Family, Friends, and Fine Dining in Livingston -7

When we were first thinking of flying to Wisconsin we knew Livingston, Montana would be a stop on our trip. Woodsen’s Aunt and cousin lived there and we had also recently sold our Cessna 180 to a gentlemen name Gabriel that owned the Livingston FBO. I could easily write an entire post about the crazy chain of events that connected us to Gabriel, but I’ll save that story for another time.

We left Bellingham at 9 am after saying “see ya later” to the Burns Family who would be back in Alaska in August.

The five hours of flying included many snacks, audiobooks, two out of our four children lost their lunch due to a bit of turbulence, and we ended on a high note with an in flight dance party.

We were greeted by Gabriel, Woodsen’s Aunt and Uncle, and Poppi! Woodsen’s Dad.

Poppi, also known as Wes, had planned a trip to see his sister a while back, and it wasn’t till right before we left that we realized our time in Montana would overlap.

We made a pit stop at Mona & David’s house to drop off our bags and get a snack, then it was a quick turn to go to a family BBQ.

The next day we headed to a local coffee shop to meet family.

Woodsen’s dad had brought parts from Alaska to Montana to fix our broken door, so after coffee we headed to the airport. The door handle was a quick fix and we enjoyed seeing the Cessna 180 we sold Gabriel, and visiting with him.

Next stop, cooling off in the Yellowstone River.

Four years ago Woodsen’s cousins Jeff & Jenna were part of a team that opened an Italian restaurant in the heart of Livingston. Not long after it opened it received the honor of being picked by the New York Times as the top pick for restaurants in Montana. Before we arrived Woodsen’s Aunt arranged a babysitter and made a reservation for us to eat at his restaurant, Campione.

It was such a special night, for the first time since Eska was born I left all the kiddos with a babysitter and headed out for a fancy dinner with family. Jeff joined us and had preselected the food and wine so all we had to do was sit back and enjoy delicious food and great company. What a treat!