A death in the family...

can bring out the best in people. Friends who drive you home from work. Friends who come over to help you pack and to remember your toothbrush and to not pack 40 t-shirts and one pair of pants. Friends who make you eat something before you get on the road. Who come over just to give you a hug or an encouraging word. Friends who want to make sure you drive and arrive safe.

Thank you!

☮

He: Hey, welcome to Kalispell. I brought dinner and Huckleberry ice cream for dessert.

Me: Oh my gosh, you so rock!!

Why is it among the most glacial mountain peaks I find the greatest warmth?

Another beautiful weekend spent in Glacier Park. Moose and I drove up to stay at the cabin we rented at Stanton Creek Lodge. After a long drive we were both eager to stay in a cabin surrounded by snow and wilderness and just have some time to relax. Imagine our surprise when we arrived to see this...


The lodge was completed snowed in. Nothing had been plowed, there was no way in and over 2 feet of undisturbed snow rested on the roof of each cabin. There wasn't even a place to park the car other than the side of the road. We decided to drive back to West Glacier where we had cell service and call the National Park Service reservation desk. The kind ladies informed us that the owners of the lodge were in Florida. It was so considerate of someone to inform us that we wouldn't be able to stay at the place where we had confirmed reservations.

Undaunted by this predicament we pressed on and the park service managed to reserve us other accommodations - at the Super 8 in Columbia Falls. Not exactly the cabin we'd had in mind with access to snowshoeing right outside the door but oh well, it was warm and dry.

The next day was spent snowshoeing in Glacier Park. The snow was clean and white, the sun was bright and it turned out to be a beautiful day.


Before we left Glacier we walked down to Lake McDonald for some photo ops and trail lunch.


Our last day began early with a drive to Missoula so Moose could get inked.


There were a few minor set backs and a few disappointments but the good definitely out weighed the bad and overall we had a great time.

Let's go!

What a great weekend! The snow was fabulous. That white, soft, fluffy stuff that drifts down as you hike and blankets everything in silence. I don't know how many times I just stood still and listened to - nothing.


I want to bottle the feeling and take it with me.

(Thanks for the photos!)

To A___, Happy Birthday Darlin'

This song always reminds me of you and this is so us
(without the whole you being gay thing).






Don't work all day, get outside - you live in the tropics for heavens sake. And if you can be happy at the other place I say take the job (plus you'll be closer and it gives me someplace warm to go for Christmas) ;)

Love you!! (your birthday present is in the mail) :)

Inbox

"By the way, I want to THROTTLE my husband right now - he is being a big giant waaah waaaah tantrum baby and it ain't helping nobody over here. If I acted that way.......he would be screamin' at me to grow up.

If I were you, I would take a blood oath to never marry again upon pain of death."





LMAO!!

The service was so so

The food was not good

The music was a lounge singer...

with a mullet

But it was still a really great weekend!

Jobs

Me: I know you made ice cream for a while

He: Yep, I was a creamiar. I was a derriere

Me: LOL, you were a derriere huh?

He: Uh...

"My Boys" will be boys

The guys are all sitting around watching the game when the batter gets hit in the head with a 90 mph fast ball. They immediately start talking about who could take it and how he was a "pussy", after all "he had a helmet on!"

This, of course, leads to the batting cages. LMAO!

The guys decided to see who could actually "take it." It started out at 45 mph, each guy taking a turn and upping the ante with each round. LOL! By the time D__ took an "85er" to the head and was knocked out cold I was practically rolling on the floor....

Are you trying to turn me into a girl?

Her:
Well he's back and aching so I'm playing nurse maid. Or at least being more agreeable than usual, getting water, soda, watching wresting et al...

We HAVE TO FIND a mani/pedi in this town that doesn't cost a zillion dollars......do you know if they do them at Dillard's or Penny's? And they have to have two chairs so we can do it together.

Me:
Are you trying to turn me into a girl? ;)

He: I haven't heard from you in a while, I'm starting to get a complex.

Me: I know, I'm sorry. I've been working a lot lately and the early hours at the gym are still kicking my ass. Plus after work at TT, I either go back to the gym to work again or work out. By the time I get home I'm wiped out.

Plus I just signed up for Boot Camp so that's early morning, twice a week. I'm kind of robbing Peter to pay Paul right now, taking hours from here and there to get everything done.

He: You need to go have a beer.

Me: I wish I could. I don't have time to play right now.

Conversations while drinking...

He: I want you to help me with a joke. Now we'll need to be out at night so dress in black and...

Me: Wait, why are you bringing me into this?

He: Because you have a little bit of criminal element in you.

Me: Excuse me?

He: I know you have a bad girl in you.

Me: So were you thinking the little black cocktail dress and satin heels or should I have more of an O.J. thing going on?

I need to...

take a day off ✓
drink a little bourbon ✓
get a little stoned ✓
get a lotta laid ✓
chill out ✓
relax ✓

Thanks! ;)

Sometimes it just takes you a while to find your groove.

The weekend...

was full of surprises. Making home-made Bailey's at a friends house, followed by the drinking of said beverage on Friday.

