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Disc Golf, Hot Springs, Board Games, & Animal Photos: The Nelsons Come to Missoula!

Guess who came to visit us in Montana last month:

Kona!

And she brought our good friends and long-time-ago neighbors, Lisa and Rhema!

We were super excited when we heard that they would be coming out to Montana around the same time we were dropping in from Canada, so we made plans to meet up for a week in my beloved old stomping grounds—Missoula.

Fall was in full swing when they arrived, and despite the fact that the forecast said we’d have mostly rainy and cold weather, it was crisp and sunny for almost the entire trip. Since we’d anticipated the October-in-Montana weather, though, Rhema and Lisa had planned on staying in the Jeep, and they made a super-cool bed platform and suction cup curtains so that they could sleep inside. They did an awesome job, and had lots of room for storage under the platform and so much overhead clearance that Andy and I commented numerous times about how luxurious it was! Lisa even strung up tiny lights across the inside making it incredibly cozy.

(I forgot to get a picture of that, probably because we’re all animal people and mostly took photos of the pets having fun. So brace yourself for copious animal photos!)

Since both parties were mobile, we’d planned on visiting a few camp sites around the Missoula and Lolo areas. It’s the winter season so we had only a few options for open campgrounds, but the ones available were some of my old favorites, so it worked out brilliantly.

The first site we visited was Chief Looking Glass, just south of Lolo. We like this spot because there is a great site on the edge of a huge field, so Gracie can roam and the dogs (and their people) can run around and play frisbee.

Both Rhema and Lisa are incredible disc golfers, so we told them before they came to bring their discs because Missoula is a big “folf” town and has two great courses nearby. (For Rhema’s sake, that’s the last time I’ll use the term, but for accuracy I have to acknowledge that it’s what Missoulians call the sport.)

On our first full day of the trip, we went up to the Blue Mountain course and Andy and I got a lesson in disc golf from the pros. They were so professional in fact that they didn’t once complain about having to walk slowly beside me as I threw 5 times before my disc reached where their first throw landed.

We all agreed that this was a great way to get a taste of the Montana scenery while catching up and playing a game. And aside from a few minutes of rain and later a few minutes of hail, the weather held up quite nicely.

Kona also tagged along and sniffed her way through the course, though Scout did not, for obvious reasons. For a frisbee-obsessed dog, it would have been pure torture watching us throw discs and making him leave them alone.

Toward the end of the course, Kona’s sniffing led her to a very wild and wonderful smell which she loved so much she couldn’t resist rubbing her face and body all over it. It turned out to be some wild animal scat, which was so potent and foul that she required a soapy shower when we got back to the parking lot!

She was pretty sheepish about it, but a good sport.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that we had to walk down to the river to rinse her soap off, we wouldn’t have seen the tiny fuzzy bear cub that walked across our path on the way back! We waited a bit to make sure his mom wasn’t right behind, then quickly got back to the cars and drove back to Chief Looking Glass.

The next morning was another sunny one, and we had our coffee by the river near our site.

Then we took advantage of the sunshine and drove out to Pattee Canyon to try out the disc golf course there. It’s a very densely wooded course, so the soundtrack to this outing was the constant cracking of plastic against trees.

We kept score this time, and it will surprise no one that Rhema and Lisa did very very well, Andy did well, and everyone acknowledged that I participated.

Whether or not you’re a first-rate disc golfer, it’s a beautiful walk through the woods and we had a great time. Afterwards we took our sore arms (it truly is a work-out on the old triceps) to Tamarack Brewing to try lifting some beers, and also ordered their Keg Of Nachos that is as delicious as it is enormous. Between the four of us we couldn’t finish the thing!

We decided to switch things up and go to another site for the night, a favorite of mine when I lived in Missoula—Thibodeau Campground. It’s open all year, right on the Blackfoot River and far away from civilization, so you can hear the river while you watch the myriad stars at night. It’s a great spot.

Rhema and Lisa have a great camera and when paired with Rhema’s equally great camera skills, we got a bunch of gorgeous photos of the animals!

Just a few minutes from the campground is a local-favorite day-use spot called Red Rocks. It’s just a short walk from the parking area. . .

And then you’re right on the river with a stunning backdrop across the water!

It was another beautiful day, and Scout wasted no time getting in the water to swim, fetch sticks, and watch us skip stones. Rhema caught his tail in mid-swish as Andy skipped a stone.

We spent a few hours at Red Rocks, enjoying the weather and making some sweet cairns.

The water was so lovely and appealing that after some time considering it, Rhema finally couldn’t help himself and had to jump in!

As he dried off, he and Andy built a very charming stone man.

Scout just pretty much tried to get us to throw sticks the whole time.

And Kona practiced her camouflage skills.

On the way back into Missoula, Kona rode along with us in the Turtle. She loved it and sat up front the entire time like it was her usual spot!

Scout sat in the front-middle for the first part of the trip, and then in the back for the last bit.

When we got back to town, we stoped for a beer and a few games of shuffleboard at Kettle House Brewery.

Scout and Kona watched us from the Turtle when we came out to the patio to play a game of Rummikub.

