starrs

Awww, thanks, dcd! It was great being back out there and seeing the parks again. You'll have a blast, I'm sure. I'll try to get cracking!

starrs

Hanging around the Crazy Mountains -
We had been going non-stop for almost a week and it was time to relax. The timing was great because our fearless driver had been getting sick for days and pretty much ran out of steam. I like down time on trips and we had a chance to relax as much as we wanted for the next few days. We were lucky enough to have a great place to relax, nowhere we HAD to be and no schedule to keep. As much as I loved seeing the three national parks, I loved these days. After eating every meal in restaurants, it was nice to have a kitchen available. I used to travel non-stop, but I've really learned to enjoy the slower days on long trips.

We wandered into the little town of Livingston with no expectations. No plans. Not sure what we were going to find to see. The first stop was the visitors center and we picked up some brochures - and learned there was a Yellow Bus tour of Livingston. Okay. That sounds good. The tour didn't start for a couple of hours so we wandered over to the Yellowstone Gateway Museum.

http://www.livingstonmuseums.org/assoc/default.html
A nice little museum in an old school building. Locals had donated all kinds of interesting things and the collection kept all four of us intrigued.

Time for the tour so we headed back to the Depot -
http://www.livingstonmuseums.org/depot/index.html

I had no idea that Livingston was the original gateway for Yellowstone NP. Visitors would arrive by train, and the railroad built a depot designed to impress wealthy tourists from the east. It's an amazing building - and they've done a great job with its renovation. The museum is free and is the originating point of the Yellow Bus Tour.

Yellowstone Yellow Bus tours of Livingston - we had stumbled upon a find. One of the original yellow buses was in service to give tours of Livingston. According to our wonderful guide, Livingston has more than 400 buildings on the national register of historic places - more than NYC, Philadelphia (and I think she said) Boston combined. Now, it's a little town, so most of the town must be on the national register. Our guide was a hoot! I can't remember her name but a local who returned and knew the ins and outs of Livingston. She was a great guide.

The tour is "free" with a suggested $5 donation. Tours are at 1 and 2 pm on Thursdays through Saturdays. You ride in an open air (cover available) 1938 Yellowstone Park Bus - #437 in fact. As we are riding around town, the guide talks a bit about the restoration of the bus and then passes a binder with photos showing the restoration. Our Golden Eagles are in the front. Two men are in the middle seat. We're in the back. I'm the last person to look at the photo album...and I stop. I look at a picture. I look up. I look at another picture. I look up. I'm wondering if it really could be true, but I'm pretty sure it is. I tap the shoulder of the guy in front of me, show him a picture and ask "Is this you?". It was. He was. We had the restorer of the bus taking the tour. The guide was all atwitter! I got his autograph on my little tour map (that our guide had written). It was a little exciting - a celebrity in our midst. Actually it was great fun and we really enjoyed the tour and Livingston MT. It's no surprise that so many celebrities (movie/TV) live in the area - and can live nice, quiet lives in gorgeous countryside without being bothered very much at all.

http://thegourmetcellar.com/
Tucked in next to the Depot is a wonderful wine and cheese shop. I had ducked in quickly to buy bottled water before the tour. They had some chips with dips out and I grabbed a chip and dipped. JUST as a put the chip in my mouth a clerk started to say something - and then stopped. And just watched. Hmmm...it seems that the dip was hot. 8 on a scale of 10 - and I don't like hot things. Ouch! We laughed, but I said they needed to give folks a warning. After the tour, I stopped back in. The samples now had signage (thank goodness) and I did a bit of quick shopping. I picked up a few bottles of their recommended wines - for us and for thank you gifts. They have a wonderful cheese selection as well and I picked up some recommended proscuitto, sliced to our liking, some Cowgirl Creamery Mt Tam, cheese straws, and assorted crackers. Yum!

