I could BEARLY wait to post this

July 11 – This wasn’t a day we look forward to, but sure turned out great!  We left just after 9

for Bozeman, MT to do some real shopping other than Wal-Mart.  On the way up we stopped a couple of times so I could take photos of one set of the numerous rafts that were travelling on the Gallatin River.  They are everywhere along the river, along with lots of fly fishermen out today.

Once we hit Bozeman I had a list of stores.  Bill got a single page city map when we stayed here our last travel night before Island Park.  Made it much easier for me to mark the various stores I will want to frequent on our trips to Bozeman.  We stopped at Rosauers, which is a combi-nation of a Publix and Whole Foods, my favorite store in the area.  I picked up an ad and checked out a few items while Bill stopped at Ace.  Then we went to Gallatin Mall for stops at JoAnn’s (I’m trying to repair my big frog’s broken arm) and JC Penney’s.  I got paint for my frog and found a pair of Nike sneakers for $37 on clearance.  I’m not a big Nike fan but of the brands they had on clearance they fit the best.  I’ll keep a lookout for another pair as I am super hard on sneakers since I where them 95% of the time and I’m supposed to rotate them daily so they last longer.  Bill was looking for a long sleeve dry fit shirt but no luck all day. 

While I was in the mall Bill checked Yelp for a place to eat and the one he selected was in downtown.  The main street once you get downtown has NO left turn signals and took forever since once we were in the left lane we could not get out.  When we got to the restaurant there was no parking to be found.  They need a parking garage or more non-restricted parking.  We had passed Wendy’s so he said we’d just go there as I like their salads.  It happens to be right beside a place called The Red Tractor and it was a pizza place.  I’m not a pizza person but thought Bill would like it and figured I could always get a salad or something else.  It was SO good!  It’s a farm to table place with unusual healthy offerings, along with numerous Montana beers.  Bill got a traditional pepperoni and cheese pizza.  The salads all looked good but none were with meat so I had a 7 inch Squashage pizza.  It was beyond good!  I know it sounds terrible to other people but it had basil pesto, baby spinach, rosemary roasted butternut squash, Italian sausage, roasted beets, mozzarella, Amatheia chevre and fresh basil.  I wish I had gotten a full size one so I could take it home.  Oh, and I chose sprouted grain pizza dough.  Needless to say, we very both full and happy with our selection.  Bill had 2 slices of his larger pizza to take home.

Back to shopping!  Bill dropped me at Dollar Tree while he went to Safeway for their ad.  Turns out Safeway and Albertson’s are part of the same company now and share ads.  We popped into Kohl’s but it’s a small store and they didn’t have much in the way of sneakers or any single sheets.  Then we dropped off his script at Wal-mart.  I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond hunting a new sheet and pillow cases.  Of course they didn’t have specifically what I wanted but I got something that should stay on the bed better!  Then I had a reward to that might expire at Staples so I went in and used it.  The Target is under renovation and didn’t have what I was looking for or Bill’s shirt, but they did have a Starbucks so we each got a small Java Chocolate Chip Frappuccino which served as our dessert!

It was getting late so we headed to Wal-mart and he picked up his script while I worked on the short list for there.  The last stops were Albertson’s where I also got a small piece of dry ice to put in our insulated bag, and then to Rosauer’s for the rest of the sale items.  They had rhubarb which was expensive but I got enough to make a nice crisp.

After a stop for gas we were on the road back to West Yellowstone.  There were no rafters this late in the day but still lots of fishermen.  And then it happened!  I was continually scoping along the river for wildlife and saw what I was sure was a bear.  I made Bill turn around and he saw it moving across the river and he turned around again and I told him I didn’t care if we backed up traffic I was getting my bear photo!  It was a grizzly according to Bill and he turned and faced us!  I was so excited!  We’ve seen bears that others have spotted but this was my first bear spotting! 

Bill was getting hungry so we shared his 2 pieces of pizza on the drive and as we approached West Yellowstone it was close to 8 pm so we pulled through the McDonald’s drive thru for a gourmet dinner:  a quarter pounder and an Artisan grilled chicken sandwich.  It was a pretty good sandwich, especially when you’re really hungry.  We ate in the lot across the street and then headed the last 14 miles home.

What a great day it turned out to be!