A waterfall, wildflowers and poison ivy…
One of the amazing things about the body of Christ is it’s ability to extend beyond the boundaries of your church home. On a mission trip several years ago the team that my husband and daughter were on from our church got paired up with a smaller team from South Dakota. Over the past several years our church team and the South Dakota team have successfully worked together on many different mission projects in Mexico. The leader of the South Dakota team had recently made a move back to his childhood home of Bozeman Montana. Upon hearing of our vacation plans he graciously extended an invitation for us to come and spend some time with him in his home in Bozeman Montana.
After having endured the accommodations at the Stage Coach Inn for about as long as we could, we made the decision to alter our plans a bit. After breakfast, or I should say after chocking down what they thought passed for breakfast we sat and discussed our plans.
We came to the decision that after three days exploring Yellowstone there was not really anything on either of our list that we had not gotten to do! So on Sunday, June 26th we packed up the car and checked out a day early and headed to Bozeman Montana which was only slightly off course of our next destination.
We took our time and we stopped to enjoy some time by this wonderful river. I think is was the Gallatin River. 
The water was icy cold but wonderfully soothing on my feet. After days and days driving around in the car my feet were bearing the brunt of the experience. I was struggling with swollen tootsies!
Along side the river were amazing patches of wildflowers. 
The amazing this about being in a completely different region of the country was the shift in the seasons. My iris back home had long since been played out and in Bozeman the Iris were just beginning to bloom.
Spring in late June!
We arrived at our friends home in the late afternoon. He suggested a trip to a wonderful waterfall not far from his home that was a comfortable hike. We had a bit of a rest and then set off to explore the area.
The path up to the waterfall was lush and deeply shaded by the dense trees and you could even hear the heavy pounding of the waterfall from the trailhead.
Well here is Palisades Fall in Bozeman Montana. It’s a few moments of coolness during the extreme heat of the summer.
Enjoy!
An added bonus I received from our hike up to this amazing waterfall was the unwanted encounter with some unknown patch of poison whatever. By the time we made it down the path back to the car I was beginning to break out on my right arm. I tried to retrace my step in my head but was not able to determine what it was that I had come in contact with that would cause such an extreme reaction. In any even by the next morning my right arm was blossoming with wonderfully attractive tiny red blisters that itched like crazy. It quickly spread to my left arm but thankfully it wasn't as bad on that arm.
Before we set out on our next leg of the trip made a detour to a local Wal-Mart for some Caladryl and cotton balls. It was way fun y’all!
Well as we drove out of Bozeman headed for Mount Rushmore. I can share with you all that we really enjoyed out time with our Montana friend. For as much fun as this tip was we were all starting to get a bit travel weary and having some time with him in somewhat homey setting was just what we needed.
Well that’s it for this vacay post. I am almost nearing the end of our marathon vacation.
Keep your eyes on your blog roll for my next vacation post about our time in Mount Rushmore and then it is on to The Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert.
All three were awesome!
Here are the links to all the previous vacay post so far if you are interested!
Blessings
R
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