We all went to Albertson's and it was a bit strange to be in a big grocery store again. We bought plenty of fluids, fresh fruit (incredible Ranier cherries) and great steaks. A storm blew up and we left the store ducking hail. Thank goodness for a difference of just a couple of hours! Then we headed back home to enjoy the appetizers, grill the steaks and pour some wine. Steaks, shrimp (uneaten from the previous night) and fresh corn. Gorgeous views of the Crazy Mountains. It doesn't get much better than this!
http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/cheeses.asp

starrs

Still hanging around the Crazies...
It's the end of the first week and the Golden Eagles fly home. The Billings airport is a great option IMO. On the way back from the airport we pass a ballpark...and double back. R gets out to check things out...and tomorrow is opening day! We have a plan. Minor league baseball in Montana. What a way to start the second week

http://billings.mustangs.milb.com/index.jsp?sid=t513

Instead of sightseeing Billings, we decide to head back "home". We do make a couple of stops along the way -

http://visitmt.com/history/Montana_t...tory/caves.htm
Pictograph Caves State Park - an easy walk from the parking lot to the caves to see the drawings.
The first (of many) warning signs for rattlesnakes.
A visitor heading downhill telling us there is a rattler on the path. Thank goodness we never saw it.
My favorite - and least expensive - Tshirt came from their small visitor center.

http://montanakids.com/things_to_see.../greycliff.htm
Greycliff Prairie Dog Town State Park
It takes just a few minutes to drive into the park (right off the expressway) and see lots of the little critters hanging out, sending warnings when cars (and camera lenses?)are too near. Yes, you'll probably see lots of prairie dogs elsewhere on your trip, but it is fun to spend a few minutes (in the car) watching a lot of them scurrying around. I'm sure that's true only for those coming from areas without prairie dogs, of course.

Back home for more relaxing, internet, TV, hot tub, soaking tub, deer in the yard and hawk still screeching above.

starrs

Storm stories...or how we dodged a tornado

I'm relaxing, enjoying being still. R calls me out to watch a storm roll in. It's a doozy. A dark wall of storm moving over the hills and mountains and headed straight for us. It felt like being in a Storm story show on the Weather Channel. Nature put on a show for us. But, when it was time for the storm to hit us...nothing. Not even a drop of rain. We later walked back out and watched the dark sky continue to move.

And then, a few minutes later the TV starts airing the coverage. A tornado has hit Billings. We are glued to the TV, watching the coverage. The poor young newscaster just didn't have the experience or words to describe what just happened. The storm that had passed right over us and dropped a tornado on Billings, caused a lot of damage and destroyed the MetraPark arena - which was the staging point in Billings' disaster plan. Thank goodness people had not been sent there, because the tornado ripped apart the place.
http://billingsgazette.com/news/loca...cc4c03286.html

We were thankful that the Golden Eagles had flown out safely. We were thankful we weren't walking around Billings sight-seeing. We were thankful that we got NOTHING - not even rain - as the storm passed over us.

Geez. For a lot of relaxing, this sure is taking me a long time. Not much cracking going on

Fast forward -
The ballgame. We loved the game, the prices, the camaraderie of a minor league game in a small city/big town. Especially loved putting on a sweatshirt in mid-June when the sun started to set.

Natural Bridge State Park - we loved the drive to the park, even though the natural bridge is no longer there
http://www.sweetgrasscounty.com/attractions/bridge1.htm

Grand Hotel, Big Timber - we enjoyed lunch at the Grand, even though it was the worst service of the trip. The food was very good and we enjoyed being at a place that has been "serving Cattlemen, Cowboys, Sheepherders, Miners, railroad Men & Travelers Since 1890". We were told to look out for Tom Brokaw, Tom McGuane, Brent Musburger or Michael Keaton, but we didn't see any of them. Maybe we were there too early. Perhaps the celebrity sighting would have been better in the evening when the saloon was busier.

Just driving around, enjoying the scenery - we did a lot of this. In the car and on the "mule". The caretaker had dropped by to check to make sure we had everything we needed. He gave us some info and we felt better prepared and headed out to enjoy the countryside. It was interesting to confirm that even though it looked like wide open spaces, folks keep an eye out. I know it looked like we were in the middle of nowhere, but I also knew that we had eyes watching out for us and any help we needed was just a few moments away. It reminded me of apartment living in NYC - with just a little more space.

Brad Pitt - A Fodorite really wants to know the scoop but I'm not at liberty to share. We WERE in an area where some of my favorite movies were filmed, including Robert Redford (again!)
A River Runs Through It - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105265/
The Horse Whisperer - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119314/

Good wine, good food, good rest... after a few days we were ready to continue on. Next stop - Glacier NP!

starrs

Cottonwoods and more "snow"- I just looked at my pictures and realized I forgot to mention the cottonwood trees and their "cotton".

