Table Mountain

Three years ago, Corb and I hiked up Table Mountain. I called it "the most beautiful hike" I'd ever been on ... and that remains pretty darn accurate!! At the time we were not familiar with the trails and hiked up the most common trail, Huckleberry (pretty, long, winding, gentle) and hiked down the less familiar, the face (steep!!!). Today we went up the face and down Huckleberry ... a much better route!! We went with our friends, Tammy and Mo, and their friend John. Tammy and Mo are training to climb the Grand in late August. Tammy set a pretty fast pace up, so it was a good workout day for all! We had good conversations with good friends, beautiful views, and overall an absolutely wonderful day! Corb and I finished our date with dinner at Forage before heading home.

We were supposed to go to the rodeo tonight with Gary, Sue and the kids ... but thunderstorms came through and dissuaded us ... thank goodness they waited until this evening to come through the mountains!!

Targhee Hikes

After hiking all around the valley, I think my most favorite hikes really are up at Targhee, and my absolute favorite remains Rick's Basin and Quakie Ridge ... the first trail run I ever did here, and now the one I've done most often!

On Thursday afternoon, I met some friends for a fun run up Bannock Trail. We planned to just take the chairlift down, but it stopped earlier than we expected, so we just bushwacked our way down a familiar ski run! Fun day with good friends!

My wonderful TV friends have arranged a "girls' day/night good-bye party" for me in a couple of weeks. We'll run, hike, have dinner and spend the night together up at Targhee! What better way to say "good-bye" to some incredibly wonderful women?!

Big Head Todd

Sunday 7/25, Gary and Sue arrived in the afternoon. After a very early and fairly quick dinner, Corb and I left to see Big Head Todd play at the Spud ... right here in Driggs! The last time we saw them together was in Boston with Kath and Chad, and I was pregnant with Brady. While late nights are not our "thing," how could we miss this concert so close to home? I gave Corb the tickets for Fathers Day ... kind of selfish I suppose. We had such a wonderful evening ... time alone together and time with friends in a beautiful location! The two opening bands were pretty darn good, too!

Fishing the South Fork

 Mom and Dad have arrived!

Dad and I floated the South Fork this week.  We do the usual float--put the boat in the water mid morning at a primitive ramp opposite Irwin and take out at Spring Creek around sunset.

We hit the hatch just right this week.  It seems that we are on the tail end of the salmon flies, in the middle of the golden fly hatch, and the PMD's are emerging in the riffles like clock work around noon.  The bite is on.  We knew something was happening when we arrived at the put in and numerous terns were working the water picking bugs off the surface.

The catching on the other hand isn't the easiest thing in the world.  We both have missed and broke off numerous fish.  The flows are around 12,400cfs, so the water is moving fast in the main channel.  Beating the bank with big flies works in the fast water while careful presentations of small PMD emergers seems to work in the smaller channels.

The pictures are of a fish I caught in the main channel and Dad wading in a smaller side channel.

Taking Turns on the Teton

On Thursday afternoon, Corbin dropped me off at Bates Bridge to meet a bunch of girlfriends for an afternoon Teton Float down to Rainey access. At the end of our float, we shuttled back to Bates, where I met Corb and the kids. Corb then got on the river for an evening fish, and I took the kids home for dinner. After dinner, I picked Corb up at Rainey. It's nice to live so close to such a beautiful river, with such gorgeous views.

My float was windy enough to keep the mosquitoes away, and we were loud enough to keep most wildlife away ... though we did get a nice close up visit from a bald eagle! For Corb's float the air was still enough to invite mosquitoes, and also quiet enough that he saw two bull moose!

Let's just say that floating with the girls is a very different experience from any float I've had on the Teton before ... lots of laughs, no attempt to actually steer any craft (luckily the "frog water" of the Teton is very forgiving), and many great stories swapped!

