TravelingMel

Last week we spent two nights and three lovely days at the Kings Hill Forest Service cabin. If you don't know about renting Forest Service cabins you can read more about it here.

The short story is that the Forest Service rents no-longer-used ranger cabins to the public. We are the public. We rented a cabin.

The Kings Hill cabin is in central Montana about 28 miles north of White Sulfur Springs. I'm sure everyone knows where White Sulfur is, right? The cabin is on Kings Hill Pass, the highest pass that remains open in Montana in winter. At least that's what I read somewhere.

We originally wanted to get the cabin on a weekend so I wouldn't have to take any time off work, but when I tried to get a reservation in October, it was booked every weekend of the winter. It turned out to be a good thing we didn't go on a weekend because there are a lot of snowmobiles up there on the weekends. I like snowmobiles as much as the next person who doesn't like snowmobiles, but man they are loud en mass. Wednesday and Thursday were peaceful, tranquil and wilderness-y. It started getting louder on Friday.

We drove up after story-time at the library and lunch on Wednesday. My grand plan was for both of the boys to fall asleep in the truck and stay that way for the 1.5 hour drive to White Sulfur Springs. Finn complied. Anders waited until we were about 15 minutes out to fall asleep.

You might want to check out the photos from our September 08 trip to White Sulfur Springs--partly to see how much the boys have grown and to note the new murals at the pool.

Pulling in to the pool in White Sulfur Springs.

H and the boys get in.

This is the face Finn gives us when he is looking to make some trouble.

This is the face Anders makes when he is looking to have some fun.

After the swim we drove up to the cabin. The log cabin is in the Little Belt Mountains in the Lewis and Clark National Forest. The cabin is about 300 feet below the 7,393-foot pass and across the canyon from Showdown Montana. It was dark when we arrived, but we spied the cabin through the trees.

Our first order of business was turning on the electricity and starting a fire. The cabin is heated by a wood stove and it was COLD in there. See-your-breath-cold. Keep-your-down-jacket-on cold.

The thing that most worried me about this trip was the thought of putting the boys to sleep in the same room. At home we STILL put Finn to bed in our room and then move him in with Anders when they are both asleep. It used to be that Anders was a real challenge to get to sleep. Now it's Finn.

Of course, what I think is going to be hard never is. Anders asked to go to bed at 7:30. We put Finn down at the same time and they both went right to sleep. What? Who are those kids?

Since it was so freakin' cold in the cabin we were a little worried about Finn. He doesn't stay under covers. His little hands were freezing. H kept waking up throughout the night and putting him back under his covers. I kept getting up to add wood to the stove. Finn survived.

There was no way I was taking off my hat or jacket to read Anders a bedtime story.

H reads next to the stove after the boys fell asleep.

That"s Rigby's unhappy ear position. He prefers to sleep at his own house.

Well, there is a lot more to share, but I got a little chatty here and I need to leave the house by 7 tomorrow to get to work. I'm taking an equitation class (that's horseback riding) so I've been going in early and taking a long lunch on horseback.

Last Saturday morning I was looking at Facebook and saw some pictures a friend had put up about her trip to ZooMontana in Billings. I'd been meaning to go.

Since it was only 7:30 a.m. and I had already fed the boys (all four), cleaned the kitchen, Facebooked and read many books to Finn and Anders, I figured we had plenty of time for a trip to the zoo. And it was a nice day weather-wise, which might not happen for awhile.

I packed lunches, threw a stroller in the car, grabbed jackets, hats etc (just in case), called the zoo to make sure they were open, dressed everyone and loaded the car. Yeah, that took about 45 minutes, nothing happens quickly around here....Two hours after we left we were standing in front of the zoo.

Most of the animals at ZooMontana are native to Montana. Not including two Siberian tigers, two red pandas and a Sika deer. I'm not a huge zoo lover, but this one had nature trails, a big park and was really quite lovely.

Anders watching eagles.

Finn is all about mimicing his brother, mother or whoever else is around.

Two young river otters.

Finn is pretty excited about seeing the otters.

Otters watching two young human males.

Sleepy time for this wolf. Maybe midday isn't the best time to visit the zoo.

Wolf watchers.

Siberian tiger. Grrr

Red panda tail. They probably had cute faces, too.

Anders and Finn are suspicious of the picture-taker.

Anders calls this a littlehorn sheep. It's mom is a bighorn sheep.

Lunching at the park.

Grrr

I don't know why we got a double stroller, this one works just fine.

