Juniper Falls Ranch
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Sunday Snippet: The It’s a Real Snippet Edition
It’s been a healing week, mes amis. Trying to fight back the unholy tiredness that Covid has left me with and it’s slow going. Still not much appetite yet either, although that’s improving. I’ve found some things that sound good–cottage cheese, bread, fresh tomatoes, almonds, and water, always water. Had a glass of wine with lake pals, Mo and Cindy, last night and that was nice, too. On Thursday, Husband and I went by the winery here in our lake town to listen to music and discovered we were the only ones who were willing to brave the heat. We were so glad we did because we met an amazing…
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Montana Day 7: Purple Eater People
The bartender stopped in front of us. The drink he’d prepared was a creamy lavender beneath a white swirl of whipped cream. The Purple Russian, he explained, consists of huckleberry liqueur and local huckleberry whisky and vodka. Nan and I oohed and ahhed, although we weren’t tempted at that moment to order anything more than the iced teas we were consuming after our hike to Ousel Falls. We were too tired and thirsty for alcohol, no matter how pretty it was. Montana shops are full of everything huckleberry, and we’ve become fans. We’d already returned to the local grocery to buy more chocolate-covered huckleberry truffles. I purchased huckleberry-flavored lip gloss…
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Montana Day 6: More Yellowstone and We Shopped!
Today was an easy day–we drove back to West Yellowstone and wandered around the very, very tourist-centric town and shopped. We checked out several of the 7,896 souvenir and T-shirt and sweatshirt and Western wear stores (okay, maybe a slight exaggeration, but there were a LOT of stores!) West Yellowstone also has, interestingly, 40 restaurants in a town of only about 1,800 people. However, West Yellowstone gets at least 3, 375,000 visitors from all over the world every year, and I’m assuming they all want to eat. After all, we did. We had lunch at a fun 50s-style diner called Canyon Street Grill–black-and-white checkerboard floors, red vinyl booths, 50s decor,…
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Sunday Snippet: Day 5.5 Montana: Exploring Big Sky
Carol here, once again taking over Nan’s blog. We stayed local yesterday and started with Nan’s favorite vacation tradition–a shampoo and blow dry at the Hair Ninja. Leah was not only a terrific hair stylist (she calls herself a “hairapist”) but an excellent source of information about the area. Like many resort towns, Big Sky sees frequent turnover in local business staff and shortages in some critical fields, like medicine. The year-round population of 3000 quadruples in the winter months. However, housing prices are high, so skiers and snow boarders find it difficult to settle in the area for long. Some restaurant menus change year-to-year as chefs don’t return. There…
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Day 3.5 Montana: We Were Slugs…
Nan here. Okay, maybe not entirely sluggish, but after we wandered around Big Sky for a couple of hours and had lunch at a very nice country club with a fantastic mountain view, we decided not to try to go up to Ousel Falls right then. Our plan was to take our tired, altitude-sick butts back to the condo and rest. Then change into our jeans and hiking shoes and go up to the falls. Ummmm…not so much, cuddling up in blankets and reading and honestly, napping, it was after five when we both came back to the world. A brief discussion later and we were reminded we still have…
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Nan & Carol’s Big Adventure Montana Style
We’re here! After a combined 4 airports, we’ve arrived in Big Sky and wow! It truly is BIG here! Big mountains, big rivers, huge rocks and trees… it’s a little overwhelming but absolutely gorgeous country. I left my local airport at 8:30 a.m.; Carol left her local airport 10:15 a.m. and we met up in Denver Airport. Then we flew together to Bozeman–one of the cutest airports I’ve ever seen! There are bears and moose everywhere and some crazy huge bird hanging from the ceiling! There’s even a convenient bin to dispose of your bear spray, which made us laugh. The whole airport was mountain stone and cedar beams–really pretty…
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Sunday Snippet: The And We’re Off…Almost Edition
I am beyond excited right now. I passed excited on Friday and I’m into full-on thrilled and nervous because on Tuesday, writer pal, fellow Tule Publishing author, and roomie extraordinaire, Carol Light, and I are headed to Montana! Yup. I decided that if I was going to write about Montana, I should go out to Big Sky Country and check out the glorious mountains and ranches and rodeos for myself. I asked Carol if she wanted to come, too, and she hopped onboard, so the mystery writer and the romance author are off on a big adventure! Next week, Carol and I will be here nightly with reports on where…
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Sunday Snippet: The One More Embarrassing Moment Edition…Sigh
Holy cats, kids, it’s Sunday again! No idea how that happened. It’s been an eventful week here at casa Reinhardt, although as I look back on the last few weeks, what sticks out is work. I’ve been working a lot this month of June and now as July appears on the horizon, I find myself wondering what happened to the first third of summer. But this week has been all about fun and lake life because I had my dear friend Minnie with me for a few days up at the cottage. It was delightful to share the lake with her and I think she had a good time. I…
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Sunday Snippet: The It’s an Actual Snippet Today Edition
So, it’s been a week. Lots of editing work, a small amount of writing, and lots of yard work. My brain is tired and my old body is screaming at me, “WTH??” So today you get a real snippet from my upcoming novel, Forever Cowboy, which will be book 4 in the special Bad Boys of the Rodeo series that will be releasing each week all through September 2025 from Tule Publishing’s Montana Born imprint. Mine comes out September 25. It’s been such a treat to participate in this special series with four other authors, Sinclair Jayne, Nicole Flockton, and Jeanie Watt. It’s my first time writing in Montana and…
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Sunday Snippet: The Wildflowers and Memories Edition
Neighbor and pal Mary and I have been walking in between raindrops this week, admiring all the spring flowers in folks yards and the magnolia trees and other flowering trees that are blooming. Some wildflowers are showing up in yards as well because we live in a neighborhood with lots of huge old trees. Wildflowers like delicate spring beauties, violets, and the little white blooms that look like stars. They’re so beautiful and they reminded me of when PJ and Kate and I used to go out into the woods behind our church when we were kids and hunt for wild flowers. The woods there was gorgeous and full of…