Montana: Day 3

Each year the students of De La Salle Blackfeet School go on a field trip to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Ranch (a part of the Boone and Crockett Club) in Dupuyer.  They go with their classes so there are about different trips out there.  Yesterday it was the 6th grade's turn and I joined them along with Kerra Photiades '14 and Matt Stewart '14.  Bro. Ray drove one of the buses and I drove a minivan.  The school's principal, Mrs. Leittem-Murrell, rode with us as as well.

There were tons of deer on the way into the ranch

The ranch is about 50 miles from the school (10 of which are on a dirt road off the highway).  We were met by one the employees named Luke who spoke with the kids about the ranch, talked about the day, and then took them into a lab to examine some plants and trees.  I must confess that I was pretty tired so I snuck back into the main room and sat in one of the many comfy chairs overlooking the Rockies and took a little cat nap!  Following the lab work we had lunch and then went out for a hike.  There was a lot of snow on the ground and lots and lots of cattle to walk by which made it all very interesting.  We stopped to look at the mountains on the other side and Luke noticed a bear way, way, way off in the distance.  Many of the kids saw it too but I couldn't make it out.  Luckily Luke gave me a can of bear spray in case he got close!

One of the many cows at the ranch

After the hike we wrapped up at the ranch and then headed back to the school.  It was interesting traveling with some of the students and listening to them talk about hunting and other aspects of live "on the res."  One boy said he first hunted when he was 4.  When I asked how they could hunt so young they said "We're res kids."  "Res kids" get a lot of privileges when it comes to hunting and fishing in recognition of their history and heritage.

The view from the side mirror of our van

Kasie Bourque '14 is an avid runner so she stayed behind with the track coaches and took part in track practice.  The rest of us headed back and had dinner.  We then went over to Bro. Ray's house to watch a film called "Smoke Signals."  This is a 1998 movie that was the first to be fully directed, acted, written by Indians.

Today is another school day but a group of us are headed over in a bit to a meal center to help serve lunch.  Ms. Foley took a group over there yesterday.  I guess when a group from Gonzaga University visited they wanted to have an experience serving the older population so the meal center service is now part of the experience.