Tour de Montana continues

From Missoula to Kalispell through Helena and now in Belgrade, the Tour de Montana is currently in progress. As I drove past Swan Lake this morning, jamming to Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time", I had a huge grin on my face and had flashbacks of many fond college memories with my life long friends that I have been spending time with this week. Whether it be hitting the ski slopes, tail-gating at the Griz games, playing basketball at Bodega before the court turned into the evening dance floor or spending all day on Sundays watching Hallmark movies, those times are forever engraved in my brain. Today I was able to spend some time with my dear friend Kristi whom became an instant BFF when we first met my freshman year of college :) Little did she know at the time that a little 18 year old could be so cool ;)

We sat at The No Sweat Cafe in downtown Helena which by the way is the best little cafe there. The fresh ingredients and healthy food combos are always very tasty and the atmosphere is quant and cozy. Kinda made me feel like I was back in Santa Cruz. After lunch we were able to hit up the shores of Lakeside for a little tanning on the 8 foot sandy "beach". We found the most sufficient sun exposure and discussed some nutrition stuff, watch some kids perform a funeral for a huge dead fish, and reminicsed about our college days of shopping, skiing and hitting up the dirty Boardroom pretty much every weekend. Some how I'm not sure how I paid for all that. Oh, wait, I'm paying off those school loans now :) Not sure I understood that when financial aid gave me a refund that it should be used for school stuff. Oops! Anyway, we contimplated (for about 5 seconds) about going in the mossy water since it was so hot out. Didn't happen. Afterward, we met up with the rest of her family for dinner. Was a great time but always too short. This has been a great week of family and friends. Getting to catch up with all my family and I'm getting to see most all of my closest BFFs and am thankful for the friendships we share. Doesn't get any better than this. I must say that this is probably the best tour of Montana that I have had. I have done many but never have I been as present as I have been this last week. It's nice to be in the moment. Makes for a more memorable and meaningful experience.