The next day we drove into Lolo National Forest to stay a night at Lolo Hot Springs. We got a nice spot at their campground and paid entry to the hot springs so we could soak before dinner, after dinner, and then before bed. We got our money’s worth for sure!

The next morning we had coffee at the restaurant and discussed plans for the day. Should we drive farther into the forest and find a dispersed camping spot, stay another night, or camp somewhere else on the other side of Missoula? As we thought it over, we noticed that since we’d been at the restaurant the night before they’d added a bunch of balloons hanging over the bar. We asked what they were, and the bartender said they were full of coupons and cost $2 each to pop one and see what’s inside. Well of course we had to!

We each popped one, and the bartender bought us two additional balloons, so we ended up with six coupons, one for a free tent site and one for a free cabin site! Plus free soaks and free drinks. . . and the decision was made. We stayed another night!

The cabin was tiny and adorable, and made for a great spot to dry our swim suits in between soaks.

That night we spent a few hours in the restaurant eating dinner, playing Catan, having some drinks, and laughing about how we basically got a free day of fun at Lolo Hot Springs!

When we woke up the next morning, it had snowed a little bit.

But as we drove back toward Missoula, the snow eventually melted and we had beautiful views of the bright yellow larches covering the mountains.

When we got back to town, we stopped at Rockin’ Rudy’s to browse for souveniers, Andy got a fancy new pair of sunglasses, and then we took the dogs down to Bark Park, a great dog park right on the river near the university.

As the day neared its end, so did our visit with Rhema and Lisa. We went back to Chief Looking Glass for one last night of fun and games and animal friend snuggles. Gracie adopted Rhema early on in the trip, and every game session in the Turtle looked much like this:

Also this:

We realized after the sun had gone down that we hadn’t taken a group shot yet! So Rhema set up the camera and we gave it our best attempt.

Perfect.

We were very sad when it was time to say goodbye the next day, as we always are after a visit from Lisa, Rhema and Kona.

We miss you guys! But especially now that you have that sweet setup in the back of the Jeep, we know we’ll see you down the road. Thanks so much for coming our way and spending your week off with us! We’ll keep you posted on our progress toward Baja, so you can start driving that way too. . .

The Alaska Road Trip Begins!

Well hello there!

A lot has happened since the last time I updated the blog on our roving whereabouts, wild shenanigans and general goings-on, and if I could, I’d catch you up completely on what we’ve been up to since I last reported. But as I sit here writing this post, I realize how long that could take, as we’ve been moving at breakneck Turtle speed for the last few months! (Of course I’m not referring to miles-per-hour speed, as that remains as slow as ever. I’m talking about how much ground we’ve covered, which for us has been a lot in an uncharacteristically short amount of time.)

Instead, I’ve decided to pick up where we are at this moment, which is the beginning of such a fun adventure that I think you’ll agree this is the best place to begin. Because we just crossed the border into Canada, which (in our minds at least) is the official beginning of the Overland Trek to Alaska!

The general plan is as follows:

The Timeframe: A month driving up to Alaska (July), a month exploring Alaska (August), and a month returning home (September). We’d stay longer, but we’d like to stay ahead of snowy road conditions and by October the roads can start to ice over.

The Route: We are going to loosely follow what some travel guides call the “Gold Rush Route” on the way up, and then follow the Alcan Highway which ends just north of Montana, so we can drop in to see family at the end of the journey.

Must See: Denali National Park, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, The Cook Family in Anchorage, Harding Ice Fields, Kenai Peninsula, and a moose. (It doesn’t matter which one.) Other than that we’ll play it by ear, as is our general travel style. There’s a lot of Alaska up there and we want to see as much as we can without moving so quickly that we forget to relax and enjoy the quiet moments that we’ve come to love most during our travels. I’ve been surprised to find my sweetest memories are the little surprise spots we stumble across between official destinations, and we try to make sure we leave room for improvisation for that reason.

Aaaaand, honestly, that’s as far as we’ve gotten. It’s tricky to make new travel plans while you’re in the midst of traveling and enjoying your current location! So we’ve become accustomed to making detailed itineraries a day or two in advance and then making more general plans where the upcoming weeks and months are concerned. It’s just no use trying to nail things down when we could see an interesting road and end up somewhere completely different than we’d anticipated!

We just arrived in Canada yesterday, and already we’re just charmed to pieces. It’s very familiar of course, but different enough that we’re excited to see what unexpected twists we’ll encounter as we go.

Unanswered questions include:

How different are the regulations regarding boondocking? Can you stay overnight at any turnout or viewpoint along the highway like you can in the states we’ve visited in the US?
What are “good” prices for fuel and propane? Our brains are already so tangled by conversions, and then by the time we work out what the prices are in US Dollars we realize that we don’t even know if the price is good or bad for the region we’re in!
We were surprised by the questions they asked us at the border, but they let us in so who are we to complain? They had a lot of questions regarding our lack of jobs, even though we explained we were living off of savings, and wanted to know what jobs we had before we left them for life on the road. The agent asked to see bank account balances to ensure we had enough money to cover our trip, which makes sense. He didn’t ask about pets, even though we did have all the documentation for Scout and Gracie including immunization records, etc. The one we’re still puzzled about though is that he asked how many guns we own. Not how many we were carrying with us, but how many do we own anywhere in the world. Interesting, right? The answer is none, so I’m not sure what the outcome would have been had we said we had an arsenal somewhere in the states. But again, we’re not here to tell the man how to do his job, especially since we crossed over in very little time.

