KAREN LAND

I don’t think any of my family or friends have ever used the word “domestic” and “Karen” in the same sentence. I feel way more comfortable mushing a team of dogs across Alaska than I do making the main entrée or dessert for a party. So when a friend of mine invited me to join a group of women who prepare dishes from the popular “Cooking Light” magazine and then gather for dinner one evening each month, my entire body shuddered with anxiety.

I was guarded, and with good reason.

Several years back, I met a very outgoing woman from Great Falls who invited me to a “big party” at her house. I was new to the area and spent all my days training sled dogs, so I decided it might be good for me to meet some new folks.

I must have sped past the “Bair Family Museum” signs off of Highway 89 and Highway 12 at least a dozen times on my way to train sled dogs up in the mountains. On every single occasion, I looked around at the sagebrush and the cottonwoods and the endless, breath-taking ranchland and thought to myself, “What kind of museum would be out here, literally, in the middle of Montana?”

I often asked friends traveling with me, “Have you ever been to that museum?”

Never, they all said.

When you’re out on a road-trip and operating in 100 per cent fishing or hunting or dog mushing mode, stopping for a tour through a local museum can seem like a waste of precious play time. But, actually, I’ve found it’s the perfect way to gain a better appreciation for the history of the landscape I’m traversing, making whatever I’m doing in the Montana backcountry a little more meaningful.