lsanderson | On the Recent Rosenberg Family Reunion at the Boulder Creek Lodge, Hall, Montana

Getting There

I drove from Minneapolis, MN to Fargo, ND on Wednesday to my sister's house. We picked up a friend at the airport that night at 11:30 pm, gabbed for a bit and went to bed. We planned on leaving early, and we did. The friend stayed to visit her friends and make a trip to Bismarck, where she ustta live. If you have lived in NoDak, driving across it makes watching paint dry sound exciting, but it starts getting a wee bit better once you cross the wide Missouri between Bismarck and Mandan. It ustta cost an hour to cross the bridge, but they moved the time zone change clear outta Mandan so that you can no longer cross the river and drink for an extra hour.

Bismarck to Billings

We spent the night at the Kelly Inn, just off I90 both coming and going. The first time, Google gave us a very circuitous route to reach the hotel. We did better after the first time. We had two breakfasts at the Kelly Inn (It comes with the room.), and that's already too much to say about it. We ate at The Outback, which is an "Australian" chain. My sister's husband, who drove, and I went to one in Fargo, ND when it opened there. It was a very memorable meal because they screwed up everything, including doing anything about the multiple fuckups until the manager asked how we enjoyed the meal as we were trying to escape.

Billings to Hall

We had a family reunion at Boulder Creek Lodge, south of Hall, Montana, and we had midwest Scandinavian potluck, with my sister's plum pudding (Xmas family tradition with a cinnamon brandy sauce amongst us old pharts), krumkake, rosettes, and sandbakkel. Hamburgers and sausage, sloppy joes, bacon, eggs, and pancakes, pulled pork, which kinda breaks the old midwest stereotype, potato salads and a few other salads not of the lettuce variety. We had one store-bought cake. It was all good, not much different from a family gathering in New Rockford, NoDak in 1956 would have been. The rolls were from my grandmother's recipe. The plum pudding recipe dates from way before that.

We spent two nights at the Wagon Wheel Motel in Drummond, MT. Except for the a/c, leet password, and wifi, it was vintage 1956. I got two coffees in the morning at the cafe there.

Boulder Creek Lodge with a lotta Rosenbergs

Boulder Creek Pr0n

Sunday morning after breakfast with egg, sausage and cheese muffins and my sister trying to pawn off the remaining rosettes and krumkake, we drove the scenic route down past Philipsburg, which was having a bash that weekend which we entirely missed, to Billings and the Kelly Inn. We dragged my sister's husband to the Montana Brewing Company Sunday night in Billings. Their beer was good, their French fried potatoes were excellent, and their food was good. Their kitchen was not the fastest one on the planet. Who knew huckleberries grew on evergreens? I had their huckleberry wheat beer first and then a stout. My sister stuck to huckleberry lemonade, which had some funny berries in it.

Billings to Fargo

I dragged three boxes of beer from Minneapolis, in fear of an ocean of Budweiser, but there was a mixture of beers, although a lotta Budweiser. Philipsburg, which was just down the road had a big weekend going on, but we didn't go there. They also had a brewery, which would have been fun.