Vacation Wrap-Up... Finally!

Wednesday, we had promised the kids their "stay at home" day. We had planned on getting stuff for a picnic lunch and heading down to city beach on Whitefish Lake. However, the weather was iffy and when we swung past to check it out, the city workers were grooming the beach with a tractor... not exactly what we were looking for. Jim and I decided instead to take the kids to The Amazing Fun Center. We drove past it almost every day and when we had lunch with my friend, she said for sure, we had to do it. Oh my! I'm so glad that we did. The weather wasn't perfect but it wasn't horrible. The maze was insane! There were 4 towers, one at each corner that you had to get to and get a stamp. Also? The letters M,A,Z,E (one for each tower) did not necessarily come in order. It was so much fun though. We went through as a family, Karleigh lead us to the first tower, I got us to the second one, Rylan got us to the third and we all pretty much found the fourth one. I was really impressed with how the kids remembered where we had been.

Starting out in the sun... and those clouds... and Karleigh's looking a bit windblown already!

Woohoo! Stamping the "M" on the time cards... oh, yah, you also clocked in and clocked out your time. We completed it in about 40 minutes.



YAY! It started to sprinkle just as we got our last stamp! (that's a go-kart track behind them!)



Shortly after we finished the maze, it started to pour! So, knowing Montana weather, we headed back to the van and hung out for 20 minutes or so. The rain chased off all the tourists and blew through quickly. So, we took the kids back and we played a game of mini-golf which was a great deal since it's 18 holes.

So proud, Jim took this pic while I took Karleigh for a potty break!

After the mini-golf game, the kids begged to ride the go-karts. Rylan was juuuuust tall enough so we did! I took Karleigh with me, unsure of how she would react and Jim took Rylan. Turns out, Karleigh and I had a faster car and she love, love, loved it! We started out behind the guys and Rylan was worried about where we were the whole time, so we lapped the boys and everyone was happy then! No pics though since I was driving :) Not only was it fun but the employees, mostly high school kids, were so very nice!

We headed back to the condo, ate dinner and then spent a couple of hours in the pool. The kids raved about the day, were worn out and slept like rocks! Jim and I packed everything back up, which didn't take too long since as soon as we got there, I unloaded all of their clothes into the dressers and then every night I folded that days outfits and packed them back into their bags.

The next morning we got up fairly early for one last hurrah in Glacier. We had to go back around to the east side of the park. THIS was the day that seemed like the "real" Glacier National Park to us. We got to experience the turquoise blue of the lakes and the deep blue of the sky. It was beautiful! Windy. But beautiful.

We parked at Many Glacier Lodge and did some walking around, some hill climbing and then let the kids check out the trail horses. Sadly the minimum age is 8 years old but they were allowed to go talk to the horses, pet them and check them out.

We had a picnic lunch... outside this time!... we had bug spray :) and then changed into jeans and took another nature hike. This one was 2.8 miles and went all the way around Swiftcurrent Lake. The weather was funny, typical Montana weather... don't like it, wait 5 minutes!

Swiftcurrent Lake with Many Glacier Lodge... which is a huge lodge and gives you a little bit of an appreciation for the landscape. When we do Glacier again, I would like to stay here for a night or two.

After we walked around the lake... oh, can I just say again, how great the people were? We would come across people walking the opposite direction and they almost always made a comment on what great troopers our kids were! They really are wilderness loving kiddos which is great.





About 500 yards from where we snapped the above pic, we walked through a nice stand of lush green, vegetation but Karleigh and I were looking at all of the Indian Paintbrush. Oh, but my point is, that was the very end of our hike, we got back in the van and continued our adventures. At least for a couple hundred yards we continued our adventures... until we saw this lovely lady! Poor thing. We probably woke her up... we being the two short people who never. stopped. talking. because that's how you scare away bears...





