Friends and Gems

What kind of friends would drive all the way from California to Montana to camp with us? Well, they didn’t really come all this way to just see us. Sapphires, garnets, and family visits were their other motives. But we like to think Virgil and Gwen came all this way just to see us.

We met in the small town of Phillipsburg, an old mining town that has found a second life as the county seat for ranching and tourism. We camped south of town, in the coolness of the higher elevation at Cable Campground near Georgetown Lake. We enjoyed catching up, the talk flowing as freely as the wine. We parted the next day – us off to reunite with my parents outside Glacier National Park, and Gwen and Virgil back to the sapphire mines.

It was fun seeing you, Gwen and Virgil!