Vacation Interruption

I'm going to interrupt our vacation re-cap with some 4th of July goodies! Few words, a few more pics. We spent the day at home this year, just our little family which was fun. It was hot though, mid-90's which was pretty rough. We started off the morning with cheesecake with strawberry jelly and sugared blueberries. Then the kids did a few pop-its and smoke bombs. We played Wii inside where it was a bit cooler, the kids napped (yay!) and then we played outside, set a camp fire, roasted hot dogs, did some more fireworks and ended the day with some 'smores.


It was fun this year as our entire day had its own sound-track. Someone across the canyon had live bands all evening and night long. We tucked the kids into bed and then Jim and I sat around the fire a bit longer listening to Hotel California and Tequila to name a few. :)

Our yummy breakfast that we ate outside in the sunshine!

This was totally not intentional but funny none the less!

Sometimes the fireworks aren't the best show ;)

All tuckered out and ready for 'smores then bed!

And last but not least... thanks to each and every service member past and present that continues to make this all possible for us!

Tuesday = Day 6

If you're counting, Tuesday was our 6th day, of 10, on vacation. We switched gears a bit, got up early and headed east to meet up for lunch with one of my friends. If you've been following along since early in this journey, I blogged about her in this post from last summer when we met up in Portland. This time we met in her stopping grounds. I know I felt it was totally worth the 2 hour drive to see her and her wonderful month old rainbow. She's so easy to chat with and it was an honor to just get to sit and cuddle with her little guy while he slept in my arms. Karleigh and Rylan were totally enamoured. I was so into the moment that believe it or not, I did not even take my camera out. I wouldn't have changed seeing them at all but it did bring some of those feelings to the surface again. Not the grief, but the feeling of really wanting another baby and wanting to complete our family. It was a great visit though and I left with a full tummy (pizza!) and a full heart!



We drove through the Blackfeet Indian reservation to get to where we met so on the way back through we stopped to snap this pic. The Indians and horses are all made out of reclaimed car parts!



We also stopped at Camp Disappointment which was the name that Lewis gave to the northern most point of his travels during the return trip. Named as such due to the fact that land acquisition from the Louisiana Purchase, wouldn't expand further than originally thought. It was quite interesting to see this landmark on the reservation. It was quite the "political statement" covered in graffiti, trash and who knows what else? and riddled with bullet holes... 'nuff said!



We decided to venture into one of the eastern entrances of the park that day but our navigator *cough cough* might have read the map wrong. So, we took the even more scenic route. Oh well! Because of it, the kids did get to see a marmot though!



Looking Glass road is a beautiful 10 mile section... none of it in the park! It did take us where we wanted to go though!



Our goal was to fit in the Running Eagle Falls nature hike and we accomplished that. We took the hike to the falls and it even involved crossing the river on a make-shift bridge. I was thinking "great, there's no way Karleigh will do this" but apparently her issue is with heights over water. She did it, no problem, which was a great relief because I really wanted to get close enough to the falls to feel the spray.



And we did! These falls are very cool they come from the top and then half-way down, they come from the rock wall. Very neat!


After that little hike we went in to check out Two Medicine Lake. Pretty little lake but it was super windy yet that had zero impact on the mosquitos and it was getting a bit late so we decided to head out and back to Whitefish.
As we were headed to our lunch date, earlier in the day, we passed this incredible waterfall so I wanted to make sure to remember to stop on our way home. The light was so great this time of the evening so I set up my tripod and actually used it! It's impossible to show the full height of this "birthday cake" waterfall as the kids called it. It started way up at the crest of the hill and rippled down the whole way. Really incredible!

Tucked beside it was another cute little fall so I wandered back in and took this one. I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, it was so great to not be fighting any crowds. There was a huge turn-off there but we were the only people at the time!

Last but not least, as we were headed along the southern most tip of the park we spotted these guys... and a few more hanging out! The pic quality isn't all that great because they were quite a distance but they were still on our list of "would like to see's" and we did!

