Montana 2009: Day 3

Today Bonnie and I toured the Cathedral of St. Helena and the Capitol before we drove up to the cabin. The Cathedral had lovely stained glass windows and the same air of “I’m beautiful and ponderous and sort of brooding” as most cathedrals do. Like if they were people, they’d be lovely and yet solemn beyond all words, like the rulers of fading kingdoms.

The Capitol was hot as Hades…maybe air conditioning is too Eastern big city for these rugged types. There was much gilding and marbling and frescoing of the proverbial lily and it wasn’t really to my taste.

After our tours, we met up with Sylvia and picked up a trailer hitch for a fishing boat (don’t ask) and drove about two hours west up to the cabin where Mary and Steve were staying. It was a great drive through mountains and valleys. The directions to the cabin were so priceless. They said things like, and I quote, “turn right by the unmarked gravel road past the Anaconda 23 miles sign” and “go over the cattle guard and bear right at the pine meadow” “go to .3 miles and curve left by the timber gate”. I loved it, it felt like an adventure right away.

The cabin itself was incredible, as snug and cozy and wood, wood, wood all around like a ship. The owner and his father made it by hand, which made it even more amazing, a real labor of love. I took some pictures of some of the more interesting details, which I will include here.

We had dinner with J. that night, a gentleman who is the father of Steve’s business friend that owns the cabin. He built most of the main cabin and bunkhouse himself. He was a very capable and independent sort of guy, the kind of person that’s really good with their hands and doesn’t need a lot of company. He used to raise Quarter Horses and he worked as a pick up guy in the rodeos in his youth. He had spent the last six winters in his bunkhouse beside the cabin…and he informed us that it was necessary to start plowing the roads in September. I can’t even imagine living somewhere where the snow starts falling in September. I would think it most get lonely, but I guess people around here find a way to manage. Our dinner, by the way, was yummy. Curried lentils, broccoli with bell peppers, and bbq chicken for the meat eaters, followed by apple crisp for dessert. We also had a bonfire that night, if you can call it that. J. had mentioned that he wanted some brush burned and Steve and Mary zealously hauled over brush until they had a small inferno going. Never mind roasting marshmallows, they could have roasted a bear on that thing. I think Steve had to stay up for about four hours until the embers burned down. Oops.