One of my favorite pics...

I took this in Australia last year. I kind of forgot about it until I was going through and deleting pics... It was such a beautiful scene.

My view!!

This is the view from my apartment. Pretty, huh? I like the mountains and want to go climb Mount Helena, which is right behind my place (can't see it in this pic, sorry.) But it has been super hot here, so I think I'll wait until things cool down a bit. Being in an upstairs apartment with no a/c during 90 degree heat is no fun :-(

This place is definitely better than the transient hotel in Cheyenne. Much better. I know you all miss hearing stories about that place though :-)

Stop Signs.

What is the deal about no stop signs in residential areas? I never really experienced that in Missouri or Kansas, but out west there everywhere. So you're traveling along and then another car is coming the other way and nobody knows what to do. I'm really impressed there haven't been more wrecks. It's very strange.

Social Capital

To all you KU-ers oout there that read the “Nest,” I know we’ve all heard up to our eyeballs about social capital. Well, I’ve been thinking a lot about the subject lately. I have good news. Social capital does still exist. Not everyone is “bowling alone” in America. For example, people in Helena know their neighbors. They come over for dinner, they chat on walks. You really can’t be mean to anyone (i.e. flip someone off who cut you off) because you might work with that person. Or maybe it’s your neighbor’s sister. Living in a small town means you have to be more civil. In large cities, it’s easy to cut someone off, push them, slam a door in his/her face. The likelihood of seeing that person you did the bad deed to is very small. Of course, what goes around comes around, as they say.

But, yes, more people are out walking dogs and talking to people here than watching television or surfing the web. Or at least that is what appears to be happening. I thought that was some good news I’d share.

More pretty house photos

Here are some more pictures of mansions. Once I find out some history on them, I'll share. Wildfires are getting pretty bad out here. There more near Billings, but still pretty scary.

Mansion District

Helena was founded as a gold rush town. So there are just some amazing old mansions around here. I actually live in the "mansion district." I took a couple pictures while out on a walk the other day, but there are many, many more. I'll go out and take some more pics soon. I think some of these houses are just beautiful.









This is the view from my apartment. You can kind of see the mountains in the background. It's actually a pretty cool view. The photo doesn't do it justice.

WHO wants some spinach artichoke dip?

This entry is a shout-out to my friend Heidi. While I was in Kansas City last month, Heidi and I went to eat at an Italian restaurant in the new mammoth shopping center by the Kansas Speedway. We ordered spinach artichoke dip and when the waiter brought it to us he held it up and said, "WHO wants some spinach-artichoke dip?" Like he wouldn't give it to us unless we said "Me! Me!" Heidi and I just kind of stared at him. Uh, we do, since we ordered it and all...

He kept doing it throughout the meal. WHO wants some ice tea? WHO wants some bread? WHO wants some Diet Coke? Heidi and I were absolutely cracking up about it. I think the dude overheard us making fun of him and gave us the evil eye. But, come on, we're not five-year-olds. Oh, it was hilarious.

In Helena

I made it to Helena last week, but haven't been able to post because Bresnan is taking FOREVER to connect cable/internet at my place. Good thing Helena has a couple cool coffee shops with wireless. Without them and work, I would feel completely shut off from the world!

Helena is nice. It's surrounded by mountains and has a nice little arts scene. I'll post some pictures once I get the internet up and conencted at my apartment.