Today we went to Vancouver, BC and had a great time at the Granville Island Market and VanDusen Botanical Gardens before hitting up a few points of interest including the steam clock, a “metaphysical supply store,” the Digital Orca, and the Marine Building. All awesome.

We love Vancouver!

And now that we’re all up-to-date on the current adventure, here is a sampler platter of the aforementioned shenanigans we’ve been into the last month or two, for those who like pictures of cute animals, lovely scenery, fun friends, and other general niceness.

A Good Place to Crash—Outside Roswell, NM

We’re back in New Mexico and we couldn’t be happier about it! We never imagined we’d stay in a single state for multiple months during our travels, but we can’t seem to rush through anything here. We always plan a general outline of our route a few weeks out and estimate how much time we’ll spend in each spot, but it’s always subject to change and sometimes we trip over a great spot and end up staying much longer than anticipated. The reasons for the extension vary each time, but more often than not it’s because we find a great quiet spot where the weather is clear and we can get some work done on the Turtle!

Considering how limited our storage capabilities are, we keep a surprising amount of project materials on hand in case we find a good spot to do a little maintenance and housekeeping. Of course this was Andy’s idea, and the additional paint, brushes, wood, and tools for which he prioritized space has made Turtle life much more comfortable and manageable. It helps that he’s a wizard with problem solving, woodworking, electric jobs, and wordplay. (That last one has less to do with this topic, but it’s worth noting.) Anyway, we’ve got a pretty customized Turtle these days!

We never know when the work space is going to present itself. Thanks to our arsenal of travel apps, we can tell if a spot seems to be a good place to stay the night, but we can never know exactly what we’re going to get when it comes to the view, the size of the site, the crowds, etc. So we left stormy Lake Meredith on our way to sunny Roswell, NM thinking we’d just travel through Roswell on our way to some great National Parks.

First we stopped in Borger, TX and this happened:

Don’t worry; he’s fine.

After we got him back on his feet, we stopped in Portales, NM to catch up on some computer work, journaling, and letter-writing at the Roosevelt Brewery, where we happened upon some new friends who are also really into the vandwelling lifestyle and have some plans of their own on the horizon. It’s so much fun to meet people who understand the impulse to make life simpler and more fulfilling and adventurous by traveling full time in a tiny house on wheels. So we decided to stick around and spend the evening with them, and had a great time. It was so much fun meeting you, David and Robyn! And thanks for the stickers; we really wanted Roosevelt for the brewery sticker book. You guys are the best! Keep in touch! 🙂

The next morning we were ahead of schedule daylight-wise, since we hadn’t anticipated a stop in Portales, and we were super close to our next stop in Roswell. But since I’d bookmarked an interesting OHV site (Off-Highway Vehicle) for the previous night, we thought we’d just swing by as we drove past to see what it was like.

Aaaaaaand, we loved it.

It was like being on a Star Trek set.

And because this spot is made for toy-haulers, each of the sites is huge, and even has a covered picnic table, grill, garbage, and bathrooms. Not to mention a great view.

The weather was perfect, the space was ample, and the nightly fee was minimal, so we decided to settle in for a bit. Because when you live in a Turtle, there’s always a project waiting to be done!

So while the animals enjoyed their enormous new back yard, Andy and I got to work.

Jobs that needed to be done included:

(Andy’s notes)

– Toilet started running continuously. We got a new valve for $45 in Amarillo, TX, and installed it here. Needed to remove the toilet, remove old parts, install the new parts (took the time to thoroughly clean the toilet), and then reinstall it.

– Rotated the tires. Kept them all on the same side, and moved front to inner rear, inner rear to outer rear, and outer rear to front. We had a slow valve stem leak some time ago, and when we did, I rotated the spare into the front at that time.

– With the tires off, took time to clean the rims and brakes, and inspect the brakes with the wheels off.

– Made, painted and installed the Nalgene holder for behind the stove.

– Installed the D-ring recovery points onto the rear bumper where it is welded to the frame.

– Installed an ammo box under the spare tire in the back. They make a nice waterproof container, and inside I have replacement ignition parts and other electrical parts we what to have on hand and keep dry.

Some notes: We travel with all our tools, including a 50-ton bottle jack and two 3-ton jack stands. cordless drill and jigsaw (that charges from the solar). They came in useful here!

Gracie helped.

When the weekend arrived, we decided to leave the spot available for the real OHV riders and see if we could find some aliens in Roswell.

We saw a bunch, but sadly none of them took us with them for a universe tour. Which worked out for us, because a couple of other strange creatures were waiting for us to take them back to our desert landscape for a few more days of work—and even more play—before hitting the road again for further adventure on planet Earth.

The galaxy can wait for now.

Two Weeks in Diablo Canyon, New Mexico

One of our favorite places to “live” is on BLM land, and if they didn’t have a rule that you can only stay a maximum of 14 days, we would likely still be in Diablo Canyon right now.