I knew of the trees from books like the Little House series. I knew they grew near water. I knew their seeds looked like cotton. But I had never seen the "cotton" floating on the breeze before. Well, on this trip we saw plenty of cotton blowing. It reminded me of the (real) snow we had seen just a few days before.

I have to admit, at the ball game I watched the cotton blowing as much as I watched the game. I snapped pictures of a cotton seed getting caught in the netting - and tried to get pics of it blowing in the wind. I watched clouds of it drifting across the fields. Everyone seemed oblivious to it, but I was entranced and enchanted.

Kay2

Thanks for the trip report, Starrs.

Love the "out of the way" places like Meeteese and the airport. My husband the pilot is ready to add that to our already overloaded trip.
What did you think of the Pictograph Caves State Park?

I had forgotten about the tornado in Billings (we weren't even thinking of a trip when that hit). I'm getting ready to make calls about places to stay and will call the motel that was first on our list to see if they are OK because they seem to be located near where it hit.

starrs

On to Glacier NP via Great Falls -

It's a good thing we rested because this was going to be a long day. One option would be to stay over in Great Falls - and I guess we should - but I wanted to get on to Glacier. So we headed out. I was distracted as we were leaving and we ended up on a different road than I had planned. I wanted to go on the squiggly road with the dotted green line (that designates it as a scenic road) but we ended up heading out on a different route. I relaxed and told myself that we'd seen many a pretty road so don't worry about it.

An aside - I really wanted to see a windmill farm and had asked folks since Billings where one was. They looked at me blankly. I said I knew there was a place in the area with lots of windmills right by the road. More blank looks. Maybe they just couldn't believe I was asking the question. I should have emailed kurieff, but I just forgot. So, we are heading out and Judith Pass sounds vaguely familiar but I wasn't sure why. Judith Pass sounded pretty to me (and it really wasn't) so maybe I just remembered seeing it on the map and thinking about its name. But, all of a sudden R exclaims "Windmills! There are your windmills!" And there they were. A windmill farm! Crops of windmills planted in the rolling ground. Huge. White. Majestic. 3 blades slowly turning, generating clean power. I want a windmill back home! I'd love to go off the grid.
http://www.newwest.net/topic/article...chers/C41/L41/

We drove and drove. And Montana is just beautiful. I expected grandeur in Glacier, but I just fell in love with the countryside of Montana - and we weren't even on the squiggly green road. We crossed over a river and noticed the name. It was the same river that ran behind the house! In a little while that water would be "there". The thought made me smile. I read aloud from the Compass Guides about the area and realized that under the windmill farms were planted missles and thought the crops in Montana were quite unusual.

Okay - trying to get cracking here. I had hoped to be able to meet up with kureiff but the total lack of schedule made that pretty much impossible. Our stays at the two Montana places overlapped so I wasn't sure what day we'd leave the first one to head to the second one. I WILL be back and look forward to meeting another Fodorite in person then. kurieff had given me great advice and we loved her recommendations.

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center -
http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/lewisclark/lcic/
loved it. Just LOVED it. They've done a fabulous job telling the story of their journey and it is one of the best interactive museums I've ever visited. Wonderful exhibits, beautifully curated, interesting videos. I could have stayed for hours more. But, we were racing the sun again, so we moved on to...

CM Russell museum-
www.cmrussell.org
I don't think we did this justice. As we entered we were told that the studio and house would be closing soon and they suggested we see those first. Those were at the top of my list anyway, so we walked through the museum's gift shop to the back of the property and did a quick run-through of his log house studio and the two story home. I've mentioned it before, but it seemed bizarre to be in his actual studio and think that the exhibit was better at the recreation of his studio at the Buffalo Bill museum in Cody. Those thoughts seemed...disloyal somehow. But original items were in Cody and period items were now in his studio. We moved quickly to the house and quickly through the house. Once again, nicely done in period furnishings and I enjoyed seeing it. That's my cup of tea. Back to the museum and to be honest we just raced through it. We asked where the Buffalo Stampede was and zipped down floors to the back corner and walked throught the "stampede" and felt the floor move to recreate the sensation. The guidebook said it would appeal to kids, and I'm sure it would. But, as we exited, a huge photograph mounted on board created a graphic display of buffalo heads piled up in monstrous piles to be burned for things like fertizlizer...and china. China?! It never occured to me how "bone china" got its name. I immediately felt guilty. I love china and have too much and now I have a realization of what the "bone" in bone china meant.

