Home...back in the U.S.A

After a busy day yesterday, the girls slept in until 8:30 am and then, after eating breakfast, put themselves back to bed. 

Our original plan for today was to drive South into Glacier National Park before we started our travels East on US2, but I was longing for a day to check-in to our hotel early and have a quiet lazy day.  Through my research on Glacier National Park, I had noticed it wasn't very dog friendly, so I decided that rather than visit the park today, we'd head South, directly to our stop for the night, Shelby, Montana.  So we packed up, used the remainder of our Canadian cash to get gas, and got on the road for our travels through the prairie lands of Canada.

One thing I am going to miss about Canada is the periodic roadside stops with trash and recycling.  It has made my life so much easier because I always recycle on my travels and now I'm not traveling with a car full of plastic!  This was the last spot we had our feet on Canadian soil. I was so excited to be heading back to the U.S.

I have loved all of our travel, and I love a good road trip, but somehow I always end up missing home.  I am a Michigan girl at heart and I have now been gone from Michigan since July 4-longer than I've ever been away from there and it's really strange how I feel home tugging at my heart-strings.  After spending most of my time in Canada, I have also just been missing the U.S.  So I was very happy when we easily made our border crossing back into the U.S. today.  We immediately stopped at the rest area to get our feet back on American soil, oh and Maddie needed a potty and water break too.

After our break, we continued our journey on I-15 South for 35 miles to the small town of Shelby, Montana.  I think the main reason Shelby is a town is that it's at the crossroads of I-15 and US-2.  There isn't a whole lot to do here, but I made a stop at the visitor center to make sure I didn't miss anything and to ask about local restaurants.

After grabbing a late lunch at the Dash-In, we headed up the hill from our hotel to visit the Veteran's Memorial.  

From the top of the hill, I think you can almost see the entire town!  It is fairly flat farmland for as far as the eye can see.

Then we headed to the local park that commemorates the 1923 World Championship Boxing fight that occurred here in Shelby.  The fight was between Jack Dempsey and Tommy Gibbons and is likened to the Superbowl of it's time.  There is some interesting history behind the fight and apparently it was a monetary flop.  But it gives Shelby an interesting little place in boxing history and I think they are pretty proud of it.

The park is on the site of the actual arena that was built specifically for the fight and there is a statue on the spot where the boxing ring stood.  It was pretty hot-about 87 degrees, so the girls were happy to lie down while I took their picture.

We also stopped at the Carousel rest stop to see the 1936 Carousel, but it's inside of a building, and, of course, the girls weren't allowed inside so I just took a quick picture through the window.

We've taken a few short walks today, but have spent most of the day relaxing inside and catching up on things like the blog from yesterday, email, and other odds and ends.  

Things cooled down nicely tonight so we went out for a walk around the hotel and then I ordered take-out and took the girls for a walk around the downtown area while I waited for the food.

I was thinking we might head out to the fairgrounds where they will be holding fireworks at the county fair tonight, but we have settled in for the night, so I've decided that I'm okay with just staying in and snuggling up with the girls for the rest of the night.  We've got a long day of travel ahead of us tomorrow as we continue our journey East on US-2.    Until tomorrow, good night from Montana.