We were looking for some sunshine, and we got it! This spot is great. It has four primitive camp sites, which is our favorite since we come equipped with everything we need, and we get far fewer neighbors.

We did see loads of people, though, as it’s a really popular spot for climbers. The edge of the canyon is a really clean vertical, and we saw climbers up there every day.

The weather was warm and sunny, and we all got to do our favorite things outside.

Andy got to work on the Turtle.

Scout got to go for 3-hour walks and hikes almost every day.

Gracie got to roll in the dirt, climb things, and explore outside. She just learned how to climb the ladder to get on top of the Turtle, and now we’ve gotten used to hearing the thumping of paws on the roof!

And I was in rock-collecting heaven. Everywhere we walked there was an endless array of beautiful rocks, and my pockets were constantly full. I couldn’t help it!

Over the course of our time there, we hiked to the top of the canyon, around the opposite edge of it and up and over, and all the way through to the Rio Grande.

We played all day, and earned our naps.

After a day of exploring, we were happy to put our feet up and watch the desert sunsets, around the fire or under the awning wrapped in blankets.

We also met our neighbors, full-time travelers Eric and his darling dog Willow, and spent some time with them swapping travel stories. They’ve been all around, and also blog about their time on the road here. Go say hello! 🙂

They even gifted a squeaky stuffed worm to Scout, which he loves and has been dropped into our lap many, many, many times. Thanks guys!

On our last day there, we woke up to a bizarre surprise:

Snow!

We thought that was pretty well timed, since we’d reached our 14-day limit! So we traveled back into Santa Fe to plan our next desert destination.

Garden of the Gods: A Science Fiction Landscape

We continued our journey south, looking forward to our not-yet-determined sunny destination. Our original map had us winding through the parks in Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, etc. But when we saw how much of many of those parks we’d miss due to snow, we began to rethink our plan and dreams of sunshine began to creep up the priority list. So we scrapped the map and went rogue, making our way south through Colorado toward New Mexico.

Over a year ago as we were thinking of places we wanted to see, I had pinned our map with Garden of the Gods, and accidentally noticed it right before we were in the area and ever the good navigator, I planned ahead for a visit and directed us to the park on our way to Sand Dunes. The Visitor’s Center there is really well designed, with lots of great information and beautiful vignettes. They even have a 3-dimensional map of the road running through the rocks that lights up when you push a button with the name of a peak, so you know what’s what before you drive through.

We drove to the main parking lot and walked the biggest loop through the park with Scout. Pictures don’t do it justice, but they can at the least give you an idea of how massive and surreal these red rocks are.

Then we stayed a few nights in Colorado Springs, because we had some work to do and they have internet there. So we stopped in at Bristol Brewing, which is in the old Ivywild School, and we just loved it. The brewery is the main attraction, but they also have a cafe, a bakery, restaurant, and whiskey bar in the school. We had a beer and worked on our computers there, spent the night nearby, and returned in the morning for coffee!

We then drove to Pueblo, New Mexico, where Andy bought the coolest vintage Pendleton wool jacket, and we briefly ruled Westeros. It was a quick stop, so you probably won’t read about our reign, but it was benevolent and everyone had a great time.

Pueblo also has a neat outdoor train museum . . .

And a British Telephone Box in a parking lot . . .

And so many beautiful murals on every wall in town! We really enjoyed our stay in Pueblo, and I’d like to visit again with a little more time. But the call of the sun beckons.

And the trek south continues . . .

Watching the Seasons Change in Missoula, MT

Is it really October already? At the end of the month, it will have been a year since we moved in to the Turtle! It’s fun to look back on the last year, and how we’ve spent our time quite differently than we’d expected. We make a lot of jokes about how it took us a year to make it from Oregon to Montana! Turtle time a real thing, guys.

We’d originally planned to divide our time fairly equally between the outdoors and visiting long-distance friends we didn’t get to see enough when we lived in Portland. Little did we know that the year would be quite so filled with people time! It’s been great getting to see people we’ve been missing, catching up with family and being around for significant life moments, and spending that quality time leisurely instead of smashing it all into a weekend. And then in a hilarious twist, after the year away from Portland while we caught up with old friends, we were missing our Portland friends Jason and Kelly so we planned a meet-up in Missoula!

For me, it was a super-fun collision of two worlds. I lived in Missoula for a number of years and have incredibly fond feelings for that charming little town. So it was a total blast to have Andy and our friends come and play with me in my old stomping ground! When we arrived in town we wasted no time getting to the river, and discovered that since the last time I was in Missoula, they put a dog park right on the Clark Fork river! So the dogs can all run freely together, and swim and drink as needed, right in the middle of town. Plus it’s called Bark Park, so bonus points for charm.

We got there in time for some glorious sunny days, so we spent as much time as possible on patios. Jason only ordered drinks in novelty glasses, as far as you can tell from this picture.

Missoula is small and super walkable, so we wandered around from place to place all day and into the evenings. And to add to the list of reasons I love Missoula, someone had put two pianos on the street that remained the entire time we were there, so Andy played them every single time we passed them! It set such a whimsical mood to hear piano music drifting throughout the streets downtown, some people playing difficult pieces beautifully and surprising their friends, others laughing while they tried to remember how “Heart and Soul” went. (Andy was the former.)

