This summer has been going by extremely fast. I firmly believe that time passes quicker the older you get. Summers as a kid seemed absolutely endless, but now a year passes in the blink of an eye.
I had surgery at the beginning of the summer and was on crutches for over a month. Thank goodness for Percocet because that would have been terrible otherwise. I wasn’t able to do much but I still managed to see my friends. I’ve managed to spend quite a few nights in “the basement” or “the dungeon” if you prefer that. Four of my high school friends live there (Aaron, Josh, Dan, Pat) but it’s likely you’ll find two or three more people there (Kristen, Kody).
My parents were then gone for three weekends in a row. That was really nice because I love having the house to myself. Of course I had friends over and we had a great time Barbequing and listening to music. The house was pretty trashed a couple of times and we even had our own version of a soap opera one night! Josh and I also spent one beautiful Montana summer evening sitting on my back porch shooting the pellet gun, something we told Bryce and his friends in Boston and they couldn’t believe it.
On the Friday night when the Gallatin Valley Speedway had sprint cars I went and witnessed Montana culture at its finest. The place was packed, extremely loud, and most people were drunk. I just love events like this in rural Montana because there are only so many people here and inevitably family, friends, and acquaintances are randomly seen.
After I finally started walking around better Aaron, Kody, Pat, and I went up to Hyalite Lake with fishing poles, tubes, and a kayak. It was quite nice even though we didn’t catch anything. I have an admission to make right now: I’m a terrible fisherman. Having said that I do still enjoy fishing and I’ve gone probably four times this summer. However I haven’t caught a fish in at least a couple years, and the one time I went fishing on the Madison I was so frustrated after about ten minutes that it kind of defeated the whole purpose.
For my Dad’s birthday my family and the Mattix family went camping at Greycliff on the Madison River. Other than my fishing story things were great. I floated the river both days on the kayak, slept under the stars, and generally just relaxed and enjoyed being an earthworm (nature lover).
We showed up one week early for Music on Main in Bozeman and found only construction. Oops, sorry guys! The next week The Clintons started things off right. I just love it when Montana towns shut down Main Street and suspend open container laws. Drinking in the street is so much fun.
Then it was time again for the July 4th camping trip to Fairy Lake in the majestic Bridger Mountains with Kyle, Jacob, Dan, Pat, Kody, and Josh. It was a swell time since we had a kayak, canoe, fishing poles, hot dogs, hamburgers, and one massive cooler with all the beer we could want! One might think that going camping at a lake wouldn’t be conducive to meeting new people, but three friendly Bozemanites about our age stopped by and had a drink Friday night. It really took the edge off for Jacob and me.
The second week of Music on Main was an acoustic bluegrass band. Bryant and I were pretty into it and had a great time shaking a leg. Little did I know this would be the first of three straight nights of dancing. Friday night Uncle Ted, Aunt Cammie, Wesley, and Melanie stopped by on their way back to California. We had a nice family get together and then Wesley, Brian, Nick, Michelle, Uncle Bob, and I went to the Three Forks Rodeo street dance. Saturday night Bryant, Josh, Aaron, and I went again. Two bands were playing at both ends of Main Street and it was a party everywhere in between. I swear I saw pretty much everyone I know.
I love Montana summers.
