Signing Off?

We are going into the wilderness... you know, campgrounds, with hot showers, electricity, sewer, etc., but NO WiFi (eeeek! however will we survive?!?!?!) for the next 2 1/2 weeks. We will be posting during this time, but probably not as regularly as we have been until now. See you soon!

July 9, 2009 Lake McDonald, Rocky Point

Last night... smores!!!!

This morning we took in a lovely short hike along the northwest shore of Lake McDonald to Rocky Point. Most of it was, like yesterday's hike, through forest which was burned during the 2003 fire. Unlike yesterday, however, this moist area is rich with life and filled with new growth. We saw some varieties of wildfowers we've never seen before and the fireweed was some of the most vividly-colored we ever seen.

We came to a junction and decided to turn back to the car while the children were still being successful. It turned out to be a great choice as the sky opened with steady rain literally the minute we reached the car.

We all had a delicious dinner at the Lake McDonald Lodge, which was followed by a short hike on the John's Lake Trail over to McDonald Creek.

Congratulations Lisa!

Congratulations to our darling Lisa, Washington DC's newest and most wonderful pre-school teacher!

Grandma's first great hike of 2009, part 2

She's making pretty good time for an 87-year-old!

This video is from yesterday morning, and she looks like she's doing pretty well... the aftereffects, however, have been remarkable. Grandma is walking today with full strides at full speed and the best gait we've seen from her in some time. She asked if we were going to go on a short hike after dinner this evening, and so we went to the John's Lake trail. Tonight, she walked downhill on the gravel trail from one camper to the other without assistance, for the first time

Grandma's first (and last?) great hike of 2009

Today we went to the west boundary of the park, an area we've never visited before. When we first came to Glacier in 2003, there was a major fire in this area that resulted in the park being closed and visitors (including us) being evacuated. That decision was, of course, right on time, and none of us suffered from a premature evacuation. Today we went on what used to be called the Huckleberry Mountain Nature Trail, and is now known as the Forest and Fire trail. With a very short distance, limited elevation, limited visitors, and lots of plants to look at, we all made the decision that this would be an excellent trail for Grandma. She did a great job, holding hands and supported by the rest of us. It was hard for her and in the second half (after the big climb) she rested frequently. She said numerous times that she was very disappointed in her performance on the trail, but we asked her how many 87-year-olds she thought were out on the trails today... she remind us with a wink that she's forever 79.

We finished the hike (it was of course one of those deceptive trails... "the end is just over this ridge... no, this ridge... no...") and got everybody back in the car and drove north to the "town" of polebridge. On the map, it looks like it's as big as Chicago or at least Afikpo, but you get there and it is - seriously - a store, an outhouse, and three cabins. But the store... the store has a bakery... and the bakery might just be the best you've ever had. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. And we were certain it was going to be all flannel, beards, and shotguns, seeing as how there was no way to get there without 4x4, but it was all hippies, college kids, and Phish-types. But even though we'd kept Grandma going on the hike with "We're going to bakery! How many cookies do you want?", we had to coax her out of the car. I think she thought we were going to trick her into going on another hike.

We then got on the hard road and drove another 10 miles to Bowman Lake, which is just as beautiful as any of the top spots here in Glacier. We spent a good 30 minutes skipping stones with a backdrop of the most beautiful mountains you can imagine anywhere.

It's been raining and hailing on-and-off (2 minutes on and 2 minutes off) ever since then, so e've been amusing ourselves here at Casas de Gownezio for the past couple of hours.

Going Home to Glacier National Park

We've had a few days away from internet access, which is a good thing as it allows us to make a break from technology. When last we spoke it was the 4th of July and we were in Medora, ND... we are all treated to a fantastic nearly-midnight fireworks show, which we can only assume was in recognition of Liz and my anniversary. Seriously, Medora has like seven full-time residents so we weren't expecting much... but it was a spectacular show.

We arrived yesterday in Glacier National Park. There is something so special about Glacier... other parks may have slightly more impressive scenery or better hiking trails, but Glacier just feels like home.

Yesterday after setting up at the campground, we all went to the Trail of the Cedars. This is important as this trail is only .8 miles long and is entirely handicapped accessible, meaning Grandma got to come for the entire thing. We saw some very cool things on the trail through the 500-year-old cedar forest, including many varieties of moss, an upturned tree with a massive root system stripped free of dirt, and the rapids of Avalanche Creek. It has rained quite a bit here in the last week, and we have never seen the water flow downstream and over the many waterfalls like it is now.

Last night we spent at least two full hours organizing our gear as we plan to start going out on some real hikes, and then this morning we returned to the same trailhead and hiked up to Avalanche Lake. This is one of our all-time favorite hikes, and both two years ago and this year it marks our first real hike. It is 6.2 miles round trip and a total ascent of 500 feet on the way up, but it goes up and down so much that it is probably up 1200 and down 700. The Avalanche Lake hike serves as our family's hiking banchmark, in distance, elevation, terrain, and beauty. No matter where we go, as we consider a hike we always ask each other Is it longer or shorter? Steeper? As beautiful? as Avalanche Lake.

This was Izzie's first real hike as well. She got carried to the lake, but did the entire 3.1 mile return on her own. As always, the overfed ground squirrels were in full attack mode, and for every bite of sandwich you took you had to take 3 swipes at squirrels.

To my husband on our anniversary...

(Sorry for the momentary loss of humor and the thick and gloppy lovey dovey stuff all you reading at home - read ahead at your own discretion)

I love my husband. We have been married for 11 years today. I have now known him an improbable half of my life. What strange and impossible circumstances lead to our meeting have lead down this path to our happiness beginning that first day, through our marriage and the wonderful family we now share. Thank you for all you are and all you do to be the you that has lead us here. Shmoopie shmoo.