The Bow Tie ... and spiders

In preparing to attend Herb Morton's graveside Memorial Service (Sun 7/19), the kids chose their appropriate clothing. Connor wanted very much to dress in "fancy clothes," which included a tie. When he learned that we do not have any ties out here (not even a bow tie?!), Connor decided he could make a bow tie ... of course!! He cut one out of that foamy craft material, which was blue, and then drew black stripes on it. He also spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to attach it - he considered pipe cleaners, tape and glue. I came to the rescue with a safety pin. Right before the service, we pinned on his bow tie, and he was ready!

The graveside service was on a hillside with beautiful views all around. Unfortunately, the hillside also had quite a few spiders. They were harmless ones, but their simple presence bothered a couple of the children. Connor, who has nightmares about spiders, snakes, crabs, etc, was completely unnerved. The poor kid ... once he had brushed two spiders off his legs, he just kept imagining them crawling all over his legs and he couldn't stand still. He wanted so much to be at that service, but he just could not do it. I brought him back to the truck, where he watched from afar. The bow tie was removed :-( I went back to get him for the actual internment, when people were invited to place a handful of dirt on top of the urn. But he chose to just watch from the truck. I felt so bad for him ....

But one thing Connor certainly is is resilient! At the reception at John and Marg Greer's house (Marg is Herb's sister), he had a fun afternoon playing with Herb's great nephews and was very gracious with Marg and John.

We felt good about attending the service. Present were Herb's family (The Greers and their children and grandchildren), a handful of the Greer's local friends, one of Herb's lifelong friends from Cape Cod, and us. It was a touching service and a very nice afternoon with new friends.

SLICING

It seems that we always learn something new from the Anderbergs ... to SLICE is to SLed on ICE! We went to a great grassy hill, put towels on top of blocks of ice, sat on the towels and slid down the hill. This takes good balance, good energy to walk/run back up the hill carrying the ice block, and plenty of enthusiasm! Emma showed us how it was done, then we all tried it. We had many laughs, got a bunch of grass stains and little scrapes, and ended the session with a very fun relay race!

After slicing, we visited the Capital building and then took the "tour train" through Helena. Our visit with the Anderbergs also included mountain biking, trail running, family dinners with a new "Superman Grace," beer tasting at the local brewery, and ice cream tasting at "The Big Dipper."

Brady got to mountain bike the trails and talk hunting with Carl; Connor got to talk Harry Potter with Carl, Andre, and Emma and bring home a pheasant feather; Maggie got lots of "girl time" with Emma and brought home a whole backpack full of Polly Pockets! It was a wonderful visit!

Tin Cup to Mackenzie River Pizza

The Tin Cup Challenge was Saturday morning. This is a community-wide fundraiser for the non-profits in Driggs, and has grown into a wonderful community gathering and celebration. The morning starts with a number of road races (marathon, half-marathon, 10k, 5k) and culminates in a festival in the park, where the non-profits all have booths. This year's activities included a rock climbing wall, biathlon (laser gun) target shooting, golfing, crafts, hockey shots, a dunking booth, a roping arena, and hula hooping (among many other things I can't recall!).

I ran the half-marathon and ran a PR (1:49) ... not fast enough to place in my age group, but I was happy with my effort! Olympian Barb Linquist (who is in my age group) won the 1/2 in 1:32 ... fun to be among amazing people.

Brady placed in the hula hoop contest and won a hula hoop! Once the contest started, they announced, "It's not all about endurance; the judges are looking for style!" Brady immediately rose to that challenge and started invoking his own "style" ... Corb and I were just soaking up that moment!

After leaving the park, we made a quick turn-around at home and started driving north. We stopped in West Yellowstone for a huckleberry ice cream and an IMAX movie (Bears). The kids loved it (well, Mags was a little scared ... but she talked about it positively afterward). Then we continued our drive up to Bozeman, MT for an overnight. We finished the day with dinner at one of our favorites, Mackenzie River Pizza Co. It was a good day!!

