Just another day in Montana!

This picture was taken on Hwy 15 headed North out of Great Falls.  I haven't been keeping up on my blogs because my phone service has been very minimal but here's what's been going on lately. 
We are having so much fun in Montana!  We have covered lots of road and seen some beautiful scenery.  We've been through raindrops the size of snowballs, hail, thunder and lightning, cloudy skies and plenty of sunshine.  I can't even imagine what winter is like, I think I like the sun.
We are on our way back home but passing through Yellowstone; which means lots more beauty and picture taking. 
We stayed in our friends cabin, David and Wendi Wanner, for three days up in Fortine, MT.  If you try and look it up it's closest to Eureka near the Canadian border.  Their home gave us rest, peace and plenty of no-cell-using time!  Every night our entertainment was sitting on the porch watching the deer.   

For the last two days we have been in Lolo, MT, right south of Missoula.  We are staying with Linda's brother (Darren's Uncle).    For the next few days we will stay in Big Sky, MT at the north-western part of Yellowstone and then we'll travel through Yellowstone to the South and stay in Jackson Hole.  Can't wait to take it all in!

Some times all I think I think about is food.  Where will we eat?  What will we eat?  I worry about getting a good meal.  Well one of our biggest surprises came in Butte, MT when we were on a quest to find a place to eat.  We looked on yelp and found this old historical house made into a restaurant, with the most fabulous pizza.  When we walked in you could just smell the goodness oozing from it's core.  It had a back porch which had a view of all of the city.  What a perfect place.  I love it when this happens.  Who would have thunk?

Our days have been full of travel.  One town to the next.  We've been enjoying each town with a lot of little stops in between.  Today we had a full day in Helena, MT.  We went on a boat tour of the Gates of the Mountains, stopped in to see the Capital Building and got stuck inside while a wind-hail storm passed us by.  It was very amazing to watch from the top floor window of the Capital Building.  At one point you could see as far as your eye could take you, with the "sleeping giant" in the far distance but within minutes we couldn't see the statue out front of the building.  We were just glad we weren't caught outside in it.

 

Tomorrow we will trek through Glacier National Park from the East to the West taking in all the wildlife and scenic pictures we can muster in.  We will be without internet for a few days so we'll catch up with everyone when we can.   

This Monday, July 29th, we set out on our 3rd road trip.  Darren, Linda, my sister Stephanie and her family and I are traveling through Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming & Montana.
Today we took the off-the-beaten path to see Bryce Canyon.  The beauty of this place is why I love road trips.  This country is soooo beautiful!
We stayed on the scenic route for most of our travels today and it really is Amazing!  Utah has not disappointed!

Hellgate Jet Boat Excursion

WOW! We just had the best time. What a hoot! If you ever get a chance to do the Hellgate Jet Boat Excursion in Grants Pass, Oregon then you have to do it!

My friend Cindy recommended we do it. She was just visiting Grants Pass right before we left for vacation and she called me and said this was a "must do" while passing through. I really had never heard of such a thing and didn't know what to expect. I have to say that this was our second to last day on our vacation and it always gets a little harder when we start heading home. We all get a little more restless BUT this ended up being a great morale boost to pick our spirits up. I can also say that this could have been one of the most entertaining times we've had on our trip and possibly EVER.

As I began down the river I thought about my friend Cindy and how much I would have enjoyed experiencing this ride with her. She just lost her mother recently and I began to think of her dealing with the strong emotional loss and how wonderful it was for her to be able to have an exhilerating fun experience during her time of grief. What a wonderful healing time this must have been for her. I can't speak for her but it was such a wonderful experience I just can't tell you enough how you MUST do it, if you ever come this way.

What a perfect way to end our perfect roadtrip!

Our Day in Seattle

We had such a FULL day in Seattle I couldn't even keep my eyes open to write on my blog. We did the "touristy thing". I'm not too keen on doing that but when you only have one day to see a city you do what you need to do. The only other time when we did a one day sprint to see a city was when we were in New York City for the day in 2001.

