O’dark-thirty came even earlier because I’d spent the entire previous day shooting a wedding and finished as the sun was setting: 9:30. Once I was home I spent another hour or more making sure the files were backed up and burnt, packed and went to bed.
I was on the road as the sun was rising and my destination was beyond Great Falls near a wide spot in the road called Monarch. The area is a historic mining area and designated a Scenic Byway by the National Forest Service. Although I was in a hurry, I had time to shoot along the way.
Silky Water Near Glacier Park
Mustard Fields of Valier
Despite what I thought was a late departure, I arrived ahead of many of the family members. With some extra time I drove uphill to the Sun Mountain Ranch where I met with Uncle Butch and his son Eddy (whom I hadn’t seen or talked to in thirty-plus years) and grandsons who were riding horses. I’d promised to take pictures of the ‘heavies’ he’d recently bought and was training but they weren’t yet harnessed. One of them cast a wary eye my direction the other disappeared behind a building (shy?).
Heavy One
Once back from the ranch, the family had gathered. As I’ve stated before, because time is short it’s vitally important to record family history by word or image. For various reasons I had not been able to attend many of the past re-unions. That made this one much more special. I met with people I hadn’t seen in decades.
Cousin Earling
Cousin Ed and son
Uncle Terry and his granddaugher, Elaina
Cousin Jeff
Cousin Casey
With those I’d not seen in ages, there were those I see on a more regular basis:
Brother Darrell (needs a haircut…heh) looks cool with the shades.
Brother Dave
Old Cowboy
The food was good and plenty of it, as is usual for this sort of thing and I’m sure that most of us ate way more than we should have. The entertainment was a drive-by wagon ride by Uncle Butch and his team of Belgians.
Belgian Freight
Horses are for riding
With all the activity and feasting one thing which can get easily overlooked is recording the relationships for posterity, despite the pleas of people who say, “I don’t take a good picture.”
Sisters Three (Aunt Velma, Laverne, and Lila)
All good things come to an end and soon I was traveling back home. My usual route takes me through an area of Montana which is often brown and not very scenic. This year, because of abundant rainfall, it was a veritable garden. I stopped to shoot pictures because I knew no one would believe what I said.
Rocky Mountain Rain
