We got to Montana, Jim hung out with Tim while I went to Miami for some kid/g-kid time. I was able to come back in time for Tim and Julie’s outdoor wedding at Tally Lake. We were able to get into East Glacier, which was closed last time that we were there. We got back to the property, with a couple stops at Harvest Hosts on the way. One of the Harvest Host locations had an amazing collection of old and unique vehicles. The annual tarantula migration kept the cats busy, Jim got set up with his new dozer, got the shooting range set up and we got skirting on the RV. Then, we headed to Birmingham for Thanksgiving w/ Jim and Becky. Chayse was able to come out to see us for the week.

Britt was able to come out for a week and explore with us. We visited Seattle and toured the Underground city that current Seattle was built over. While the underground itself was a bit disappointing, it was very interesting to hear the history of the city and how it came to be as it is today. We did some hikes in Olympic and toured the coast. We were able to see the Tree of Life, which is amazing. Britt left, we found a dog friendly hike, spent a day at North Cascades NP, then left for Montana so that I could go to Florida to spend some time with Ash and the g-kids.

We moved on to the Oregon coast, visiting the Columbia River Gorge (lots of hiking and waterfalls), some old forts, Cannon Beach and Astoria (home of the Goonies). We then went to Mt. Rainer, which was incredible, but had limited visibility due to wildfire smoke or storms on most days. We did some lower level hiking and saw a ton of waterfalls. We did a couple higher elevation hikes and were lucky to catch a few breaks in the clouds.

We made it to Idaho and completed our first back country hike. We went with Britt and some AF folks, it was incredible. We hiked in the Sawtooth Mountains and camped at Alpine Lake. We also hiked further up to Sawtooth Lake. The water was freezing, both Jim and Britt got in both lakes, I didn’t. Family came to visit, we did some white water rafting, visited an old jail, did some kayaking on a river, and visited a portion of the Oregon Trail before heading out to Oregon and Mt. Hood. In Oregon we did a couple rides down an alpine slide and some hiking. 

Did a weekend camping/kayak trip to a Mo. State Park. I went to STL for work and got to go to my first Cards game in a couple years. We bought a boat 4 days before we left for the summer and were able to take it out a couple times. After a couple stops, we got to Wyoming and the Tetons. We did some hiking, a float trip on the Yellowstone river and more driving. On our way out, we stopped at Yellowstone Bear world in Idaho – black bears wandered freely, a couple of grizzlies were behind a fence and there were bison and some beautiful elk. 

Time at the property is pretty relaxed, we got to enjoy spring with lots of bulldozing and burn piles. Jim is making amazing progress on clearing the land and found time to refinish the table and chairs. I attended a work function in Fl, where we went to Universal. Then, we decided to avoid the crowds at the ‘normal’ places and go to Huatulco, Mexico. In Huatulco, there is a wet season and dry season, we got there at the end of the dry season, so things were quite brown. We quickly realized we both suck at relaxing by a pool, though we kept trying. We did several excursions, a boat trip to six of the seven bays, including snorkeling – a trip to two waterfalls, that we were able to swim in, and a fishing trip. Though the flights there were miserable (thanks Delta) and we missed the first night and planned excursion the following day, we had a blast. It was beautiful, the people were amazing, our guide, Isa, was amazing. He joined us in the waterfalls, talked about the trees we were interested in and even stopped the car to get wild plums for us to try. We had a great time. When we got back we did some kayaking and side by side riding.

I really like Gulf Shores… there is live music everywhere, history, awesome bike trails and a beautiful state park beach. We were able to visit several forts, built in the early 1800s, utilize their bike trails, and visit the USS Alabama, a battleship turned museum. Fort Barrancas, as well as a working lighthouse and the National Naval Aviation Museum are on the Navy base outside of Pensacola, which is generally closed to the public. Luckily, they opened for 2 days, and we happened to notice and were able to see all three. Fort Barrancas was built in the early 1800s right behind a Battery that was built by the Spaniards in the late 1700s. The battery is lower on the hill, where they shot cannons at a very shallow angle, ricocheted them off the water, and hit ships right at the water line to sink them. I never get tired of walking through the old forts and WW2 ships and subs, the ingenuity, hard work, and craftsmanship of that time period is amazing. In the small museum attached to the lighthouse was an original knee from the USS Constitution, that were were able to visit a couple summers ago. The knees for these large ships were often made from Live Oaks, which are plentiful in the area. While in Gulf Shores, we also picked up Pickle Ball, which is a blast, we played often.

We spent February in Fredericksburg, Tx, just north of San Antonio and with some friends we haven’t seen for a while. We got to hang out and experience wine country in Texas with our buddies, Alice and Gordon, of Roaming With the Ramseys. They picked up a new puppy, Stormie, while we were there and we had a blast spending time together. We kicked February off with a San Antonio parade, visiting the Alamo and taking the boat tour through San Antonio. We wandered Fredericksburg and saw the National Museum of the Pacific War, then the LBJ ranch, where Jim got the turkeys to get all puffed up and gobble repeatedly. We saw part of the San Antonio stock show and the bad ass kids who tug bulls and other animals around like it’s nothing. We were also able to see the other five missions and learn more of the history in the area. We spent a day in Waco and saw the silos, Mammoth National Monument and the Texas Ranger museum. We saw the Texas White House at the LBJ National Historical Park and then spent a weekend in Corpus Christie, visiting Padre Island National Seashore and the Lexington Air Craft carrier. Jim tried to cap the cat’s claws to protect our furniture…. which ended up with super glue covering my fingers for the next several days. All too soon it was time to head out, at least the cats are getting used to travel days.

We headed out to chase blue skies and 75 degrees, we didn’t find it. We did, however, get to see and do a buncha new things! We went to a huge Christmas light display, the Naval Museum to tour a battleship and WWII submarine, Galveston, some walks on the beach, and an NFL game. The battleship was amazing, but the sub was incredible. The entire sub was lined with gauges and dials. The ingenuity, craftmanship, and engineering that went into it was stunning. We were able to tour Minute Maid stadium, the pyramids (a rainforest and an aquarium) and an old oil rig. We got to board an 1788 tall ship that still sails and were able to learn a bit about how trade worked during that time frame. We went to the Space center and took a ferry to Port Boliver to tour Fort Travis, est. in the early 1800s. Because were were interested in the picture of a large monument was, we stumbled on San Jacinto, the place where the Mexican-American war was won. We topped off our stay in the Houston/Galveston area by attending Monster Jam and witnessed the unquestionable victory of Son of a Digger, the son of Grave Digger. Though the weather was pretty chilly. cloudy, and very rainy, we made the most of our time there, it was an incredible month.

This month flew by. Chayse and Britt came for Thanksgiving – which was a blast. Jim got to use power tools on the turkey, always a good thing. We got to show the kids around and ride in the side-by-side even though it was pretty chilly. We got Britt for 10 days and Chayse for a long weekend. Then Ash and the G-kids came out from 7-20th, Chayse came back down so that he could spend some time with them too. We took them around in the side by side on one of the few days we could get out – it was really cold and rainy most of the time. We had a blast, we played outside, went on deep poop hunts, went into town to see some lights, we saw deer and a possum, we played some competitive games of Hungry Hippos, Dinosaur edition, had an early 1st birthday party for Enolah and an early Christmas. Luckily the snow held off until everyone was safely home.