We started the day Riding the Duck. It is a vehicle that goes on land and on sea. If you look closely to the picture you can see a Duck swimming in the waters with the Seattle skyline in the background. It took us through town, around the city, and out on Union Lake for a wonderful tour of the city from all angles. We even got to see the house boat that Sleepless in Seattle was filmed on.

After the duck tour we went up into the Space Needle and had lunch. The Space Needle rotates 360 degrees and takes about 48 minutes for a full rotation. So while we were sitting at our lunch table we were getting the FULL view of all of Seattle. It was an incredibly beautiful day and we recommend it to anyone visiting Seattle. We also recommend the Bread Pudding, it was the best I'd ever eaten.

Our next adventure was one that only Darren and I enjoyed. While on the Duck our Captain "Chip Ahoy" told everyone that the crab boats from the show Deadliest Catch, Wizard and Northwestern, were docked across the way. Darren and I ventured out to find the boats from our favorite TV show. It took some searching but we finally eyed the Wizard. I eyed it. We took pictures of it as if it was a movie star. This was fun for us. We set out to find the Northwestern but we were not successful. In our search Darren asked a gentleman that we saw walking on one of the docks if he knew where it was parked. We discovered from our new found friend, Bob, that he was a Captain of a crab boat as well. North Sea was his boat and after talking to him for some time he invited us on his boat for a tour. We got to go on a crab boat. (This is Darren and I doing the happy dance)

In the evening we grabbed Linda and got her out for the Underground tour of Seattle. This tour was recommended by several people but I'm not sure why. It wasn't anything too fascinating. I'm not recommending this one to any one.

I just want to say that we got rain today. Seattle rain. Their rain is a lot like Hawaii rain, a misty rain. This rain is nice. I was glad to get rain because frankly I wasn't believing anyone about the weather rumors of the Northwest. We have been getting the best weather on our travels, even record breaking sunny or warm days in most places. I just wanted different weather than hot and dry and I wasn't seeing a big difference. So I welcomed the rain and enjoyed being out in it.

We are slowly ending our vacation and we should be home by Friday so there won't be much more to say about our travels but we have a Hellgate Jet Boat ride tomorrow I'll let you know all about it.
Night. Night.

Seattle, WA

Our day started with saying goodbye to our friend Julie and to Canada and to begin our way down the hill. (my own visual) We passed through the boarder with flying colors. When they said "Welcome Home" it was more of a relief than I thought I would feel and it was wonderful to hear. Nothing like the good ole USA.

Today we strolled along Seattle's waterfront. Pike Place Market was our only destination today. I just love to walk around where there is food everywhere. I'm fascinated by the diversity of all the different vendors. We stood around the Pike Place Fish Co and watched them throw the fish back and forth and then I made everyone follow me to the Gum Wall. I thought it was quite colorful and artsy to see all the gum stuck on the wall, I even stuck my own gum up there. Darren and Linda weren't too thrilled though.

We strolled by a Starbucks and the line was going out the door and down the street. Why? I wondered. What is it about coffee that people will stand in line, in a long line, for coffee. I later discovered that this paticular Starbucks is the first one to begin the Starbuck craze. I still don't get it.

Tomorrows a full day in Seattle........

Today was our lazy day. We decided early on that we were going to stay in Abbotsford, BC and relax. We've been moving, literally, for the last week and we wanted nothing more than to be "plan" free.

Our highlight of the day and trip was seeing our friend, Julie. Julie arrived home today after being at camp all summer and we just wanted to spend some time with her.

I did end up doing what I love to do and I cooked dinner, Taco Salad and Blackberry Cobbler, for all the young adults returning from camp along with Julie. It was like being at home and cooking for my family. At one point there were 15 people in the house, just like home. Can you tell I'm missing my family?

We leave tomorrow with our new Canadian accent. (Beg=Bag, surrey=sorry, aboot=about, mum=mom) Seattle we will see you tomorrow.