One of my favorite days was spent at my very favorite spot: Red Rocks! It’s a short walk from Whittaker Bridge, just east of Missoula, and has a nice beach, a beautiful view, and slow spots where you can swim or wade, depending on the time of year.

We relaxed in the sun and played Ladderball (or Montana Golf, or Snakes, depending on whose side you want to take in the discussion of the correct name of the game.) I hiked up to the top of Red Rocks and snapped a few quick photos as close to the edge as I dared.

We had a beautiful sunset on our way out, and to top it all off, while we were there, I found punctuation rocks! I mean, that comma, right? So the day was a resounding success. 🙂

It was great getting to see Kelly and Jason again, and to finally meet Brendan!

Jason had to get back to Portland, so we dropped him off at the airport (right on time, and he did not miss his flight. . . is how we will remember the day’s events in the future), and the remaining four of us drove south past Lolo to a nice camp site for a few days. Initially it was clear and warm, and we soaked up the last of the summer sun by the river.

Andy decided he wanted to cut his hair short, so Kelly and I gave him a picnic table haircut! Having your hair cut fireside is another perk of the Turtle life. So is getting your picture taken at an unfortunate middle phase of that haircut.

At one point, the weather remembered it was supposed to be Fall. Fortunately, we’re all hardy campers and had a great time despite the wind and rain. We cozied up next to the fire, had slow-cooked bacon and huckleberry pancakes, hunted for firewood by the river, played more Ladderball, and sat around the fire some more.

It happened in an instant but we realized, as the dogs peeked out at us from the wind-squashed tent and the leaves swirled around our rainy picnic table. . . fall was upon us! We were sorry to leave when the time came, but the weather made it easier to admit that being indoors sounded cozy!

I left Missoula with Kelly and Brendan and we drove to Portland while Andy stayed in the Turtle at the camp site to finish out the work week. I spent a week in Portland, hanging out with friends and my sisters, nieces, and nephews.

The week flew by, and in a flash it was time to go. I road-tripped with my brother-in-law back to Bozeman, where we met up with Andy at my Mom’s house. Since we arrived we’ve had lots more quality time with her, my other sister, and my other nieces and nephews! There’s a lot of us. Which means we require a lot of time to catch up! It’s been such a treat to see everyone on a more regular basis, being around for birthdays, learning to snap, and loose teeth, and we’re especially savoring it because we realize that we’re not going to spend every year the way we’ve done it this time—hopping from town to town hanging out with all our buddies.

It’s been so much fun to make this year a people year, but as we approach our year Turtle-versary we realize we also need to focus on the other reason we chose this lifestyle, which is getting outside and playing hard! We’re going to have to break the news to Gracie, who is thoroughly enjoying the comforts of Mom’s house. . .

But we’ll use Clive’s pop-up illustration of him and me roasting hot dogs over the fire as inspiration to get back outside!

In the meantime, we’re using our time and resources at “Bozeman Harbor” to get the Turtle in top shape before we get into the snow. As I sit bundled up indoors with a nice cup of coffee, I’m thinking this will be a good time for reflection as we approach a year of being full-time vandwellers. So look forward to posts where I dish the details of Turtle life—the good, the bad, and the breaking-down-by-the-side-of-the-road.

Happy Fall, everyone! 🙂

A Quick Photo Catch-Up

Wow, what a busy month it’s been! We’ve been super-duper on the go, so instead of trying to document all the fun in words I’ll do a quick photo-heavy catch-up instead. And actually, we’ve been so busy that I haven’t even been taking many photos! So that helps expedite things, doesn’t it?

We left Seeley Lake in July and drove up to Great Falls, Montana, where Andy grew up. His parents both still live there, so we were looking forward to spending some time with them, and I was excited to be taken on the Hometown Tour. (Don’t quiz me on it though; we were so busy we didn’t even find time to drive by his old house! Next time.)

Northern Montana is as beautiful as you’ve heard it is.

This picture was literally taken from the Home Depot parking lot.

We spent much of the time at Andy’s dad’s place outside of Great Falls, and were treated to one beautiful sunset after another, along with lots of delicious home-cooked meals and great conversations!

A wonderful bonus surprise during this trip was the discovery that Andy’s dad is a fabulous and inspiring artist. I’ve always been taken with Andy’s Renaissance man-ness, and it turns out it’s inherited! From sketches to paintings to carvings, the house is a veritable art gallery.

Though Andy had to work much of our time there, we managed to get outside a fair amount, helping Andy’s dad with some upkeep on the cabin he built some time ago. The location is wonderfully silent and overlooks fields, the Sun River and lines of lush trees.

While I stained the cabin, I got the feeling that I was being watched. I turned around expecting to see Scout pleading for frisbee time, but instead I was startled to see a herd of cows closely watching my every move!

They stood over me and oversaw my work until the sun set. It was hilarious.

Scout and Gracie also enjoyed their time in the Montana outdoors. Gracie was stuck in the Turtle for a number of days while Andy worked, so the moment she got a taste of freedom, that girl was up a tree!

Here they are modeling the new curtain I made while we were in Bozeman, which blocks off the front of the Turtle and keeps the back nice and cool! Andy’s brilliant idea + my love of sewing. You’re welcome, Gracie and Scout.

