I had to send my D6 back to Nikon for servicing due to a broken on/off switch. Before she left tho I was able to take and edit a few photos. I’ve been challenging myself to take photos at least once a week (during naptime) but will have to put that on hold until I get her back from the service center.
Bad weather always looks worse through a window so despite the terrible forecast Rost & I set out for Logan Pass. I figured it might be one of our last days to drive the Going to the Sun Road to the pass before the road closes for the season. We were actually in search of Mountain Goats (I’ve been dying to get an up-close shot of one since I got my telephoto lens) but they were at a completely unreachable cliff a few miles away. Either way, it was a beautiful day spent with my head in the clouds.
21! Months that is. Rost finally got to ride the neighbors horses among many other fun times.
A family friend from Pennsylvania reached out to me a few months ago about a special trip he and his sister were planning on taking with their 80-something-year-old dad. Their trip included two nights in lovely Kalispell, Montana – which allowed me to play tour guide for a day. We started our day by driving up to Polebridge Mercantile for some huckleberry bear claws, then headed over Logan Pass, down to St. Mary River for lunch & fishing, followed by a trek in & out of Many Glacier, then headed back to Kalispell via Highway 2. For the record, I have stopped at Goat Lock nearly every time I have driven past it. I’d likely guess I’ve stopped over 100x and until TODAY had not once seen so much as a hint of a goat other than the sign at the trailhead stating they were there. I can now confirm there are actual goats at the Goat Lick rest area. Yay!
Twenty months have already crept by. We’re approaching TWO and I could not be more excited. Rost is quite the helper these days and with summer winding down and a list of projects we’re trying to accomplish on the property still sitting on my desk, we’re happy for his help. Even if it does mean it takes us a little longer to complete them.
Another trip around the Daystar. Another new adventure was taken. While I had initially had a backpacking trip into the Crazy Mountains planned, it was sidetracked & a new adventure was formulated that included multiple days of hiking in different areas and crystal mining. Xoxo.
The air was filled with the sweet scent of pine as we arrived at the campsite, surrounded by towering trees and a babbling stream nearby. Rost had spent the first two nights camping with Grandma & Grandpa while I took my first vacay from momming in well over a year (48 bittersweet hours – a ridiculous amount of stuff was accomplished).
Brian & I joined in on the fun Friday night to enjoy a couple of days relaxing at the lake.
This unforgettable experience marked the beginning of countless adventures for my little explorer, creating cherished memories to last a lifetime.
Creeping towards a year and a half – 17 months have come and gone. Rost is ever the great helper and making big moves in life over the last month. Enjoy the photo dump from over the last month. Xoxo.
My friend Bre and I took a third trip to bike the Going to the Sun Road. Another attempt that had me turned around before reaching the end point yet again. My first trip out was rained out (something I now need to take into account when adventuring with Rost), the second trip a grizzly bear decided the road was (rightfully) his (or hers). On this trip, a flat tire on Bre’s bike meant she had to run roughly 3 miles next to her bike back to the trailhead while I took our boys back in my double bike trailer – which I luckily decided to use on this trip instead of the single bikes seat Rost prefers.
It had been raining all week when there was a break in the clouds. Not wanting to miss a bit of our short summer here in NW Montana, Rost and I loaded up the RadRover and took off for the park.
Finally! We reached the end of the current bikeable part of the road.
While success was ours, the day took a sad turn while we were stuck in the parking lot while rescue crews did their best to resuscitate a woman who ultimately lost her life after falling into Avalanche Creek. A somber reminder that nature is powerful and often unforgiving.
I’ll leave you with a little tale to end on a good note: At our turnaround point, I could tell that the break in the weather we were experiencing was coming to an end. I turned Rost into the dry duckling that could and handed him a PB&J sandwich to snack on while we coasted back down the road. As we hit speeds of over 30 mph Rost began rubbing his hands all over the small of my back. He’d never done that before and it took me several minutes to figure out what the heck he was doing. As we hit top speed my tanktop began fluttering in the wind. It generally does not do that and so this was a new experience for him. He was trying to figure out how my shirt was seemingly moving on its own. As Rost was scratching my back, he also discovered he could snap my biking shorts back. About halfway down the mountain, Rost proceeded to deposit his half-eaten PB&J sandwich into my shorts, sending sticky sweetness oozing down my buttcrack.
