Alaskan At Heart: Birthday Trip 2013

Wow! It's been awhile since I've written, but I think I needed a little downtime ;) Here's to catching up! For my birthday this year, I decided to make a trip to Montana to visit my mom and some of my bestest (yes, I know this isn't a real word, but it works) friends- and, I wanted to take my sweetie to meet them. I flew into Wenatchee to meet my honey (Vince), and then we took the scenic (a.k.a. driving) route from there to Billings, Montana. What a great trip! It's been some time since I had seen the rugged beauty of the MT countryside, so it was a refreshing road trip. My only regret is not stopping to take more pictures along the way… I will be sure to do that next time! We were on a mission to get from point A to B because we wanted to try and maximize my time with mom, but I did get some good pics once we made it to Billings…

…count on me to make my first picture a food-related one, but this was

our first stop in Billings (hey- we were hungry!). This little gem is a great

BBQ place on the way to my mom's house, and boy was it good!

Nothing fancy, but it was delish- best brisket I've ever had…

After stopping at Blue's BBQ to re-fuel, Vince and I headed to my mom's house for some good visiting time. It was really good to see my mom, and we made plans for the next day (my birthday). Next stop: hotel and bed!

I made our reservations at the Best Western Clocktower Inn (you can see the sign peeking out from behind Stella's)… I was thinking ahead! Not only is it right in downtown Billings, but it is right next to the best breakfast place in town ;)

I HAD to show Vince the cinnamon-rolls there! I was trying to save myself

for my birthday dinner, but I couldn't help myself… after staring at his cinnamon

roll the whole time I was eating my breakfast, I had to at least "help" a little hehe...

Needless to say, we were pretty full after that breakfast, so we decided

to walk around downtown and had a lot of fun. The weather was beautiful,

and we found some really cool antique stores that were full of history.

Okay, so we were still full at lunchtime, but we met one of my best

friends Jean at a local lunch spot and had a great time catching up :)

The rest of our afternoon was mostly spent trying to walk off breakfast, but we did find a few treasures at the antique stores: I got an old cookbook from Butte, and Vince found some great arrowheads, an old bison tooth, and an Indian hide-scraper to take home… and then it was time to pick my mom up and head to dinner!

We went to Juliano's for my birthday dinner (my choice). Not only

is it the BEST restaurant in town, but it was a lot of fun for me to go

there because I used to work there in the kitchen… probably my

favorite job ever to this day. The visit there was especially great

since V made sure to reserve a table near the kitchen- yay!

My mom :)

Mmm! Both Vince and I chose the elk medallions with mashed potatoes

in a red wine and berry demi-glace. SO good!

With full bellies and happy hearts, we headed back to my mom's place after dinner to play some cards. Great ending to a great day!

The following morning, we headed up to my aunt's house for a visit. As always, it was great to see her. My aunt Cathy (my mom's sister) is the aunt I know the best, so it is always special getting to visit.

Aunt Cathy

Her pup Abby :)

After our visit, Vince and I decided to head up to one of the trails along Billings' Rimrocks for a little history, a little exercise, and a lot of sunshine.

One of the trail markers

Neat info on an interesting Montana character…

Later that day, we headed to a barbecue with my good friends Steve & Maggie. They had generously invited us over for some elk steaks. As always, it was fun to catch up with them, and the elk was delicious!