After lots of swimming with Andy’s mom, lots of pizza dinners in town (a Goodman family tradition), and lots of inspiring sunsets, we left Great Falls on our way to Boise. We only broke down once!

On the way, we stopped at Kimberly, Idaho to visit the Higdems. This time Andy didn’t have to work the whole stay, so we got lots of time with them to visit. They’re a hard-working pair, and it was the height of harvest time, so we got to watch them in action as they took care of the animals and crops. We also were lucky enough to be gifted bunches of fresh veggies to take with us on the road! What a treat.

A quick stop at the Snake River Canyon on our way out of town for a great view and some sweaty palms (guess whose). It’s unbelievably high up!

We didn’t fall off the bridge, and shortly afterward we made it to Boise!

Every year my college girlfriends, Beth and Lexie, and I meet up for our Girls Trip! This year we met in Boise because Lex was moving to town for Grad School. Exciting! So we rallied the troops to help her get moved in, complete some Craig’s List furniture transactions, and tell the same old jokes a hundred times and still find them clever and hilarious.

And of course, we had to help her find the good spots for an after-class brew. It takes research!

Beth left way too soon. But as always it was fun and fulfilling to see each other again and give each other a hard time and just laugh like maniacs together. Andy and I stayed in town for the rest of the week while he worked and spent his evenings at his college buddy Dave’s place. So they got some great friend time too, and caught up in the evenings on his back patio. They had a pretty ok view.

Meanwhile, Lex and I ran more errands. And ate more yummy food at the cute local restaurants. Again, research.

Dave let the three of us tag along to an evening work event at the zoo. We got to feed a giraffe! And we saw a snow leopard chase its tail! And if you’ve never heard of a Maned Wolf, you should really look it up when you get a chance. What a crazy, cool imaginary animal.

The time to move along snuck right up on us. It’s always hard leaving anywhere we go, but especially when the place is home to our best buddies. But when the next destination is where you will meet up with your other buddies, it makes the sting a little easier to bear. 🙂

So on we drove to Missoula, to meet our Portland friends Kelly and Jason for a week of Montana shenanigans! And of course, more Montana sunsets.

Huckleberry Heaven: Seeley Lake, MT

Of all the places we’ve been so far, never have we been so perfectly in the right place at the right time! That’s right, huckleberries are ripe early this year and we’re camped out right in the middle of a huckleberry field!

If you’ve ever eaten fresh huckleberries, you will agree that this is likely the most magical part of our journey yet. If, tragically, you haven’t had the pleasure, do yourself a favor and come to Seeley Lake right away and I will treat you to the yummiest berry you have ever tasted. Of course I can’t tell you where the berries are—when you have a good huckleberry spot, you keep that information locked in a vault! I probably wouldn’t have even told Andy if he hadn’t been with me when we found them.

Ok, I probably would have. We’ll assume I would have. 😉

It all started at our camp site at Big Larch. We were walking Scout down to the water for some swimming, when Andy saw a ripe huckleberry on a bush along the path. We were so excited! Huckleberries usually aren’t ripe until mid-August! After a (quick) swim, we rushed back to the Turtle and got a couple Nalgenes and outfitted them with paracord and duct tape to make hands-free berry pails.

We picked like crazy, but the spot was pretty thin. We worked for about an hour to end up with a few handfuls of berries, but it was worth it!

Now that we knew there were ripe berries to be found, we were on the lookout. In between Berry Bush Searches, we enjoyed our camping spot: riding bikes, fishing, collecting firewood, and late nights stargazing and chatting by the fire. And of course, cooking up our berries into fresh huckleberry pancakes!

Gracie climbed trees pretty much the entire time. Our neighbors all thought she was hilarious. (I often forget how rare it is to see a house cat roaming around a campsite. We think it’s pretty normal these days!) I tried to get a photo of her up a tree, but the only one I was quick enough to capture was this one, and she’s mostly behind it!

I did get a great video of her racing up a tree and bounding off, but I don’t know how to upload videos to the blog yet. And it’s gorgeous outside so I’ll teach myself on a rainy day! You can see it via our Instagram though: #blueturtlecrossing

After a week at Big Larch, we left to meet up with Andy’s family at a cabin in Seeley for the week. We had an awesome time! We fished and swam in the Clearwater River running behind the cabin.

We took a day trip up to Rainy Lake (not rainy this year, woo hoo!). We picnicked, fished, kayaked, and caught crawdads*.

*Andy and his dad caught crawdads. I did my best, but mostly terrified everyone at random intervals by shrieking whenever one raced through my fingers as I tried to scoop him up.

We took a day trip to Lake Elsina where we fished, built fairy houses, floated, caught frogs, and sketched.

And to top it all off, while on a hike to find a fishing spot we stumbled across a huge huckleberry field covered with ripe berries! There are camp sites there, so Andy and I plunked our tent down to save the spot and we got to work collecting berries. The whole family helped, and during our stay at the cabin we had huckleberry pancakes, huckleberry bars, and huckleberry cocktails. It was pretty freakin’ fancy.

