It was a long way to drive at around 95 miles. And through the mountains. We had watched the weather all week and crossed our fingers hoping for good weather and driving conditions. Driving over Marias Pass on a snow covered slick road is not a fun time.
The weather cooperated. No snow or ice. Just snow along the sides of the road and pretty snow covered trees. It was chilly outside as the temperature was in the low teens Fahrenheit for much of the morning. Once we reached the Pass the wind started. There looked to be some icy snow spots between the Pass and East Glacier but it was no problem to drive on.
The expo started at 10 am and Tammy wanted to be there to set up around 8:30 am. That meant we have to leave the ranch close to 6:30 am as it was around a two hour drive.
Morning came early. Way early.
It was dark when we left and for much of the drive up to Marias Pass we drove in darkness. This meant watching out for deer along the road. Fortunately we did not see any on the drive there. On the drive back home I saw two deer crossing the highway.
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| View NE from near Marias Pass |
Browning is on the Blackfeet Reservation.
Browning Montana. The building with the red roof to the left of center is the school building.
We were set up and ready well before the expo started at 10 am. Tammy made and brought some Tastefully Simple wild rice soup for people to sample. It is in the red crock pot. We got a corner location so we would have electricity to keep the soup warm.
The expo organizers said they had enough vendors to fill the gym. As you can see not all the vendors showed up. The weather was decent so that shouldn't have kept the vendors away. Perhaps the lack of vendors was because both of Montana's university football teams were playing playoff games. The price of a vendor spot was only $10 so the vendors who didn't show up weren't out of much money.
The traffic at the expo was light. One vendor who was at this expo last year said there were more vendors and people last year. Again, the football games may have had something to do with the light traffic.
Tammy ended up selling more to other vendors than she did to people attending the expo. She could have sold lots of wild rice soup mixes as everyone who tasted the soup loved it, but she didn't have many mixes to sell.
The expo was also a fundraiser for women's health. One booth took a person's blood pressure and tested their blood sugar. This is especially important on the reservation as Native Americans have a high chance of having high blood pressure and blood sugar readings. Since both of my parents had diabetes I had my blood sugar tested. I had last eaten food (breakfast) at 6 am and I had my blood sugar tested after 1 pm. My reading was 86, which is good.
The expo went to 4 pm. People quickly took down their displays and were out of there. The sun had gone behind the mountains and clouds by the time we were on the road.
The mountain on the right half of the photo is Calf Robe Mountain. Last year I had hiked up to the long flat part just right of center. Awesome views.
We didn't get home until 6 pm. It was very dark by then. We got and cooked a Papa Murphy pizza for supper.
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