sharynk's blog 2011: Helena Montana

Saturday, August 6, 2011

We arrived in Helena, MT just around dinner time on Sunday night. Tommy’s friend, Tom has a BBQ business and a roadside stand. He was working at the county fair that weekend and we joined in on the fun.

While at the fair a torrential downpour along with hurricane like winds came out of nowhere. It was quite amazing to witness. Umbrellas and tables were thrown around like a child’s toy. It lasted 30 minutes and - poof - it was gone.

Helena - pronounced Helen-Ah, is the capitol of Montana. It has approximately 46k residents and is growing at just under 10% per year. The elevation here is 4029. Helena‘s historical earthquake activity is above the Montana state average. It is 51% greater than the overall U.S. average. This is good for us. We can experience BABY earthquakes NOW as opposed to BIG earthquakes while we are visiting in California.

We had set up camp at Cindy and Jeff’s house. They have 2 acres that sit along one of the main drags in Helena. Tom has his roadside stand set up there all week and passerby’s stop in all day long for his incredible, delectable, melt in your mouth ribs, brisket, and pork.

One day while there Tommy and took a ride on little red. I couldn’t believe it but I got him on the trolley. It is an hour long train ride throughout the capital city. Total tourist trap! It tells you about the history and the millions and millions of dollars excavated from the surrounding mountains. It takes you through the ‘mansion neighborhood’. It was very interesting and our ‘conductor’ just happens to be the principle of the local middle school.

We learned all about the ‘Last Chance Gulch’ and how it came to be. Prospectors that were here made millions of dollars when gold was only worth $3.00 an ounce. Can you imagine the translation into today’s market?

The cathedral downtown is undeniably the most beautiful church I have ever been in. St. Patrick’s in NY is a very close second, but this one, it takes your breath away.

During our stay here we also took a ride up the mountain to a town called York. They have less than 100 residents, one bar, no post office and no stop signs. We, of course, stopped in the saloon. We had burgers for lunch and next to the fries in the basket was, wouldn’t you know it - A York Peppermint Patty! Very cool touch.

We had Sire with us on that journey and he loved it. He got to play in the river and just be a dog for a day. That evening we sat around a fire and hung out with Kelley, Tom’s wife, and their 5 year old son, Sebastian. We had a blast with him. So full of energy, and he loved Sire, of course.

The sunsets here are phenomenal. When they named this state, the big sky, they weren’t kidding. It’s beautiful.

We ended up eating BBQ every night, and pulled out on Friday morning. But not until after the moonshine was ready to be processed. This is how it works:

Take 2 - 50 gallon plastic garbage cans and load them with corn, yeast, water and sugar. Let them sit for 15 days to ferment. When done, filter into a keg that is heated by propane to 180 degrees. Once hot enough the liquid will be forced up the piping (that you have already installed). The copper piping continues down into another 50 gallon barrel of cold water. Once it’s cooled enough it will drip its way out into yet another littler bucket. You then take that littler bucket and filter it once again through a Britta filtration's pitcher. Once that is complete, you drop a hydrometer in the liquid and it will tell you how potent the moonshine is. This batch came out at 115% YEEHAW!!!