Anders calls these "giraffe horses". That's Anders-speak for draft horses.

My favorite part was seeing the wolverine. Anders' favorite part was feeding the goats in the barn area. And watching the giant horses. Finn's favorite part was being alive, outside and with his mom and brother--that's just how Finn is.

Wait, there's more? Why yes there is.

A few photos of everyone enjoying themselves at the campsite at Homestake Lodge on Sunday morning.

Uncle Scott and Finn at our campsite at Homestake Lodge.

Scott and Finn enjoy some dino time.

Sarah and Anders also getting in on the dinosaur fun.

I restrained myself to one flower shot. Bitterroot, the state flower.

I tried to make pancakes for breakfast, but without a spatula or a non-stick pan, it just wasn't working. So, back to Butte for breaky at Perkins, then an underground tour of Butte.

There used to be a whole city beneath the city, but much of it is covered or filled in. Below the sidewalks we walked was another set of sidewalks. The underground city really flourished during prohibition and there were bars hidden behind closets in barber shops, speakeasies, and a jail. At least that's what we saw.

Our tour guide was hilarious and kept calling us "Ladies and Gentleman" even though we were the only people on the tour.

In jail on the underground Butte tour.

Ladies and Gentleman...our tour guide.

The underground jail cell that held Butte native, Evel Knievel.

And that was it for Butte. We went back to our campsite, packed up and just as we were about to leave it started dumping rain--huge amounts of precip. On the way home we were bombarded by huge hail and more rain.

Scott and Sarah spent a couple more days with us, including one day in Yellowstone by themselves (I'm sure that was a welcome relief from the chaos that is two wee ones).

Back home at the train table.

Uncle Scott with his nephews. Do you see the resemblance in Finn? Poor kid

It's like herding cats...

...better. At least Sarah always looks good.

A couple of weekends ago we went east to Butte, America. (Anyone who finds and buys me a "Butte, America" shirt will be my best friend forever--after Rigby). We went to see the National Folk Festival.

The National Folk Festival is a large-scale three-day outdoor event presented free to the public that celebrates the roots, richness, and variety of American culture. The National features a jubilant and dizzying program that includes music and dance performances, participatory dancing, workshops, children’s activities, regional and ethnic foods, storytelling, parades, craft exhibits and demonstrations, and more. The National brings a jubilant and dizzying feast of the deeply traditional folk arts that appeals to audiences of all ages at all levels.

Butte, Montana is the host city for the 70th-72nd National Folk Festivals in 2008-2010. The National Folk Festival kicked off a three-year run in Montana on July 11-13, 2008.

We went thinking it would only be in Montana for two years, but turns out we could have waited until next year. Glad we didn't, though, because it was loads of fun.

It didn't start until 6 on Friday, but we left in the morning to set up our campsite at Homestake Lodge. This is a Nordic Center/mountain bike trails/hostel-ish place owned by my friends Mandy and Chris. There are hostel-style rooms with 8 or 12 bunks in the lodge, plus a huge dining room/fireplace/couch area and a kitchen. We set up camp in a meadow and were able to use the bathrooms and Lincoln Logs in the lodge.

First stop was the Granite Mountain Memorial. Basically there was a huge fire in the miles and miles of mine tunnels on June 8th, 1917. The fire took 168 lives, the nation's worst hard rock mining disaster.

Looking out from the Granite Mine memorial into the current mine.

Montana Resources mine. Where copper is king (or at least it was).

The kids were still asleep in the car so we toured around a bit before finding a place to park. Butte is a strange town that seems out of place in time. You definitely get the feeling that it is a place whose heyday has passed.

I've been to a few places in Butte (such as the Berkeley Pit), but never walked around uptown.

After the memorial, we found a place on the lawn at the "Original" stage and watched the opening of the festival.

The "Original" stage. Also the first, or original, elevator scaffolding. The bands played underneath.

Taking a rest after a day of having fun in the sun. When Anders looked at this picture he said, "I am tired".

Finn looking a little crusty, but having fun.

Native American horse parade to open the festival.

"Fork you," says baby Finn.

We went back to the campsite before any of the music really got going thinking the boys needed to go to bed.

My brother, Scott, and his girlfriend, Sarah, flew into Bozeman and met us at Homestake Pass. Scott hasn't seen Anders since he was 4 months old (Anders, not Scott) and had never met Finn. I'd never met Sarah, so it was time for us all to get together.

More in the next post....

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.