They certainly don't look the bright white, this time of year, that you imagine! They looked hot and itchy and kept kicking the dirt, rolling and scratching!

And another baby! We got to see so many young animals with going early in the season. Cute huh!?!

On that note, we headed home and crawled into bed for a wonderful night's sleep! The kids wanted a hang around home and relax day for Wednesday so that's what we had planned and what they were looking forward to. That'll be the next set!

Another Day In Paradise

Wow! I should have gotten all of our vacation days knocked out, one right after the other but I totally slacked off so here we go.

On Monday we ventured back into Glacier but before that Karleigh mentioned wanting to stop at this place where they have bears - a tourist trap really - between Whitefish and the park. They are basically free roaming, within the perimeter fences and walk right next to the cars. Of course, the windows all have to be all the way closed including the sun roof and the rear venting windows. Great for safety - not so hot for pictures. But, we were able to drive through as many times as we wanted and the kids thought it was great. [and attitudes were much better when they were given some control over what we did]

All they talked about before vacation was seeing bears. They wanted to see them and they were on bear high-alert the entire first day. Oh! They wanted to see them but Karleigh was stuck to my leg like super-glue every time she saw a "bear country" warning sign! Anyway, this was a great way to ensure that we saw some bears. Some chunky, rolling, fat and happy bears!

After the bear country visit we headed back into the park and this time took one of the roads on the west side of the park. They did a really good job the day before on the marked nature trail so we decided to try out another one. This one wound around one of the areas scarred by fire in 2003. It was an easy enough walk, but longer and hotter than day before... and maybe a bit too close to lunch time.

I must say though, our kids are total troopers! They love being outside and going for walks. The only problem is that Rylan would be totally happy with hanging out for hours, throwing rocks and pine cones!

Rylan did reach a point where he was just convinced that his feet did not work any more so Karleigh and I took the time (while Jim was "motivating" Rylan to keep going) to snap a few pics of us together. This was an important thing for us. We had had a rough night together the night prior. She was tired and mouthy. I was tired and reactive. It was nice to have us both wake up refreshed and have it behind us.

After our hike we were going to have a picnic but again, we were chased back into the van. Not by rain showers but by mammoth mosquitos this time! We wanted to explore some more of the park but also didn't realize that the roads we had wanted to check out were dirt until that morning! Well, we decided to take the drive anyway.

Beautiful!

The great thing about having "the" road not open all the way is that it allowed us to see other parts of the park that we probably wouldn't have made the time for otherwise. Those dirt roads felt so much longer than they were - 10 miles and then 6 miles. And that 6 miles can hardly be noted as two lane, more like 1 1/4! But the views were SOOOO worth the pain of having to wax out all the scratches on the van when we got home.

Really the only thing I could say when we got up to Bowman Lake was "wow....".

It was really impossible to capture the true color of the water. It's something that I've never seen before and probably never will again. It was so quiet and peaceful and I really felt like I was some place in a dream.


Yup, the kids finally got to get their lines wet. The rules and regulations for kids in the park are pretty non existent... especially when you're more interested in learning how to skip rocks and aren't actually catching anything.
I love this picture of Karleigh, even though it's dark, thanks to the sun running away from us behind another peak and a few clouds but I think it just shows how wonderful we were all feeling. It was starting to get later in the day so it was time to pack it in, head down the washboard roads and back to the condo on Big Mountain.

So, the kids were chilling in their seats, Jim and I were chit-chatting and we get suck behind this slow grandma driver with her left turn signal on. No biggie, we weren't in a rush. And what a wonderful thing that we weren't because "grandma" was on to something. Sure enough, out of the bushes slumbered this big momma!

Big Momma? You say???

Yah Big Momma!

She and her two cubs just went about their business and boy were our cubs thrilled to see these bears in the wild!

We figured that was just about the perfect end to the day but we did stop and take the very common tourist photo to round out the day!