Don't do Great Falls like we did it. Take your time. We enjoyed what we saw, but were rushing through the day. That's a shame. We should have spent the night.

Next stop = First Peoples Buffalo Jump State Park -
http://montanakids.com/things_to_see..._parks/ulm.htm
I loved Heads Smashed In Buffalo Jump in Canada and since we decided not to go into Canada on this trip, I really wanted to see this one. SO glad we did. I was totally impressed at how first class the entire set-up was. Great (small) visitor center. GREAT exhibit. The teepee was wonderful and you (and your kids) can actually go in and see close up the objects/furnishings inside. The diorama depicted the buffalo stampede beautifully. The rattlesnake on display was a little too close for comfort. They did everything well. We wandered out to the back patio and a young ranger gave an interpretative talk. She told the story of the buffalo jump, sharing details about the process and the life of the First Peoples. The two teepees on the hill represented the dog era teepee and the horse era teepee. As soon as she said that I could see the difference in size and recognized why. She was animated in sharing the setup of the stampede, told us that the first bison over the edge of the mesa were killed immediately due to the fall but the following bison had to be killed after they fell by the waiting people. She shared examples of chert, obsidian (and even petrified wood found in the area) and the uses in arrowheads and knives. She shared that she was going to be a bridesmaid in Savannah in October and was amazed that it would be warm enough to wear a strapless dress when it wasn't even warm enough to do that in Montana during the summer. She was charming, intelligent, well educated, and headed back to school for her doctorate in anthropology. What a ranger talk!

She gave directions to the top of the mesa, and we headed up. The color of the day must have been white, because only white vehicles were in the parking lot. Prairie dogs were waiting and chattering. That damn rattlesnake sign was out again, and I watched my step carefully. We walked to the edge and looked over and imagined the process of the buffalo jump. We chatted with other visitors, greeted dogs enjoying running over wide opened spaces, watched in awe as a mom carried a baby down the trail as she called Snoopy to join them. All we could think of were rattlesnakes, dogs, babies...and imagined the worse. I can handle humidity at home but those Montana rattlesnakes had me concerned

Standing at the top of the mesa was glorious. Glorious views. Glorious weather. Warm sunshine, gentle wind. A great day back on the road.

Time to rush on. Three more hours of driving. We plug in the address in the GPS and trust it will take us the right way.

starrs

First night at Glacier -
We're just trying to make good time now. Lunch that day was a drive-through (shhh!!! don't tell anyone), our first fast food of the trip. But we were on the move. As we neared Glacier we stopped for gas - and the glorious warm day and turned windy and cold again. Bring out the fleece again.

I love imagining what a town will be like when I read the name on the map. Browning was NOT was I expected. It was the first place we'd seen in Montana that was not neat as a pin and just...pretty. We're less than an hour from our new home but we are making good time. We reach East Glacier and I'm enchanted. LOVE this tiny town. Love the town dogs walking, sitting, standing in the street. Love Mama Dog walking the sidewalks, deciding to sit for a while - IN the street. Love watching Mama Dog look up with excitement and run to greet Stella Dog - in the MIDDLE of the street. Later Stella is thirsty so she walks to the nearest mud puddle for a drink. As we left, Stella is lounging in the parking lot and gives us a noble look as if she were saying her goodbyes.

We wander into the most likely option for dinner provisions - the Glacier Park Trading Company. http://www.eastglacierpark.info/Shops.html
This old general store has just about everything you need, including internet access and Avis cars to rent. We stroll the food aisles looking for something to take with us and when we reach the end we are standing in front of the pizza counter. It will take 20 mintues, but pizza sounds great. So we place our order and wander the store some more. You need fudge? They've got it. You need Tshirts, souvenirs, camping/hiking equipment, socks, books, something else? They've got it. I started a pile on the counter and we kept adding to it. We walked outside for a stroll and Pizza Lady was out front rubbing Mama Dog and visiting with locals and tourists alike. We strolled down the short block - and the apple pie in the diner grabbed our attention. A slice to go. The lending library was there too. The Amtrak station across the street. Several motels and the Backpackers Inn where backpackers can rest their heads for $12/night. A pottery shop. I'm loving this town.