Fast forward to the Christmas party on Saturday night. I arrived fashionably late and scanned the room for familiar faces. I got to visit with his parents again who welcomed me with open arms and ran into one of his ex's who I get along with. She and I sat at the table making conversation, laughing about previous nights when we've all hung out and the wild stories that followed.

Then I heard my name called, followed by "there's someone I want you to meet." Uh oh, the hook-up.

"C_, this is my good friend Rachel. Rachel, this is my good friend C_." Hello's and "I've heard so much about you"s were exchanged. He had heard more about me than I him. As he sat at the table with us and conversation resumed I remembered that he was the tequila pusher.

He asked about my work since the host and I work together. I asked about grad school since that's where they met. Soon stories were being told and laughter and drinks were being shared. I thought to myself that he had a nice smile and a great sense of humor.

The party-goers started to dwindle and plans were made amongst the few of us remaining to take the party elsewhere. We ended up at Miller's, having drinks and dancing to the music. Eventually there were no pairs on the dance floor, just bodies and arms and legs and laughter.

I haven't bothered to close a bar in a while but that night it was fun to hang out with old and new friends. One of those nights that you don't want to end. We all ended up back at my apartment. Again the laughter was ever present, stories were exchanged, flirtatious smiles were given and received, new discoveries unfolded, confessions were made and friendships set.

With morning rapidly approaching we said our goodbyes with hugs and kisses and then all was quiet.

My phone rang later that morning, waking me up. "Rachie, last night was a blast." I agreed that I had a very good time. "C_ thought you were awesome, he hasn't had that much fun in a long time and really liked you." I agreed that the night was great, C_ was awesome and we would definitely have to do it again soon.

Conversations you can only have with a friend....

He: you are having one of those moments aren't you?

Me: what moment?

He: those moments where you over analyze little things and then take them personally and then get confused and possibly upset

LOL, yeah, maybe so

A friend recently pointed out that my Messenger status is always invisible, making it hard for people to contact me if they wanted to do so. I'm not entirely sure what the point was since this person never contacts me anyway but there it was, the fact that I am never "online".

Chat has never been a big thing with me. Oh sure, I experimented with it when I was younger but I've mostly kept Messenger on my laptop for one or two people. However, I made myself visible and people came out of the woodwork. I was surprised to find that they remember who I am. Some I wish had forgotten me (hence the reason I usually log into Messenger as invisible), but there were a few that stopped by my little corner to poke their heads in. It was nice.

It's interesting how some people drift in and back out while others linger for a while. Some we wish would stay longer than others.

Marmots and ninny goats and moose, oh my!

I had a great opportunity to spend some time in Glacier National Park last weekend, hiking to the Granite Park Chalet. (click on the images to get a better view)

What an incredible hike! We got a very early start and got to see the sunrise over Glacier.

And the ninny goats were out on the trail to meet and greet us. (yes, I know they aren't really called ninny goats but work with me people).

Isn't he cute and all mugging for the camera.

We had beautiful scenery for the entire hike. When you are there it's easy to think it can't possibly get any better.

And we met another marmot along the trail. This one was much friendlier than the one I encountered at Sperry Chalet and stopped to pose for pictures. He was just the cutest thing.

After about 4 hours of hiking we made it to Granite Park Chalet - totally worth every step.

The views from the chalet really have to be experienced. It is a long hike but so worth the effort.

The wildflowers were in bloom all over the hillside. That was definitely a cool experience walking through a carpet of wildflowers.

And we got to see Rachel flowers (shut up, I liked them and so that's what they were called).

I got to see the remnants of a glacier for the first time and learned a lesson on firsts - case of beer was it?

A beautiful view of the lakes below - that's where we're headed.

On the hike down we saw ripples in one of the lakes below and got out the binoculars. A moose was swimming across the lake, keeping cool from the hot day. Further down on the trail we got another view of a moose wading around in one of the lakes we passed. Another first, but not for me this time.

We saw many waterfalls along the way but I liked this little one the best I think because of the great colors in the water and the fact that it made this really cool swimming hole.

The last falls we saw along the trail down. Off to the right of this photo the water falls over a series of rock steps. There were a couple of young guys climbing which looked like fun but at this point my feet wanted to go down, not up.

Remember the lakes from back up the trail? This is the last of them and it was time to strip down and jump in (no, I do not have pictures of me skinny-dipping in my underwear but some little Japanese tourist does).

All in all it was a fabulous hike, I had a great time and can't wait to go again, whether it be this hike or another, I'm ready!

Moose, I'm looking forward to next weekend, can't wait to see you!

Symphony Under The Stars

Sounds of the Cinema Under the Big Sky is this Saturday night on the Carroll College lawn. This is always such a great event with a wonderful venue and excellent music.

In addition to that, as many of you know, our own Os works and plays with the Helena Symphony and goes to a great deal of work to pull this thing off every year. This year will be even more of a blast since I'm hanging with his sisters at this event. I love them, they are hilarious! (Os, if you and I ever stop being friends I'm keeping your sisters)

I will undoubtedly take a ton of pictures, because I seem to take pictures of and at everything, so you'll have to suffer through them at some point if you come to this blog with any regularity (no, I don't want to know about your regularity).

If you're in the area stop by, say hi and have a beer.