First Day in Glacier

More vacation recap! I know, it might be getting boring if you weren't there... which none of you were - except for you, hun :) But there are pictures...

Pictures are good for something right?

Ok, I didn't say great pictures. But think back to your old family vacation photos... if there are any to be found, I'm sure they weren't great either. And I promise, no corduroy to be found in this lot!


What you will find are some rather out of focus family shots but at least we have them. I didn't think my camera was all that complicated but I'd rather have some blurry family photos than none at all. :) And I must say it was nice to be some place where people offered to at least try to capture a family photo. I try to do the same for others around here and 90% of the time people look at me like I have three heads. Of course they always say "yes!" but it was just a different vibe there.


So let's see, first day in the park... and here's where I admit a parental downfall. In hindsight, I think the kids were maybe expecting a "park" like this:

Not necessarily a park like this:

Don't get me wrong, we spent days looking online, looking at maps, on Flickr, etc. etc. They knew we were going to try to see some wildlife and do a lot of "hiking". However, my suspicions were confirmed when Karleigh commented "This is really pretty but this is like the most boring park ever, it's more like the wildlife refuge." And does she not sound 13 already?After we giggled -well me, I giggled, I'm not sure Jim would like me describing him as "giggling":) - we explained that it was a NATIONAL park, kind of like the wildlife refuge that she loves so much.

The one thing that I started out being disappointed about was that the Going to the Sun road was not opened all the way through (in fact, when I checked last night, it still wasn't) but I was determined to make the best of it. It's not like me pouting was going to remove avalanches or repair roads any faster anyway. Plus, as you'll see, it "forced" us to explore other areas of the park that would have most likely not have even made it to the to-do list. Oh! If I had had a to-do list. Those who know me would be so proud that I did researching for this vacation but I did not have a list of have-to-do's...
for the most part. :)

Our first stop inside the park was Apgar and Lake McDonald. The weather made it look like we were going to get some good thunder bumpers and Mother Nature did not disappoint though at the same time, the weather didn't interfere with anything.

So, since the road wasn't open all the way through, we did get to go through to Avalanche and there were trails and waterfalls along the way. The kids talked us into milkshakes in Apgar which was smart because it gave them an extra boost before our picnic lunch.

Rylan was so funny when he would find a rock in the middle of a hiking trail he would stil down, call Karleigh's name and then yell "Cheese! Cheese, mom!"


Hum, I just remembered that Karleigh took a picture of Jim and me in this same spot with her camera. I should probably get the pics off of it at some time!



When we got up to Avalanche, we decided to wander around and walk the Trail of the Cedars nature hike. It took us through the trees, next to the river and along a wonderful wooden boardwalk.


The kids spotted the cedar tree behind us and totally cracked up that it had a "nose". Some random guy offered to take our picture and even put thought into making sure that he had the funny tree in the picture too!Then we wandered down next to the river and watched a guy attempt some some fly fishing, the kids threw rocks in the water and climbed all over the drift wood. They needed some help feeling motivated to move along!

We continued along the trail reading the signs and learning about the area which the kids really enjoyed, thankfully! I was going to take a pic of the other 3 but again someone offered to take one of all of us with the comment "at least now it LOOKS like you guys were having fun!"??? Weird. But thanks.

And around the bend another Griz Alumnus offered to take one of us. So, we chatted a bit and I think we ended up making him feel old when he did the math between the class of '99 and the class of '82. Karleigh's looking shy because she had pointed out his U of M shirt earlier to me but was too afraid to say "Go Griz!"

The roots from the downed trees were insane. There is so much surface water that the roots don't really have to dig down but that makes them very susceptible to wind.
After the trail hike we took some time and actually got to walk on the Going to the Sun road. It's not very often that the road is only open to bike and pedestrian traffic, only the few weeks where they have it mostly cleared but not punched all the way through. It was an opportunity that many visitors don't get. Of course we set off for that walk before we had our lunch so we didn't go too far. It was thundering and started to sprinkle so we took that as a sign to have our late picnic in the van!