Back inside to pick up the pizza, pay for the drinks and all the other stuff piled up, and we are on our way on Hwy 2 to the bottom end of Glacier NP.

The drive is pretty through forests with peeks of railroad trestles. We're happy. The pizza is smelling good. We see the tell-tale signs of wildlife ahead - cars pulled partially off to the side. We find a good place to park and walk to the bridge...and the best photographs of the trip (I think).

We are at Goat Lick Overlook. In front of us a gorge. This happens to be a natural salt lick. And at this time of night (still daylight but about 9pm) the goats are out. Lots of them. Walking around. Doing their goat thing. Including two precious babies. And they were precious. Lots of oohing and ahhing going on that bridge. The babies stand at the edge of the river/creek. One jumps across. The other wants to - but is afraid. False start. Another false start. Mama Goat comes up behind him - and head butts him across the water. Success! They run and play and hop and jump and walk across logs and come up under the bridge and then back to the water...and there's that same problem again. We leave before we find out if the scared baby goat gets across the water again.

We leave because dark is coming fast. And I mean fast! Here we go again. Coming in at dark. We find the place. Turn in the drive. Find our cabin. The keys are at ready. Insert it in the lock. Nothing.

We look at each other in disguest. I read the tag again. "Original (cabin place) keys". Try again. Nothing. Cussing. What the **** are we supposed to do? We get in the car and drive to the bigger place on the property. No car, so the folks staying there aren't there? Maybe the key will work here. Approach the front door with optimism. The lock is now a keypad. More grumblings. BUT, there is a sticky note with a telephone number. Who is THAT for? There's no cell reception here. How do we call that number? I rip the note off the door and we head back out for the closest motel to ask to borrow a phone.

We are greeted with a "Do you need a room?" My response was "I don't know". I explain the situation, show her the sticky note and she says, "Oh, that's Tracey". She calls Tracey. Tracey tells us where to find our keys - the ones that work. She asks if we have everything we need. I have no idea - we haven't gotten in the place yet. We head back. The correct keys work. We're unloading the car and a truck drives up. Great. A man gets out and it's Tracy's husband. We chat. We're set. I mention that I can't wait to get into the hot tub. He stops. Turns arounds. Looks. And then says "There are animals out here". Gets in his truck and drives away. ???

We re-heat the pizza. More a glass of the excellent Malbec purchased at the Gourmet Cellar. Consider our options. I decide to wait on the hot tub. But we are safe and settled in our little Glacier getaway with the sound of the river - and GNP just across the river. It's been a long but good day.

dcd

Boy, Starrs, you are cracking!! Great stuff, too.

We're flying into Great Falls around 10:30 am on Sat (the 24th) and will spend the nite there. Your 2 museums are on our list. Both sound great. We have an excellent Lewis and Clark museum under the Arch here in StL so it will be interesting to compare the 2.

We'll be heading to Glacier some time on Sun. If we don't have time for both museums on Sat, (a likely scenario?), we'll see the one we missed on Sun before heading out.

Thanks to you, I now know there's such a thing as a buffalo jump! And that there's a state park dedicated to it. Which is why I read, read, and read a little more here on fodors before charging off like a wild buffalo on my trips..........

Anyway, would you rate this park as a "don't miss", knowing what lies ahead in Glacier? How much time to allow? How much of a detour would it be timewise from the road to Glacier? It looks like we'd head out of Great Falls on I-15/Rt 89 and exit at Ulm Vaughn Road to hit the park. Or should we skip it and move on?

Not sure which green squiggly line/road you were hoping to take to Glacier. I was thinking of Rt 89. Is that the one you ended up taking?

starrs

Thanks, dcd. You were the motivation to get writing

You can probably do the buffalo jump in about 30 minutes and it's not far off out of Great Falls. I think we stayed more like an hour, but a lot of that was talking to the ranger. Be sure to take the time to drive to the top of the mesa. There's a trail to hike from the visitor center up to the Mesa and it looks like a nice walk. But we didn't have that kind of time and you won't either.

The Buffalo Jump is a "don't miss" for me, because I just like that kind of stuff. I'll easily cut 30 minutes off a museum stop in order to see things like this state park. Some folks could probably zip in and out in 10 minutes, but I just love learning more. And this visitor center does their stuff VERY well. I loved Heads Smashed In in Canada so much I've sent lots of folks there. They look at me like I'm crazy, but after they trip they tell me how much they enjoyed it. I understand HSI has improved their visitor center a lot since I was there years ago.