Medora - July 3

We can't seem to upload any of the absolutely amazing photos from today. We'll get them up on the internets and the googles tomorrow.

Today has been a great day for everybody. I started the day with my first real mountain bike adventure since injuring my knee two months ago. Rode about 20 miles on the Maah Daah Hey Trail, which runs 100 miles through the ND Badlands. Got to hang out with some cows on the trail. Wanted to go a little further, but a big thunderboomer was predicted and some nasty-looking clouds and wind were starting to come up. Mom just finished and Liz and I are in the midst of reading Deep Survival, and I remembered the point of the book: Those who survive "wilderness accidents" are usually those who avoid them altogether, by being able to adapt, change their plans even when it is disappointing, and turn back long before it is obvious to do so. So remembering these words, I turned back. And it never rained. But it was still an awesome ride. [Note: Special thanks to my sadistic, er, effective PT (that stands for "personal torturer") and Mom's cousin Doug Kulp for getting me back on the bike!]

While I was riding, everybody else went into Teddy Roosevelt National Park, and saw all sorts of cool things, including prairie dogs (which Izzie insists are "Fairy Dogs"), bison, wild horses, and Gabe and Kieran came face to face with a prairie rattler. Yes, that prairie rattler. Everybody went on a great two-mile hike that Izzie did all of by herself. Oh wait, here comes Liz:

I just felt like 4 lines just didn't cut it! The hike was the 2 mile Ridgeline Nature Trail. Izzie really liked the hike and was highly motivated to find the next number post where mom did her bit, reading to us from the trail brochure. There were parts of the trail where it was tempting to pick Izzie up - they didn't name it ridgeline for nothing. Recent rain washed out parts of stairs and had Gabe and Kieran taking it slow. When we completed the loop, having seen many beautiful flowers, the kids bounded down the wooden steps and stopped dead at the bottom. Gabe said, "SNAKE" and Kieran (who apparently hadn't seen it) stopped too. Alex was closest, but his fast footsteps got the snake moving back into the tall grass. Size, shape and coloration lead us to believe a prairie rattlesnake. YIKES!!!

We got back in the car and drove the rest of the loop road around the park. We saw wild horses, including foals with their mothers, and the stallion at lookout. We only saw two buffalo, but one was right out Grandma's window. She got a thrill, as when we drove by he started coming our way head down and tongue out. What a fun time!

We all met up for lunch and naps, then went to the Marquis de Mores ice cream parlor for "dinner", then The World's Greatest Playground for about an hour, then a 5-mile bike ride with the boys while Mom and Dad went back into the park for an evening hike, home for grilled cheese since we were hungry after "dinner", and now the kiddos are in my bed watching the end of Kung Fu Panda.

Tomorrow is Liz and my 11th anniversary, so don't expect too much in the way of blogging.

The Road to Medora

Today we drove across most of North Dakota, with two key stops: WalMart (yeah, we don't feel good about either), and Fort Abraham Lincoln.

Many of you know that my hometown on Monroe, Michigan was General Custer's hometown and that I am a recovering re-enactor. I know.. between that and the mullet...

Fort Lincoln holds a special place in my heart... on our very first trip to Montana for the Little Big Horn reenactment, we had four of us, all of our stuff for two weeks, plus a La-Z-Boy chair, plus a BUFFALO HEAD, all crammed into a minivan. We delivered the chair and the buffalo head as gifts from La-Z-Boy and the people of Monroe to Fort Lincoln.

We all enjoyed the tour of the Custer house, and especially enjoyed comparing it to our house which was built at the same time. We also especially enjoyed the tour of the rebuilt Mandan viilage. It was amazing how the "air conditioning" in the hand-built, clay-covered lodges kept them cooler than the electric AC in our own homes. Everyone's favorite part was the "childrens' lodge", which had a display board featuring a Mandan children's story. Now, most children's stories, no matter where you go on Earth, follow the same sort of structure, and have the same sort of morals and lessons to be learned. This story, however, was different. It was about a coyote that angered a potato, and then couldn't stop farting. That's right, I said farting. We all - including the park guides and our own children's literacy experts - stood around for some time trying to discern the point of the story. The best we could come up with is this: If you make a potato angry, it will make you fart until your butt hurts. The entire text is included below.

We have arrived in Medora, which is possibly our favorite one-square-block town in the West. Population of like 100 people, with three ice cream parlors. We had a lovely dinner at the campground, and then walked around town. We finally made it to the World's Greatest Playground, which was enjoyed by all.

p.s. You know you're in the West when... you're driving on a two-lane highway and the speed limit is 75.

The Award for Greatest Reaction to a Mosquito Bite Goes to...

Her name is Izzie. Weighing in at a scant 28 pounds, this lightweight does heavy duty in the bug bite department. What looked like three small bumps last night sent Poppy into a panic this morning - he claimed to want to go home, saying he left for the summer but our children's problems follow him everywhere. Was he kidding? We'll never know. Benadryl hasn't helped much to this point. Aunt Patti - if you are reading this, please understand now my concerns about the biting bugs up north! We're not easily deterred from our plans, but it does in fact look like she was in a heavyweight fight with Mike Tyson.

We had a carefree drive through Minnesota and into eastern North Dakota, stopping to enjoy a sunny picnic lunch. KEY WORD: SUNNY. Dad has a smile on his face now.

None of us could remember tonight's campground from the last time (Jamestown) until we got here and travelled down that dusty road - see the picture of the bikes on the back of the big RV. Once here we recalled our first visit and our first ever flat tire. The kids ran off to the playground happily, Kieran tried his first training-wheels-free bike ride with some success, and Gabe and Mark are battling it out in Scrabble.