I love huckleberries more than any fruit on the planet. They’re small, but pack an incredibly intense sweet flavor. Yes, they’re related to blueberries, but there’s no comparison! They like blueberries’ much more stylish and exotic cousin, who has loads of exciting stories to tell and a great sense of humor. And looks great in hats.

Based on our huckleberry discovery alone, we decided to stay another week! Our site is beautiful, overlooking the lake, and we’d love it even if it weren’t surrounded by ripe berries. . . but they really do put this place over the top.

We’re definitely making the best of it—every day we’re out collecting berries!

Huckleberries look like small blueberries, with the same “bull’s eye” at the base, but their color can range from black to blue to purple to red. And unlike the copycat bushes we’ve been seeing next door to the real bushes, the leaves are staggered—not paired. Don’t forget to push the leaves back to check underneath – that’s where most of the berries are hiding! We’ve found a wide array of colors and sizes here, and they all taste spectacular.

We’ll walk down the road, with Scout leading the way and Gracie following close behind, and settle into a nice spot.

Gracie rolls in the dirt and perches on logs while Scout leaps through the bushes and grazes. Andy taught him to pick berries right off the bush, and now he happily helps himself! (Another funny video of Scout picking berries at #blueturtlecrossing, or if you’d like, you can follow us on Instagram at @amycsummers)

Every day we make a huckleberry dish; the most decadent so far was the huckleberry sangria I made two nights ago. It was divine. A friend of Andy’s caught and delivered four delicious cutthroat trout right to our site the other night, so we cooked that up on the fire with our sangria and felt very spoiled indeed. Thanks Joe!

We’re heading to Great Falls in a few days, so I’ve got to go back to berry picking now! My goal is to fill the freezer before we leave—we’ve got a 1 1/4 gallons so far, so I’ve got work to do!

Wahoo!

A Very Montana Summer

Greetings from Montana!

It’s been a while since we checked in here, and today is a great day to update the blog as it’s stormy and raining outside here in Seeley Lake. Andy is busy working, and I’m doing my best to keep Gracie from trying to curl up on top of my keyboard as I type this. If any portion of this blog isn’t up to standards, you can take it up with her.

We’ve traveled a fair distance (by Turtle standards anyway) since our last post in South Dakota! We made it to Billings after a quick overnight in Gillette, and headed to Riverfront Park right when we got into town so Scout could catch some sticks in the Yellowstone River.

Then we went to Scheels to ride the ferris wheel! If you’re ever passing through Billings, be sure to check out this perplexing sporting goods store. It’s a mix of an outdoor store and a carnival, and just hilariously bizarre. We rode the 3-story ferris wheel, saw animatronic presidents, got our pictures taken with some wild animals, and also got our fishing licenses.

Then we spent a few days with our friend Grant, who I went to high school with, and who is staying in Billings for the summer. We went to Alive After 5, rode our bikes all around town, and sat on the patio at Thirsty Street for a beer. Check out this place for sure; not a lot of places in downtown Billings have patios, and their patio gets great sun, plays good music, and the beers are super tasty!

We did a lot of bike riding, even though the temp was in the 90’s the whole time we were there! We had to pull over one day so I could run around in some sprinklers for a while. We took the dogs to Pioneer Park, had nachos on the patio at The Granary, and stayed up late playing games and gabbing outside in the grass. Fun times with Granty!

One night we also came across this extraordinary line of garbage cans, which Andy was so taken with we had to take a photo with them. It really was an impressively long line of pristine garbage cans. (It doesn’t take much to keep the three of us entertained.)

We also spent a few days with Blake and Martha, who always show us a great time! We went to a Mustangs game, and Andy offered to hold little Harper’s mitt for her. . . then wore it the whole game. She was too busy with her ice cream sandwich to mind.

We had lots of great meals, the boys stained the deck, and Martha and I snuck out again for a beer while the boys watched Harper. I secretly think they just wanted to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Harper is a good patsy.

Then we moved on to Bozeman to visit my mom and sister Kari’s family for a few weeks. We even timed it just right (accidentally) so we were able to see my Grandma and Uncle Brian while they were in town visiting! They were only able to stay for a day and a half, but we got to spend lots of time sitting around sipping coffee and sharing stories. What a treat! Plus Grandma finally got to meet Gracie and Scout, who had never made the trip to Newberg with us when we would visit her there. I only realized after they left that I never got a photo of all of us together! Bummer. So instead, here’s a photo of a Bozeman sunset.

We also got to see a new baby Lipizzan pony! My sister and her friend and all their kids were going to see her, and Andy and I jumped right on that bandwagon. She was so sweet and funny, leaping around at top speed on those spindly little legs. Lipizzans are a special breed of horse with a fascinating history that we learned about from their owner while we were there. They are dressage horses who are super nimble and can perform some incredible dance moves cued only by tiny twitches in their rider’s bum and legs. Crazy!

Then we went to the Museum of the Rockies, where there was a Pompeii exhibit that we really enjoyed. And their dinosaur bone collection is simply incredible.

That weekend, David and Kari invited us to an evening fishing trip up Hyalite Canyon. We picnicked, Scout swam, and David kept very busy helping the kids bait the hooks and reel in all the fish they were catching! The beginning of our trip was quiet on the fish front, but after we moved to another spot by the dam we all had better luck.