The green squiggly scenic road I was talking about was 89 south of Great Falls. But, we did take part of 89 north of GF. We actually got on the interstate (15) and the GPS routed us over to 89 via 44 through Valier. It was a pretty route and we made good time.

Have a blast! I can't imagine you not!

starrs

Mountain lions?!?!?!?!


The next morning we were up and out and ready for breakfast with the nice folks that helped up out. We drove to Glacier Haven Inn & the Healthy Haven Cafe -
http://www.glacierhaveninn.com/

These folks are so nice! Everything is neat as a pin. For breakfast they offer a buffet with juice, coffee, cereal, pastries, a home-made pound cake - and your choice of a cooked item, either a pancake or an omelette. I opted for protein.

The inn/cafe is a small family run venture and they are REALLY nice folks and we felt like family. We talked a bit with some of the other customers and ended up seeing one couple all over GNP during the next two days. There's a little gift shop off the cafe and I found something I'd looked for in every gift shop so far on the trip. The last time I was at Mammoth, I bought a cute kitchen towel with a bear next to a sign that said "Please do not feed the bears". He's holding a sign that says "I am not a bear". That silly graphic just makes me laugh - and I wanted hot pads for the mountain place. At HHC I hit the jackpot! I bought a few other items as gifts for folks back home, Julie sold us tickets for the boat ride at Many Glacier and we even rented bear spray for the day. Julie brought a map of Glacier over to the table and gave us the scoop and wonderful recommendations. With folks like Julie, who needs to plan?

We didn't peek at the motel rooms but there are pictures on the website and Tracey* helps clean both their motel and the place we were staying. Our cabin was SPOTLESS so I'm sure their rooms are too. If you are looking for an alternative to places in the park, consider staying on Hwy 2 - halfway between East and West Glacier.

Julie shared on important piece of information. Tracey's husband gave us a hint, but not the full details. The folks staying at the bigger place on our property were playing cards and looked up. Standing at the window looking IN was a mountain lion. I'm not sure I'm getting in that hot tub! R was laughing and we compared it to the Fishing Cone at Yellowstone. In years past, a fisherman could catch a fish in the lake, turn around and put the fish still on the hook into the cone and cook the fish without moving or taking the fish off the hook. We decided that soaking in the hot tub would be a similar experience for the mountain lion. Happy mountain lion! They conveniently parboil themselves BEFORE he comes by for his snack

The mountain lion sighting helped convince us to rent the bear spray. Before breakfast I had strolled to the river to take pictures and had a feeling that I was being watched. At least now, we'd have something to slow "it" down, whatever "it" happened to be.

*Tracey's name has been changed for privacy reasons.

Now off to Glacier - finally!

kureiff

Great report. It would've been great to meet up, but you had a lot of ground to cover in one day!

dcd, I think part of the charm of the Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center in Great Falls is that it sits right on the Missouri just a mile or so below the falls that Lewis and Clark portaged around. It's not a huge museum, but it's in an excellent location!

Starrs, the wind farm at Judith Gap is pretty amazing, isn't it? The land is owned by a Hutterite Colony and the air space is leased to a wind company. Wind has become big business in MT, but our infrastructure and grid are so small and antiquated that it has been difficult to get more wind farms built. We need a new line and larger grid before any more large scale wind farms can be built.

janiekins

Starrs, I love your trip report. Thanks for sharing.

amwosu

Amazing report Starrs. Thanks!
Ann Marie

starrs

Thanks Ann Marie!
We had dinner last night with the couple we met in Montana. That's inspired me to (finally) finish this thing - tonight!

dcd

And in the nick of time for yours truly!!

starrs

Sorry, dcd. Short delay.

starrs

GNP pictures up on Facebook. I hope to get the report finished and all pics up tonight. Life just gets in the way

dcd

No problem. The outstanding trip reports, like yours, are very labor intensive. It's uber-nice that you do them.

Besides, I haven't started to pack yet.............so you still have time!!

starrs

Albertson's is great for stocking up, but we loved this little gourmet market in Jackson -
http://www.pearlstmeatandfish.com/