topography

For those who aren't familiar with the Billings area, I wanted to fill you in on what our new city looks like. Billings has a population of just over 100,000 making it the largest city in Montana. It is situated in the southeastern part of the state, about 3 hours from Yellowstone. The Yellowstone river runs through Billings and Billings is in Yellowstone county. We're crazy about Yellowstone around here. Here are some other interesting stats about the city.

Billings somewhat sits in a canyon as the rimrocks (called the "rims" by the locals) enclose the city on several sides. I've always felt more comfortable in areas that have geographical limits, like Seattle. There you have the Cascades to the East and the sound to the west, so besides stretching north and south (which the area does substantially), growth is restricted by these boundaries. In Minneapolis and North Carolina, there was nothing but farmland to conquer as the cities expanded, and for some reason this unnerved me.

View of the rims from down below

View of the city from the rims

The glory of Billings

The rims rise about 500-1000 feet above the city. On top of the rims sit million dollar homes and nice walking trails. Across the street from the houses and trails are the airport and wheat fields. There something comforting to me about wheat fields. The alternating gold and earth patterned lines seem to set all my thoughts straight. Plus to me wheat = Montana = home.

Montana wheat

More wheat

We live on the west side of Billings which has seen tremendous growth over the past several years. Before moving here, it had been nearly ten years since I spent any significant amount of time here and I couldn't believe all of the places I didn't recognize! Most of this area, before it became residential developments, was farmland, and there are still some farmers that are holding out on their land - either because they don't want to give it up or because they are waiting for the right price. Just a few blocks from our house, there is a farm still in operation and it's right across the street from a Walgreens. They have hay bales and cows and everything. Crazy! I think they did sell some of their property a few years ago and it was developed into a golf course, so this is also right next to the farm. Only in Montana!

Haystacks-you can see the stores in the distance

Haystacks #2

Thursday night the scene started to change as a premature winter storm blew into the region. By the time it was over early Sunday evening, we had nearly 2 feet of snow! They haven't gotten this much snow at one time in several years here. Being that it was so early in the season, the snow was very wet and heavy and broke many tree branches. The downed branches caused sporadic power outages and made roads nearly impassable. I knew there was something I was forgetting when I thought it would be fun to move back.

Winter in October - our newly dusted front porch