TravelingMel

I've been taking a lot of pictures, as always, but haven't gotten around to posting any. So here you go.

Big H found some tunnels and tents at a garage sale and we have been loving them ever since. We use them inside and out, but you know that. They are a great distraction when things start getting a little out of control. Not that that ever happens.

Baby duck, Jesse and Anders in the tunnel.

Giving Finn a lesson in tunnelology.

The boys got bubbles in their daycare Valentine's Day bags. Since the weather had been pretty warm, we figured it was time to get out and blow bubbles. Since I am the only one who can reliably blow bubbles I didn't get pictures of the actual bubbles. I figure most of you are here to see the kids, dogs or scenery anyway. Or maybe to steal a glance at my super hot husband. (You're out of luck on that account. This is a Henry-free post. Sorry.)

Looking cute while waiting for mom to open the bubbles.

"So that's how you do it."

After chasing bubbles for a bit, we went looking for trains. We walked near the tracks, but didn't see any locomotives. Luckily there were rocks and sticks. Anders liked looking down the ground squirrel holes and imagining them sleeping down there.

Looking for trains, finding sticks.

Dousing for ground squirrels.

Finding tracks in the mud.

Then it was time for home and lunch. After some indoor play the boys were more than ready for their naps. Or was it me that was more than ready for their naps? Hard to recall.

Tuckered out after a morning of tunnels, bubbles, and trainspotting.

Fast forward a few days.

We like a good game of hide and go seek around here. Anders LOVES it. He is so excited about being found that he usually announces his location while we are looking for him. Good thing because he and Finn come up with some challenging hiding spots.

Look closely. You'll never guess where Finn is hiding.

There he is!

Anders has found an equally challenging spot to hide.

There he is!

Fast forward again...

I used to use scavenger hunts when I worked in environmental education. They are appealing to kids because they feel like a treasure hunt. And they are a treasure hunt. They are appealing to outdoor educators because they get kids to tune in to their surroundings. They can also be a good way to introduce a topic.

Debi at Go Explore Nature recently posted about a scavenger hunt they did. The list she linked to was perfect for us, so we printed it out and went on our own scavenger hunt.

We found a smooth rock. Cross it off the list!

Yeah! There are ducks here, too.

Finding a rock naturally leads to throwing rocks into the creek.

Finn takes a moment to enjoy his surroundings. I love how he crosses his legs when he sits.

Berries. Also on the scavenger hunt list.

Throwing rocks in the creek naturally leads to playing in the playground.

Throwing rocks from the bridge, of course.

Tuckered out after a morning outside.

So now you are pretty much caught up.

More pictures on my Flickr page.

Catch the whole weekend:
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3 (morning)
Day 3 (afternoon)

After Heather left for Cody, I decided to take a little walk up the Rescue Creek Trail. I only hiked for a couple hours, but saw plenty of wildlife, big gorgeous views and some lovely flowers.

Rescue Creek trail is pretty exposed for the first few miles, probably for the whole trail. It was cold and a bitter wind almost dampened my enthusiasm. But it didn't.

Watch out for bears and rattlesnakes. Tough to keep an eye out for both at the same time.

Looking up the Yellowstone River canyon (Black Canyon).

Looking back towards Gardiner and the Gallatin Range.

Watching sheep from the trail.

The Gallatins, again.

See that snake at the top of the frame? It rattled at me while I was looking for bears.

Zooming in on the rattler.

Trail heading over to Rescue Creek.

Bright lichen.

Pronghorn spied from the trail.

Right now you may be asking yourself why there haven't been more pictures of plants. Don't you worry, they're coming up.

Gardner River near the trailhead.

Fall colors for you.

Lots of bluebirds on the trail.

Last weekend I took Anders and Finn camping. Without a second adult. I know, brave of me. Other than a few minor episodes, it went really well.

We drove about 2 hours from Livingston to the Stillwater River in the Beartooths. We were at the base of the Beartooths, but it sounds more hard core if you think we were up in the mountains.

It was so beautiful. This is the second weekend in a row when I thought, "Why haven't I been here before?"

That's the thing about living here--there is always another amazing place to discover. I was struck again by how lucky we are.

I high school I was voted "most likely to be poor, but happy". It's true, look it up in the 1991 NPHS yearbook. That has basically turned out to be true. We live pretty hand-to-mouth, but look where we live.

We stayed at the Woodbine Campground at the end of the road. It's a big campground, but the sites are spread out and we scored a spot along the river.

Woodbine campsite. Yes, I set this giant tent up alone, in the rain, with a baby crying and a 2-year-old "helping".

Finn plays with the barralitos in the tent. I bought them in Argentina last year and they have become one of the most popular toys we own.

Anders playing with a shoelace. I like to spoil the boys with high-end toys. It's just what I do. (We could have brought the train table. It wouldn't fit in the car, but it would fit in the tent--with room for us to sleep.)

We played in the tent a little until the rain stopped, then got out and played in the dirt. Anders "made" a campfire and Finn chewed on pine cones. I made dinner. We tried to go to bed, but that wasn't really working.

Me: Anders we have to be quiet so Finn can fall asleep, then you and I will read books.

Anders: Mommy, we have to be quiet. No talking. Be quiet. Mommy, no talking. Mommy, I am not talking. I am being quiet. Finn is not tired.

Me: sshhhh

Anders: I am sitting on Finn. He is crying. He wants his mommy.

So, plan B. Put them in the car and take a little drive. I swore I'd never drive the kids to sleep. it is a total waste of energy. Desperate times.

After 10 minutes or so they were both asleep and I enjoyed the view from the steep dirt road.

Looking back down the valley from whence we came.

Looking up the valley toward where we camped.

