Mapping it on from Billings was a bit of a wrench for our boy Aaron, since you can never see everyone you want to when you go home; though he did manage to connect with two grandmas, a grandpa and an uncle in the three short days we were there. It’s always good to touch point with your relatives — you never know how long they will be staying around.
Our journey toward Helena cruised through the wide-open prairies and skies that Montana is famous for. It really is the most delicious state for a road trip because the roads are nicely uncrowded and the scenery spectacular at every turn of the highway. When you book through Airbnb, you never really know what you are actually going to get, but so far on this trip, we have been lucky in that regard. Sometimes, the pictures look good, the place appears nicely remote; but it is not until you arrive at some of these gems that you can gasp and exclaim, “This is paradise!” And that is what awaited us in Helena.
Luckily, we had stocked up on supplies before we made it up to the cabin situation, because we would not have wanted to leave. We only had two short nights in her glory. A main, extended cabin with Great Room, outdoor room, fireplace, kitchen, dining room, bedroom, bathroom and so forth — with lots of perfect little additional sleeping cabins (with their own bathrooms) all around the main homestead. An enormous meadow all around, a brook running past the cabins, an open crackling fireplace with wood at the ready and, oh, this is where my love affair with deer really took flight and flourished.
My three does of the Black Mountain Lodge were forever just a step away, a whisper around the corner from wherever we were. They were strangely unafraid of humans. The photos I captured of these elegant creatures had a ghost-like quality to them as if the deer were not of this world. In fact, the whole place was otherworldly. I wondered if we stopped and turned as we departed from that exquisite location, that there might actually be nothing there. Just a dream sequence, an amazing, shared memory.
Black Mountain Lodge has been in the family for four generations and was the original home of the family’s ancestor Nicholas Kessler, who came to the area from Luxembourg looking for gold and then, finding little, turned his hand to beer, opening up the Kessler Brewing Company in 1864. This community of cabins are so original and beloved that we felt honored that we were allowed to stay inside their hallowed walls. Some Airbnb’s feel the need to lock up their valuables and not share the soul of the place with strangers. The Kessler homestead was quite the opposite, and we did not want to leave it. In fact, the only way we did leave was to promise ourselves that we would return in the not-too-distant future. Pinky promise.
From delicious meals at the lodge and roaring fires in the hearth, sunshine walks in the meadows and woods and sunset drinks with the most incredible views ever, it was time to push on to Birthday Central. Our daughter was celebrating her 30th birthday at Big Fork on the Swan Lake, so we had better get with it and gear ourselves up for champagne, cake and more cake. As we arrived, two fawns and a doe were relaxing on the lawn. Ah, another Deer Central, perfect! I imagined a children’s story that I would create with all the lovely deer characters I encountered on this adventure. The lake was divine, the colors changing in seasonal tribute. It was all a bit magnificent.
Daughter’s friends arrived and laughter in the hot tub was loud and continuous. Daughter and boyfriend tried to go out canoeing — not kayaking, much easier — which was entertaining for all of us left on the bank. On her actual birthday, we checked another big red mark off the bucket list and went horse riding in Glacier National Park at the very tip-top of Montana and as close to Canada as I have ever been. We had promised each other this for a very long time… years, decades even. Horse riding in Montana. It was all a bit too splendid when it actually happened — up and down rocky paths and over bumpy bits in the forest, wondering — when the ranger spoke up about bears — where those pesky things might be hiding.
“If you see a bear, just look really large on your horse,” he said. Oh, I laughed at that. I already look large on my horse you silly man. We had lots of fun and laughs on horseback — Brawny and Roger, respectively — and then I was crippled for a few days afterwards with my stupid knee. That’s what happens when you no longer ride horses, and you do just that. Anything for my girl though and that’s the truth.
We enjoyed delicious enchiladas for her birthday dinner and, with no room for cake, we all collapsed into an enormous birthday pile of contentment. The following day, she and her beau went off with their rods and I started working on my children’s book about the deer that had captured my imagination so entirely on this trip.
The following day on Swan Lake was my very own birthday and I spent it, exactly as I wanted, all by myself, as the others went off fishing. Montana is the queen of rivers and lakes and, if you like to cast a rod or two, it is definitely the place for you! I chose to relax with a good book and some writing — a deliciously selfish day just for me. In the evening, we went off to the brew pub in Big Fork and enjoyed a lovely, celebratory meal with huckleberry ice cream to round it all off. I went to bed very content on the night of another birthday, as you should.
What an amazing adventure we were having, I reflected, as my head hit the pillow.
(Next week’s “Mapping” will take you to Bozeman and beyond.)
