The Salt Flats

We stopped at the Bonneville Salt Flats on our way out to the Ruby's.  The kids were pretty entertained and the photos ops are pretty fun so, here are a few. 

What a wild planet we live on.  Feel blessed and grateful every day I get to spend on it. 

Angel Lake

When we found out that our friends went camping in the Ruby Mountains last summer, we had to go.  We sort of love going to places that share their name with our kids. :)  We actually ended up camping at Angel Lake, which is in the Humbolt Mts, but the Ruby Mts are right next door.  The place was magical.  

This is a little magical too.  Usually Chip is the more stylish of the two of us, but my eyes crossed when I turned around to find him dressed in...a lot of patterns. 

Evening row.

Thumbs up for dinner. :)

This rock was in our campsite and provided for LOTS of entertainment for the little people.  

Nice spy glasses Greta.

We all LOVED getting to ride in and play around with Burnout, the Kirby's boat.

Ruby seemed to be a natural.

Happy Belated Birthday to Jess!

An awesome wildflower hike up to a hidden lake.  We learned some new names of flowers and enjoyed watching the fish.

Hiked to the waterfall that feeds the lake too...cause one hike a day is not enough for this crowd. :)

Oh man, the highlight was cliff jumping.  Everyone swam and most jumped, even Greta after much debating and having to push through a lot of fear.  We were all so proud of her.  

Look at THAT meal.  The Kirby's know how to do it up. Mmmm...

Jiffy Pop over the fire. Oh yeah.

And, this one was Chip's invention- the roasted apple.  We peeled them, and then dipped them in cinnamon sugar...not bad. :)

Group shot.  Love yall!  Thanks for a great weekend.  We WILL be back. :)

Montana- Bozeman and Yellowstone

Next, we headed down and over to Bozeman to visit the Tuttle family.  They are fun and we were so excited to bike around town with them, catch up, and get to spend some time with their newest addition, Caroline, who we had not met yet.

Unfortunately, Ruby and I sustained a bad bike accident only hours after arriving.  Ruby was riding in the foam seat in front of me, but the foot peg did not fit on the bike we were borrowing.  So, after only a block, her foot got stuck in the front tire and we went from 15 miles per hour to a dead stop.  Both of us flew off the bike.  I will be forever grateful that we were both wearing helmets (mine cracked- landed on it), and that there were no cars in the road at the time.  Ruby was scared, bleeding only a bit from her mouth, but 20 minutes later was flying around on her strider like nothing had happened.  Kids- so resilient.  I, on the other hand, tore my upper lip area up (I was worried I had lost teeth- ahh- SO grateful that didn't happen also) and ended up breaking a bone in my elbow.  I felt traumatized and uncomfortable, but for the most part, was okay and like I said, extremely grateful every time I thought about how much worse this accident could have turned out.  Wear your helmets and listen to your husband (Chip warned me that her feet might need to be moved moments before this happened).  That is what I learned.

Love these guys! We had a great visit despite the accident.  Thanks for all the hospitality!

This is a sticker from when my dad ran for school board....when I was in high school.  Not sure how one of these stickers made it this long and ended up on Ian's bike.  Hilarious.

Now, on to Yellowstone.  I forget how easy it is to live and camp in Utah sometimes.  Bear country requires a lot more vigilance.  Ruby and Owen didn't mind.

I had not been to Yellowstone for probably a decade.  The place does not disappoint.  Immediately after crossing the boarder into the park, you are engulfed in amazing scenery, crazy geologic phenomenons, and a density of animals that we just don't have in other places anymore. We camped at Indian Creek and enjoyed biking and hiking right from our campsite.  

The next day we did the tour around to many of the sights.  This mini grand canyon was a really steep and fun hike and the views were intensified by the dark and humid weather we were experiencing.

This was our lunch stop.  As I mentioned, it was stormy, and cold.  In fact, it was supposed to snow the next night.  So, after being drenched the night before, we made the decision to not camp again in Yellowstone and to head to Victor to stay at the DuRoss house instead.  This was a dissapointment and stirred on lots of conversation about how we would like to aquire the lightest and most simple pop up camper we can find.  We'll see.

Rain at Old Faithful and the need for a bathroom led us to the gift shop, which led to us saying they (which really only ended up being Ruby due to some poor choices on Owen's part) could have a lollipop.  Ruby and baby chose with care, and she enjoyed that thing during our entire visit.

We could barely see Old Faithful because of the weather, but it was fun anyway and the surrounding geysers were pretty amazing.  Owen was in a terrible mood, hence no pictures of him really, and we were losing steam after driving and hiking around at the sights all day.  Time to head into Jackson for dinner and on to the house for a warm and dry place to sleep before heading home to Park City.

Ahhh, yes.  The view into Jackson from the park.  I guess there are no guarantees when it comes to the weather.  This place is obviously beautiful, no matter what the weather, that is for sure.

Montana- Missoula

Our family camping trip this year was to Montana.  There are some special people and places in that state that we wanted to visit and for Ruby and Owen to meet.  We camped in ID for a night on the way up.  It was chilly and threatened rain, but none came.

 

Biking around the campsite.  What an awesome stage we are at.  Chip and I get to enjoy a walk after dinner around the grounds and these two get to stride their little hearts out on all the paved roads.  Good stuff.

The lighting and energy was just working for me this evening or something. I just love everyone's smiles in all these pics.

Good morning, Montana!

Visited a ghost town on our way to Missoula in the morning.  After all, my kids (Owen especially, but Ruby too) sort of love scary things, always have.  They are still fascinated with ghosts, goblins, dead things and people and coming back to life, anything  haunted-all of it. So, an abandoned town was right up our alley.

Alright- let's get there already!

The "M"!  Chip and I helped Ruby and Owen hike up at least half of this trek, but they did most of the down themselves.  This was such a cool experience.  We have hiked to the M dozens of times, mostly during our years as students in Missoula, but even after at different stages of life during visits.  I have vivid memories of hiking it for the first time with my dad and Chip after rolling into town to attend school at the U, state of MT, sight unseen. I remember hiking it with my college roommates, contemplating life.  I remember hiking it by myself, looking out onto the first place I chose and made home.  And now, to hike it with my husband and kids, was pretty incredible.

Beautiful day, beautiful memories.

Eddy St.

So, we visited the old, and discovered Missoula from a new perspective too!  Carous Park was a hit. The carousel is the fastest in the west and was a huge hit with Owen and Ruby.  We rode it more than a few times.  The new wave in town was a hit with dad too.  We walked away trying to figure out where one of these could go in near Park City.  Getting to surf when land locked is thrilling.  Of course, Chip picked it up quickly- check out the video.

Hang ten, dad!

In Missoula, we stayed with Amy and Fred (we missed you, Abe!), our dear friends from PA school.  They had a new family addition, Gus, the dog.  He was a hit and SO stinkin cute.

3 year old boy plus 3 month old dog = perfect match.

Ruby said to me at dinner the other day at home, "mom, when I grow up I am going to be a girl who works at a farm."  So, when we got to Fred and Amy's and they had chickens, bunnies, a garden, and needed "farm help", Ruby was in heaven.

In Missoula, we visited a few favorite shops and bars, got to see Adam Sherba, go for a run on the Kim Williams trail, and have some "crack" at Bernice's Bakery.  Thanks to Fred and Amy for hosting us and to Missoula for being somewhere we will always come back to.