The campground is just past the Stillwater Mine. (The only US producers of palladium and platinum.) Fortunately, the campground is upstream from the mine. I really don't know anything about it except that it is in a beautiful area and men, wearing hard hats, drive golf carts around.

Stillwater Mine

After they fell asleep I carried them into the tent and slipped them into sleeping bags.

The next morning we went for a hike up to Woodbine Falls. It was just .75 miles. Easy. Anders walked about the first .5 mile, then refused to walk anymore. I considered giving up my agenda of getting to the falls, but we all know that wasn't going to happen.

So I carried Anders the last .25 mile up (and all the way down) and Finn rode in the back pack. It was worth it.

(There are a lot of flower shots in here. If they bore you, do like Henry and scroll right past them.)

Trailhead to the falls. Only .75 miles.

Anders hiking.

Watching Woodbine Creek.

Do you wish you were here? You should.

Finn in the backpack, as usual.

Ponderosa pine

View from the trail.

Taking a rest stop.

Wild onion.

Larkspur--one of my top two favorite flowers.

Anders makes a rock hat. He wanted Finn to wear it, but I thought that might not be a good idea.

Anders keeps talking about the "river fall" we saw.

I know there is a hair from the photographer in the shot, but it is the only one of all three of us. Ignore it, if you can.

I have been enamored with the little maples this year.

Here is the waterfall from the road leading to the campground.

More pictures...I take a lot of pictures and if I don't post them here, they get lost in my computer.

The (not so aptly named) Stillwater River.

Anders makes a campfire. This consists of stirring around the ashes, getting covered in black soot and then rubbing his hands on my pants.

Yeah! The mini-beach by our campsite.

Part of the Stillwater. We got to listen to this whenever we were in our site. Lovely. I wish I could sleep by rushing water all the time.

Finn transitions from eating pine cones to eating sand. Keeps his gullet clean.

Who knows what this fungi(?) growing on the maple is? I see it all the time.

Anders splish-splashed in the river despite its frigid temperature.

Lichen. or is this a bryophyte?

Tree lichen.

Cute foal we saw on the way home.

I took the scenic route home and was happy to see the road got much better at this point.

We went camping last weekend. We took lots of photos. We always take a lot of photos, but we went overboard (even for us). Photos take a long time to resize, adjust and upload. No time for words. Check out Henry's blog for description.

I will say this, there were A LOT of mosquitoes, but we had a great time anyway.

The Big Tent. Look at 100lb Rigby for scale

Playing in The Big Tent

Throwing rocks in the lake.

phlox

change of focus

strawberry

rainy day

Cute dog on a hillside

clematis

meadow rue

paintbrush

Wade Lake. Seriously beautiful.

Finn chomps a pine cone (Doug-fir Pseudotsuga menziesii) in the backpack.

Hanging out around the campfire.

Daddy and little boy.

Sunday morning stroll in the woods.

Wade Lake from above.

Silky phaecelia

One of my favorites: Calypso orchid

One of my favorites: Rigby dog

Pausing briefly and being totally devoured by mosquitoes.

Cliff Lake

Rocky outcrop above Cliff Lake

Rigby on lock-down after crunching on the bones of something at an uninhabited campsite. Please keep your campsites clean, you never know when a sweet, but carcass-driven dog will arrive, followed by his poor best friend who has to walk all the way over there with a baby on her back and then crawl up a steep bank to get back to the road.

Cliff Lake

After our morning hike we jumped in the truck as quickly as possible to escape the swarms and headed to West Yellowstone. We visited the Grizzly Discovery Center and discovered a zoo...of people.

Bear watching

"What the heck is going on here?"

Sleepy wolf.

Our new couch. We had to rearrange some furniture to fit it in, but it is worth it.

41 photos. I think you get the picture of how our weekend went.

This morning I asked Anders if he wanted to go for a hike in the rain. I knew the answer, but I'm always looking for buy-in for my great ideas. There was no way he'd turn down an opportunity to wear his rain boots; nor an opportunity to picnic.

I packed crackers and cheese, raisins, peanuts, chocolate, tea, water, diapers, wipes, extra clothes, the kitchen sink and we headed up to Pine Creek. It's close by an only a 1 mile hike to an amazing waterfall. Perfect for a rainy hike.

We got to the trailhead and it wasn't raining. It was lightly snowing. Even better, no one would get too wet. We had a lovely hike (Henry posted about it. What? You had forgotten that H has a blog? Yes, it has been FOREVER since he lasted posted. But, he's not lazy.)

Shocks of snow perched on the spring-growth-green wild roses, currants and mish mash of other assorted shrubs. The air was crisp and alert. The waterfall pounded and drowned out all sounds other than itself. It was darn near magical. The best part was we didn't see anyone else until we were headed back, and this is a popular trail.

We didn't take a camera, but I snapped a couple shots with my cell phone. I'm tech savvy that way. Usually I take a lot of photos and select only the best for your viewing pleasure, but I think I have to pay to email myself photos from the phone, so I just took 2. I'm cheap that way.

See that white on the shrubs where it looks washed out? That's snow, my friends.

Hard to tell, but the mountain in the background (between the trees) is ripe with snow-covered conifers. And that dog is cute. Kid, too, but you don't need me to tell you that.

There's been a lot of complaining on the social network sites about June snow, but I love it. We live in Montana; this is normal. It makes us feel tough. And if you get outside and enjoy it... wow it's amazing. You should live here. (But not in our house, we still don't know where we are going to put Finn.)

Now the boys (Anders, Finn, Rigby and Diesel) are sleeping. H is not being lazy and I am roasting butternut squash, garlic, onions and carrots to make soup. I'm not lazy either.