#3 The Best Vacation I Ever Had

   In my lifetime, I have been on some vacations. When I was young, Dad and Mom had all the responsibility of driving, making reservations, etc. While I was married, I did all the driving, and those vacations were to distant grandparents of my wife's.  My wife and I took a few short jaunts to Michigan while her health was good, but they were short and though nice, were nothing special. I flew to California twice to visit cousins, staying with them in their home and not doing much since they had small children at the time.
   My best vacation ever was my trip to Montana in 2008. My daughter was teaching in a small town in the Northeastern part of Montana in, what the "natives" call the "high plains."  I flew for the first time in  44 years from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, changed planes and flew on to Billings, Montana. Flying had changed so much since I had been on a plane. So had airports! I had to change planes, had 20 minutes to do it in Minneapolis, and thus enjoyed the "people conveyor." Arriving in Billings was a treat. All the mountains around us, I wondered just how this plane was going to land, but it did, sort of dropping down out of the sky and onto the airfield.
My daughter met me there, and we made the 3+ hour trip back to her home in Jordan, MT. She did all the driving, and gave me a continual narrative of the surrounding areas like she had lived there all her life, rather than only 2 years.
   I met her friends, visited her school, visited a couple ranches, ate well and slept like a baby. The days were hot and dry, but as soon as the sun set, the wind picked up and it cooled down enough to sleep without the AC on and the windows open. I loved it. I interviewed for a job while I was there, teaching in one of the 8 one-room schools that were situated throughout the county. I visited that school building which had a small home for the teacher on the same property. It was down a well-maintained dirt road, 22 miles from town. I would have 8-10 students from K thru grade 8. Though it would have been a challenge, and I was tempted, I had to say "no." The thought of being "stuck" 22 miles from town in the dead of winter in an area that got snow, not by the inch, as I was accustomed,but by the foot, scared me.
  We took a day trip to the Missouri Breaks, which is a desolate area in Montana carved out by the Missouri River once upon a time. It is so hauntingly beautiful that no words that I have can describe it. We also took a ride north to a small town that had a summer theater manned by college drama students for a delightful, and quite professional presentation of "Jesus Christ, Superstar."
   I delighted in sitting at the Hell Creek Bar and Grill in Jordan where good food, good booze and good friends met. One evening a fellow brought his guitar and his mother had her standing bass, someone else was on the piano and we drank beer and sang. What fun!
   The last night I was there, many of my daughter's friends, teachers she worked with, and their respective significant others gathered at Hell Creek B and G, and gave me great send off. I heard lots of stories about the area and also some stories about what a great teacher my daughter was and the great strides she had made in the school's English department. She had even produced and directed two student musicals while there, unheard of up till then.
   I left Jordan knowing that my gal was in good hands and was appreciated for her talents, as well as her personality. It felt good. I had a ball, had little responsibility while I was there. I flew home a happy man.
   Though it wasn't as exciting as someone else's vacation, I loved every moment. I saw things I had never seen before, met new people, observed another way of life, and flew for the first time in jets!
That, my friends, was the best vacation ever.