This morning, we will drive up to Cascade, MT for our friend, Herb's memorial service, and we'll spend the afternoon with his family. Tonight we will head to Helena for a couple of days with Carl, Andre, and Emma Anderberg. Biking, hiking and a trip to the lake are all in the plans. Then back to Driggs Tuesday night.

Horseshoe Canyon

I've only been out on the trail a few times so far this season. With so many things we want to do, I'm happy to get in just a few trail runs and hikes this summer, and I cherish each one. Sunday I ran Rick's Basin and Quakie Ridge with Tammy, and Wednesday I ran in Horseshoe Canyon with a group (Tammy, Carlen, Heather and Stephanie). I'm really going to miss my Teton Valley friends and the adventures we have together!!

S'mores

Last Saturday night, we had a very fun night hanging out on the deck by the fire, making s'mores. We had an evening with no plans and the weather cooperated ... AND ... the backyard was mosquito-free (I'm taking full credit as the keeper of the mosquito magnet)!!

As the fire died down, the kids decided they'd all like to sleep in the wall tent. So we tucked them in and waited to see if they'd emerge after a short time. No sign of them, so off we went for a restless night, expecting a middle of the night retreat to the house. Not only did they stay out all night, they slept pretty late the next morning! ... and they've been sleeping out in the tent every night since then.

Jenny Lake

Just another family bike ride in the Park to Jenny Lake today.  Nancy dropped the boys  and me off at the Taggart Lake parking lot.  Maggie wanted to ride her own bike this time so she and Nancy drove ahead to Jenny Lake and rode backwards to meet us on the path.

We found a nice rock in Cottonwood Creek (the outlet of Jenny Lake) for a snack and a place to soak our feet in the cold water.

For the ride back, Maggie was willing to sit in the bike seat.  Brady and I rode back.  I pedaled Nancy's bike with Maggie in the bike seat.  We rode all the way back to the visitors center.

Days in the Park like this one remind us just how special this place is.

Henry's Fork

Brady and I went on our first fishing trip down the river in a drift boat yesterday.  We left the house around 3:30 and stopped at a convenience store for "provisions" before hitting the road to Ashton.  We put in at the Ora Bridge just after 5 p.m. and took out at the Vernon Bridge.

The wind was blowing ferociously, so we stayed next to the edge looking for wind blocks.  Maybe because of the wind we had the river to ourselves-not another person in sight for the entire evening.  We found a few pod of rising fish.  At first we threw caddis for there was plenty of adults in the air.  Yet, no luck.  While changing flies, a PMD flew into my box so I decided to tie one on.  It turns out the fish were feeding on very small PMD's.  I brought one to the boat, a small rainbow.  Brady is getting very good casting from the boat, now we just need to work on getting a drag free drift.  Little does he know he'll be working on that for the rest of his life.

We got off the water just after 9 p.m. as the sun was setting.  We had a beautiful ride home looking at the sunset on Tetons.

Cowboy Up!

Riding lessons have been so much fun this summer.  Ashley, our teacher, has new challenges for us each week; riding through different patterns, over obstacles, and roping off the horse.  This week, after our lesson, went to the new creamery in town for huckleberry gelato.  Yum!

"My favorite thing I never knew I wanted"

... that's my new (as of this year) way of describing having a little girl. I always pictured myself with boys, so when many people said things like "you finally got your little girl" after Maggie was born, I was somewhat despondent. It just didn't resonate with me ... in fact I was sometimes offended that people would think the birth of a third boy wouldn't have been as joyous an occasion.

Maggie has brought us such joy. But, as of late, she has really turned into a whiny, crying little being. In fact she has "cried wolf" so often lately that I was a little slow to respond to her crying today while we were downtown ... soon I discovered that she did, in fact, have a thorn sticking through her crocs creating a bloody foot. Luckily "mother of the year" here did have a bandaid on hand!

