scent welcomed us as to an outdoor spa.
I sure do wish Larry would pretend to be happy! Fly fishing is highly technical so when you hook, fight, and then land a trout, you have earned every smile.
Somewhere over the rainbow trout…..there’s a land that I heard of…..and now I am standing in it. This is gift enough for me: memory like jewels to be tucked away and savored in the coming days.
No expensive floral arrangement can compare to the etherial beauty of Montana wild flowers. This duo of sticky geraniums was my celebratory flower bouquet. My heart is full. It has been the best anniversary! Assuming that we make it to 45 years, sapphire is the traditional anniversary gift. And they happen to mine sapphires in Montana. Hmmmmm ….we may need a redo here next year.