Montana

When I was poolside last summer in Arizona I got an e-mail about a Brandi Carlile concert weekend in Mexico and sent a screenshot to Luke immediately that we had to go. And we did! A few weeks later Jamie texted me that Lucius was going to perform at a concert weekend in their town of Whitefish, Montana, and that we should come. And we did!

I bought the festival tickets the day they went on sale. Weeks months later it occurred to me I needed to book our travel.

THERE WAS ONLY ONE HOTEL ROOM LEFT! Booked it. Booked the airfare. Ahhh, all set.

Days before our departure... hey wait, I though to myself - did I get a rental car with the flight?!!! I had NOT and there were none to be found. Dang it! I planned a day to drive to Glacier National Park! Then I remembered an NPR story about a peer to peer car rental company in which people rented out their cars that would otherwise sit at the airport while they travel. I googled "Airbnb for cars" and Turo popped up. Entered my dates and I found ONE car for ONE day (not the weekend) but it was the Glacier day - booked it. Victory snatched from the jaws of defeat procrastination.

Grandma picked up the girls and we flew to Whitefish.

The hotel shuttle picked us up at the airport and Jamie picked us up from the hotel. Our first stop was food and drinks on a deck overlooking a lake.

Playing pool downtown with Andy, who directed us to his friend Paula's sushi restaurant for dinner. We wanted to say hello to Paula but she wasn't there; when asked if we wanted to leave a note, Luke replied, YES! And wrote a note to Paula (who we had not met yet).

That night we saw two bands - one that had driven from Houston (that's 2, 045 miles) - with Andy.

In the morning we picked up our rental car and headed to Glacier after having huckleberry pie for breakfast.

NATURE.

We drove Going to the Sun Road to Logan Pass. Andy made us dinner that night - slow grilled steaks, smashed potatoes, and asparagus. And then was nice enough to lend us a car to drive back to the hotel ....

and back for blue cheese omelets in the morning!

Luke and Jamie worked on some songs that morning and then we headed to the festival. The venue was stunning!

Festival ladies serving lewks.

Another delicious breakfast in the morning - egg and chorizo tacos and strawberries from the garden. Paula, the sushi restaurant owner, came over for breakfast and to play the harmonica. Before she joined to the band to work on songs, she did a tarot reading for me. I am still thinking about what we discussed these months later.

Music making in the Garage Mahal.

Back to the festival.

LUCIUS!

In the morning we shared the hotel shuttle back to the airport with one other couple - who happened to be from St Louis!

In September Jamie flew to St Louis to work with Luke and record songs for her nonprofit The Great Blue Song Project, an organization that pairs songwriters and those with a story to tell (grief, illness). How amazing is that?!!

Thanks MT friends for your hospitality and friendship and for making sure we had bear spray! YIKES! Montana is wild y'all!