I'm certainly glad we didn't see her on the trail, but in the van instead. I got out to take the above pic but the kids were able to see her just fine. She did wander off quickly when a mother and son from Idaho (at least that's what their plates said) took off into the bushes after her. We watched and then pulled to the side of the road at the helipad where we got a GREAT view of her. The kids laughed and mentioned that the only thing we had left to see was a big horn sheep...

...which we saw less than 2 minutes later. Jim had to come to a complete stop to not hit this little one and I had to react fast and shoot through the windshield since the poor thing got spooked just seconds after this. After our luck with the wildlife, we decided to hit the east end of the Going to the Sun Road. We pulled over for wild goose island...

...and then continued along until the road block was set up. We got out and did some more walking... and soaking up the heat from the road. Kind of cool that they could experience it this way!

After our walk, we stopped to check out Jackson Glacier... it's the part with the grey, sandy looking stripes near the center of the pic.

We also stopped to check out another waterfall and really cool stone bridge.

With that, we realized that it was getting late and we needed to start heading back to the condo to finish up our packing and get ready to wrap up or vacation. The light was beautiful for this parting shot at St. Mary.

Also? Free range? Crazy! We came upon cows and horses the same day. These horses were beautiful but at the same time, so sad looking... understandable if they were wild but the lighter horse is branded. Yucky skin condition but beautiful eyes.

We boogied out of the condo on Friday morning around 10 to start our journey home. We knew we wanted to get to the National Bison Range so we did. It was a great thing for Friday since the weather was drizzly all day but we were inside the van for the whole thing. I didn't know how huge the place really is. The loop for the road, alone, was 20 miles of dirt road.

I had great hopes of getting some really neat bison pictures but I wasn't that lucky. We did have a set that were REALLY close to the van but we didn't hang out with them that long and I regret it. That was the closest that we got to them but the loop took a LONG time so no one was willing to do it a second time (not even me). We wanted to make it to Spokane at a minimum.

Just outside the fences to the Bison Range, I spotted this momma and casually tried to get her picture... it was sheep fencing with barbed wire across the top, when out of the bushes, popped her fawn too. So sweet!

We saw tons of bison in the distance, pronghorn sheep, male, female and baby elk... I'm assuming those were either male or female too :), tons of white tail deer.Good stuff. We eventually made our way back to I-90 and did make it to Spokane around 5 pm.

We got a hotel... the one I hesitated getting on the way through the first time (so much better), brought our stuff in and went swimming again for quite awhile. We got the kids settled and I head Karleigh say "Dude! (yes, she says dude... a lot) I think I just saw some lightening!" I looked out the window at the dark purple clouds and said "by the looks of those clouds, I totally believe you!" Sure enough. Thunder and lightening storm! The kids got up and we all cuddled by the window for a good hour or more. We finally bribed them... there was a lot of that on this trip... that whoever fell asleep first, got a quarter in the morning. We didn't hear another thing from them for the rest of the night! And, in case you're wondering, I think Rylan was asleep first but he sleeps hard from the get go and Karleigh eases into her sleep so they both got their quarters in the morning!

The next morning, we took our time getting up and started to head out of town. Until Jim notices a small portion of our bumper flapping in the wind... on a Saturday... when none of the dealerships would bother looking at it and none of the body shops were open. He did call one where the body shop guy happened to be there working on his own project!

Yahoo!

...all the way back in Spokane Valley...

where he told us it wasn't a big deal but pointed out that it had been hit (not by us, we have a back up camera thank goodness) but that it wasn't going to be a big problem.

Yahoo!

...almost 3 hours later.

The rest of the trip was smooth sailing. We made it home, our yard looked like a jungle, the cats were both waiting for us and we all slid back into the comfort of our home!

Again, this was truly a gift from God and a wonderful friend. We had a great time as a family and we were able to get away from a lot of the thoughts about wondering what the future really does hold for our family. Of course all of that and more was still here when we returned home but the break was really, really nice.

Phew, so now you're all caught up... whether you like it or not! And I can get back to my regular bizarre posting :)

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!