As we headed back out of the park we stopped at a lot of little points that we had seen on the way in!

But obviously the kids were getting tired and punchy and who knows what the dude behind me was doing?!?!

So, we headed back to town, picked up some Taco John's for dinner since we don't have any around here and headed back to the condo (and a really rough bed time for the kids) They were over tired and sleeping together wasn't working but once we split them up it was sleepy time for them! And relaxing time for us while deciding what to do the next day, which ended up being fun!

Whitefish

Whitefish, Montana... we decided we could totally live there. We spent our first full day on vacation just hanging out and relaxing. We were all tired from traveling and both kids wanted to check things out, play tennis and go swimming. Fair enough!



I sure wish I was better at telling stories but eh, I seem to have lost that ability. Oh well! Before we headed out we made sure to snap a family pic. It probably would have turned out better had I actually used the tripod instead of just being frustrated by the mounting clip that was already on the camera - yup, that's right!


We headed into town and told the kids that they got to choose what we did that day, lunch and activities included. So, McD's it was and then we headed to the train depot to eat and watch trains. Rylan, of course loved it.


Inside the train depot they have a little museum mainly focused on the depot history but also includes some other Whitefish oddities and gems like this guy:Karleigh was kind of freaked, Rylan thought it was cool and I figured it was a hoax. However, next to it was a binder including clippings from the local newspaper and pictures of their one-time mayor? in the mid 1990's with a photo of the same type of fish that he caught, also in Iceberg Lake (which is in Glacier National Park) by using an old pearl earring that had belonged to his wife. Weird huh? Apparently it was more like skinning game and tasted like chicken. All I know is that I was totally freaked thinking about the kids pulling one of these from the lake!

After a walk through the museum and the depot, we trotted across the street to the little park where the kids ran around a little bit.

After a short bit of time Rylan's head snapped around at the sound of another train coming into the yard. We walked back across the street and stood there letting the kids watch the train go by less than 20 feet from them. They loved it!

After that we headed off to the grocery store and picked up some things for the week. Breakfast and lunch stuff and dinner for the night. That helped keep the food budget way down since we packed our lunches most days and ate breakfast at "home" every day. It was clear at the end of the grocery trip that the kids were getting tired so we headed back to the condo for some resting. And rest we did! Not too often that you get to full on cuddle like this with a 3 1/2 year old.

After the kids woke up we got them re-dressed! and they decided that they wanted to go play some tennis. No fighting from me! They really haven't played before... the Wii sooo does not count. Karleigh was excited and ready to go with her big plans of playing college tennis on her mind. :)

She was so determined to play and play well or at least hit the ball but she had a really rough time. She's kind of a day dreamer and doesn't really watch the ball all the way through. It's really funny to watch them and see where their strengths and weaknesses lie. She's a decent reader but she's ALL about numbers and math - just like Jim. She didn't do as well as she had hoped but she was so determined and didn't get very upset through out the whole thing.

Rylan on the other hand... Jim was calling him "Johnny Mac" pretty quickly. He was hitting the ball (with his racket but he wanted mine) although he didn't get to play with mine for very long because every time he missed the ball, he would "gaarrrrrh" and throw my racket to the ground. Not cool but at the same time oh so hard not to laugh at him! He's actually pretty good but boy is he competitive when it comes to sports... wonder where he gets that?!

After what I would like to say was a pleasant end to our tennis game (though in all honesty I can't really say that but the other three of us couldn't really deal with hurtling rackets any longer) we wandered back to the condo and changed into our suits for an hour or so of swimming in the pool. Great pool but I never did take any pictures of it. A little chilly but we had it all to ourselves. I have to say it was really fun taking a vacation during an off-season time. It was so quiet and so peaceful the whole time. Oh! And between tennis and swimming we spotted an elk in our backyard. Super cool!