Maggie has typically put herself down for naps, which has always been wonderful. She doesn't nap too often anymore ... but lately, she's been going to sleep in random places late in the afternoon. This makes her an absolute nudge at bedtime ... the boys cannot stand her teasing when they are trying to sleep!

This is where I found her today, snuggled in a corner of her bedroom at 5pm! ... time to get them all back on a schedule :-)

I love to remind myself, very genuinely, that she is "our blessing, not our burden."

Still Recovering ...

... from our Fourth of July Weekend! When the 4th falls on a Sunday here, it's tradition to celebrate on Saturday. Of course, that also means that events get added in on all of the surrounding days. We started our busy weekend on Thursday, July 1st. We all went to the Spud Drive-In to see Toy Story 3 that night. We met up with a bunch of friends, then all retreated to our separate cars for the movie, which began at 9:45pm. It was a late night. On Friday, we had Brady's friend, Lia, over and we all biked downtown. The festivities included a farmers' market with music, the annual antique show, "Friday fish tacos," and snowcones at "Snowy." Friday afternoon the boys had riding lessons (Corb will blog that separately), while Maggie and I biked back downtown for the "Art Walk," which involved Maggie and friends creating art with sidewalk chalk. By Friday night, we were too tired to make it to the rodeo.

Saturday morning, we ventured to Victor for the 4th of July Parade. This parade gives out more candy than any parade I've ever seen! We watched with our friends, the Russells. We stood at the beginning of the route, then Brady and Elsa Russell jumped on a horse-drawn wagon which was at the end of the parade. The wagon was escorted by our friend, Harley Wilcox and his daughters on horseback. Heather was in the wagon and all of their 4H kids were welcome to be on board. While riding through the parade route, Brady threw out all of the candy he'd collected! So cute!! From the parade, we went straight up to Targhee, where I participated in "Wray's Wrun," a race up Fred's Mountain. I hiked a lot of it, but moved as fast as I could. It was humbling, but I'm happy I did it. This was the first section of the marathon I ran in September. In the marathon, this section took me over an hour; on Saturday I finished it in under 47 minutes. Although I wish I could have gone faster, I'm calling it a success! Then Saturday night, we all went to Huntsman Springs for the guest speaker and the fireworks. The guest speaker was a very controversial subject in town in recent weeks, with many letters to the editor in the local newspapers. The Huntsmans brought in Glen Beck to speak. Corbin and I were unfamiliar with him, so we were very interested in all the uprising. We decided to take the risk and attend. Glen was able to refrain from offending too many and the night was what I'd call a success. It was a very patriotic night. When the orchestra played the songs of all branches of the military and asked those who'd ever served to stand for their song, I proudly stood when I heard, "Off we go into the wild blue yonder ..." Many of our friends were there, among the many thousands (I'd say at least 3 times the valley population) who attended -- this was a big event in this area. We were spread out, but were able to visit each other and mingle a bit. The fireworks were spectacular ... the kids had a very fun night.

Maggie has taken to Heather, Harley, and their daughters - and welcomed them up at Targhee with huge hugs. Harley carried her around all afternoon. Then Maggie chose to sit with them at the fireworks Saturday night. Much of the night she was snuggled up with Harley and his daughter, Reagan ... much the way she watched Cassidy's entire recital on Uncle Tom's lap!

Sunday we finally got to the rodeo, after a brief stop at Teton Valley Creamery which just opened. They serve gelato made with cream from a local farmer ... YUM!!! Our stop at the creamery made us miss the flag brigade (carried by Reagan and Cheyenne Wilcox) ... bummer, but we did see Harley in team roping and our friends, Chris and Madison Miller, in barrel racing. It was a fun afternoon. Sunday night was finally an early night to bed.

Monday found us all sleeping very late!! We have enjoyed relatively cool weather (60s-70s) for the past few days, and have kept active enough to make us all pretty tired this whole week. Tonight Corbin is finally off fishing while the kids are happy to sit in front of a movie ... I don't think we've turned the DVD on for them since they got back from Washington!!