Natalie Vartanian's Blog: BFFs in Bozeman, MT

Sunday, July 31, 2011

BFFs in Bozeman, MT

Downtown Butte, MT

Thursday, July 21 – Drove to Butte first thing in the morning. Settled at Emma Park near downtown while working for a couple of hours. After work got done, we moseyed on over to the downtown area to explore. Butte is a small town, old mining community, a bit run down, but you can’t help imagining it back in it’s hay day when it was one of the mining capitals of the US and appreciating the rich history there. We even got to go to the Public Archives (Historic Society) since Sally’s mom is doing research on her ancestry and a lot of Sally’s grandfather’s side of the family are from Butte! Felt like I was working with Rose again doing research on some of the projects I would assist her with … Highlight of our time in Butte was some daredevil action. As our luck would have it, the Evel Knievel Days festival was going on starting the day we got in! What are the odds of that? We got to see some stunt drivers riding their motorcycles and go-karts around the Wall of Death and then witness the Canon Lady being shot straight up in the air and making a perfect landing. For some reason we had a feeling there would be some hard core rowdiness as the night progressed and we just didn’t feel safe staying in Butte, so we contacted one of our new friends (thanks to John from Hood River) and headed to Bozeman. Turned out another one of the guys John connected us with, Ben, was hanging out with Todd that night so it was a two-fer (BONUS)! Todd told us to meet them at the Eagle in downtown Bozeman on Main Street. So once we got to Bozeman we parked in front of Todd’s office near downtown, took our sweet time getting ready and made the short walk to the Eagle. Sally and I decided we would just know who Todd and Ben were although we had never met them before, so did not know what they looked like. We walked in to the Eagle and approached two guys asking them if they were our friends. We quickly found out they weren’t our friends, however it was realized that Zack went to UCSB (Sally’s alma mater) and was staying in Bozeman with his friend Tanner for the summer, so we exchanged info with the plan of hanging out at some point over the weekend. A few seconds later, we DID find Todd and Ben and had a fun evening getting to know our new buddies in Bozeman. We stayed at the Eagle till it almost closed and continued the party (see Friday, July 22!)

Wall of Death, Evel Knievel Days Fest, Butte, MT

Sally, Coach and I in Butte, MT

Friday, July 22 – Since we did not want the party to end, we grabbed some beers and headed back to the RV and Todd’s office. I stayed up until almost 4:30am hanging out with Todd. What a cool, funny, interesting guy! He is part-owner and editor of Bomb Snow Magazine. He knows John from being in the same industry. John is co-owner of Trew Gear (equipment and apparel for skiing and snow-boarding). Todd and his partner also just launched Bomb Flow Magazine to cater to the Kayaking and Water Sport industry. We talked business, listened to music, watched crazy kayaking videos and compared outlooks on life, especially since Todd has had many near-death experiences. Talk about putting things in perspective. After a couple of hours of sleep, Sally and I decided to explore downtown Bozeman and maybe finally get me a phone (yes, I had been phoneless since the Washougal River drowning incident). In the meantime, Zack had sent us a text so we met up with him at a coffee shop on Main Street. That encounter pretty much led to spending the entire weekend with him! Another amazingly cool, funny, interesting, sweetheart of a guy! Sally and I have pondered in amazement how if we walked in to the Eagle simply a couple of seconds before or after we did, we would not have met Zack. That random encounter led to what we are sure will be a long time friendship. Our Friday (with Zack in tow) looked like the following: An errand adventure day as we walked to Verizon and got me an iPhone finally (NO Sales Tax in Montana, hell yeah. Saved me over $80!). A slight rest break back at the RV and then a trip over to Stacey’s Old Faithful Bar in Gallatin Gateway after Zack picked us up. At Stacey’s we danced country and saw “Tessy Lou and The Shotgun Stars” who coincidentally were back in their home town of Bozeman for a couple of months but live in Austin (a future destination of ours). Of course, I made friends with the singer, Tess, in the restroom so that we could connect again in Austin. There was even a lightning show and slight rain to round out the evening. Such a fun day!

Todd, Sally and I outside of his office aka our parking spot

Downtown Bozeman, MT (The Eagle Bar on the corner)

Stacey's Old Faithful Bar, Gallatin Gateway, MT

Zack, Sally and I at Stacey's Bar

Saturday, July 23 – Another day of hanging out with Zack, but this time with his crew too. Sally and I went for a run around the residential streets of Bozeman and then were picked up by Zack and Vanessa to go floating down the Madison River. We basically invited ourselves because our plans with Zack were not until later for the rodeo, but when he said what he was up to, we replied with “Wait! We want to go floating too!” It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we had plenty of time (a 2 hour float) to get to know Vanessa (the wife of Zack’s buddy Tanner). AMAZING girl … a dude’s chick for sure, which Sally and I can totally relate to! At times we felt bad for Zack having to listen to three girls gabbing the whole time (although we know deep down he secretly loved it!) We spent a lot of the time on the river discussing our new business ventures: getting ideas from our new friends as well as playing with possible names for the biz. She Motos was the highest up on the list of names. After floating, we stopped at Vanessa and Tanner’s (Belgrade, MT) and got to enjoy Peach Margaritas and some showers before heading back to Bozeman. Quick pit stop at the RV to change and then off we went to the County Fair for some Rodeo action. Ben and some of his buddies joined us at the Rodeo. We saw corralling of calf, buck riding and wild cow milking. We didn’t leave until we rode the Ferris Wheel (my only request for the day), even if it was a freaking HOUR in line. But as always, the ride was totally worth the wait. There is nothing like that feeling of being on top of the world when you are on the upswing of a Ferris Wheel!

Floating the Madison River with Vanessa, Zack and Sally

Rodeo Action, Bozeman County Fair, MT

Sally and I at the Rodeo

Zack, Sally and I on the Ferris Wheel!

Sunday, July 24 – RV TLC Day. I had breakfast with Zack at the Stockyard Cafe which is a tiny diner style restaurant near a stockyard (not just a clever name) in Bozeman. Good food, cool atmosphere. We were going to take off for Yellowstone on Sunday but felt Bessie Lou needed some attention since we were half-way through our trip. We tidied up the inside, did the dump (in record time), filled water, filled air in the tires and even tried to get an oil change done but the people at Wal-Mart were too confused to know what to do with our RV (lame). We decided to walk away before we caused a scene (okay, an exaggeration but the whole incident was still frustrating). The reward for what felt like a full day of ‘work’ was swimming in the pond near Vanessa and Tanner’s place in Belgrade. I literally did two laps and it felt so freaking good. Vanessa made tacos and margaritas for us all for dinner. The night was spent doing our laundry at their place, eating fudgsicles and watching the Fighter with Zack. It was so good to be parked on a residential street again (right outside their house) since it was super quiet where they live and the sleep was so restful.