TWO WEEKS IN BILLINGS

It's been a while since I posted an update. We spent the past two weeks in Billings where KOA headquarters is located, along with their original franchised campground. It was acquired as a corporate-owned property last year, so it is now part of Eric's portfolio. The mini golf course, playground, and dog park are just a few of the upgrades that have been done recently. 

Our campsite happened to be right next to the ice cream cart. One evening Eric was chatting with the campground manager while she was serving customers. She noticed John standing nearby and asked if he wanted to help scoop ice cream. He dove right in and took it very seriously. As soon as Reed saw what was going on, he wanted to be a part of it too. 

They both reveled in their job and every night for the rest of our stay, they would ask if they could go out and work at the ice cream cart as soon as they saw the campground staff setting up. John told Eric that he needed a yellow shirt to wear so he could look like the rest of the staff. Eric mentioned this to the CEO in one of their meetings a few days later, and she was so amused that she had two yellow shirts sent over for the boys within the hour!

Although this stop wasn't one for sightseeing since Eric was busier than usual with work, we still found some fun things to do. On our first night in town, we discovered a store called Scheels that had a giant Ferris wheel, a bowling alley, animatronic presidents, and fun photo spots.

The Blue Angels happened to be in town that weekend too. Tickets to the air show were sold out, but we were able to see them from a parking lot and even from our campsite.

Another day, we went for a hike at Pictograph Cave State Park to see some ancient cave paintings by Native Americans.

Later that day, we went to the rodeo at the Montana State Fair. I always enjoy rodeos and it was good to find an indoor activity since it was brutally hot that day.

 

One evening Eric and his colleague took the kids to a minor league baseball game so I could have a break. John got a foul ball and Reed got a home run ball!

Another day, we spent several hours at a community water park trying to beat the heat.

While Eric was in the office every day for annual capital planning meetings, the boys and I started home school. I wish I could say they embraced it with enthusiasm, but alas, they did not. We've been in road trip vacation mode for three months now, and after so much fun and freedom, it's hard for them to settle down and focus on school work. But home school has been part of the plan for this trip all along, so we just have to find our groove and settle in.

We left Billings on Saturday to head to our next destination: Glacier. Rather than spending the entire 6-hour drive buried in their iPads, we had the boys knock out another day of school work. They weren't happy about it, but now we can take a day off this week for sightseeing. My next post will be a LOT more interesting!