Scout and Gracie love being at my mom’s the most, as they get lots of attention and total run of the place.

My niece Bella and I went for pedicures one day, and both of us are now sporting some killer sparkles. Bella even has fireworks on hers!

When we got back to their house, the kids had an impromptu clothes-on pool swim.

We ate like kings while we were at Mom’s, as she’d just cleaned her BBQ, and Andy installed a few parts to get it looking and working like new! So there were lots of fancy dinners off the grill, including a feast of salmon, steak, and chicken with ginger asparagus and grilled polenta for just the three of us. We could get used to spoiling ourselves like this.

On our way out of Billings toward Seeley Lake, we stopped for the night in a gorgeous spot in the middle of nowhere, and also made some fishing stops along the way.

We decided to reach Seeley via Garnet, so we could visit the Garnet Ghost Town. The roads there are treacherous, and when we saw the caution sign, we decided to see what the Turtle was made of and just go for it! (Ok, Andy decided. I just said yes and wiped off my sweaty palms.) There were some seriously steep hills that were knuckle-biters. Andy was thrilled.

Neither of us had been to Garnet Ghost Town in over a decade, so we were excited to visit. We got there Saturday evening, and after the first 15 minutes, we were the only ones there! It made it really easy to use your imagination and picture what the town was like during the mining boom, when all the buildings were still standing. But the remaining buildings are well preserved, and they provide lots of information about the town and residents’ lives there.

You can boondock at the ghost town for free, so of course we did that! We returned to the town the next morning to see the inside of the buildings that had been closed by the time we arrived the day before, and then drove on into Seeley Lake in time to celebrate the 4th of July with the other 3,000 people who come yearly for the parade and fireworks! We just happened to be boondocking right on the parade line, so we were able to easily pop our camp chairs up and watch the festivities with zero preparation or stress.

After the holiday visitors took off we had our pick of the camp sites, so here we are now right on Seeley Lake. We hiked around the campground and harvested the abandoned piles of wood the holiday crowd left at their sites, so we’re all set to stay here for the next four days! In the next post, you can look forward to some sweet woodcarving projects, much like this impressive hot dog stick Andy made yesterday! We’ve got the time and plenty of sticks, so we’ll see what we come up with. . .

Everything’s Happy Underground

Ben Folds Five reference, anyone? Anyone?

Ok, well before we get underground, we have a few stops to make.

By the time we left Angostura Reservoir, we’d been there almost two weeks! We really, really enjoyed that spot. We have a freezer full of fish, the animals are in top physical condition, and Andy and I are tan and relaxed.

Additionally, we have an album full of photos of unbelievable views! The summer weather in South Dakota makes for some stunning sunsets and thrilling storms. Unlike the storms we’re used to in Portland, these lasted for hours and hours. We sat outside on multiple evenings, snuggled under the awning in blankets, drinking wine and watching the show.

So cool, right? South Dakota, man. We love it.

Eventually, though, it was time to leave the reservoir. We had other spots on our list to check out, so off we drove to Wind Cave National Park. This park is super neat! Wind Cave is one of the longest caves in the world, and that length counts just the 5% of the cave that has been explored. You get to walk down, down, through winding tunnels that open into big rooms with amazing minerals and rare boxwork formations. A lot of Lord of the Rings references were mentioned by members of our tour group from room to room.

I have very few photos of our cave tours, as they do the experience no justice. Here are two that help you imagine what it’s like, but as with most things, it’s much better in person.

I love spelunking! There’s something so far from normal about climbing deep into the earth and seeing things that were created without any help from humans. If you have any imagination, it will go wild down there! They even have caving tours you can take where you spend four hours crawling on your hands and knees in areas most people don’t get to go, but as a portion of the tour requires you to squeeze under rock with just a 10″ clearance, I passed.

We stayed two nights in the campground at the park, saw fireflies, rode our bikes through the park, listened to rangers tell stories at the amphitheater in the campground, and were gifted some homemade moose dinner by our lovely French neighbors.

As we left the park, we made a number of stops on our way to Jewel Cave. We pulled over in Pringle to see a huge bike sculpture. . .

We stopped to see Flintstones Bedrock City, and discovered it’s being torn down after 50 years for a Western-themed campground. . .

We visited the National Woodcarving Museum, where you can see charming animatronic carvings made by the man whose talents inspired Walt Disney to ask him to help build Disneyland. . .

We toured the Four Mile Ghost Town, a collection of antique buildings and items set up in a little town, with a cassette tape recording to guide your way. . .

And then after a tasty lunch at Pizzaworks and a beer at Sick-N-Twisted Brewery, we stopped for the evening in the Black Hills. Andy picked a lovely wildflower bouquet, I read my book, Scout played frisbee, and Gracie climbed trees.

The next day, we stopped by Jewel Cave for a tour.

Now let me interrupt myself to point out that, while it took us a day to make it from Wind Cave to Jewel Cave, for those of you planning trips, they’re not a day apart. That’s just Turtle Time. For travelers in a regular vehicle, they’re actually about half an hour apart! We move slowly, but you can easily visit both in a day. And it’s worth it; they’re very different caves.

Jewel Cave is the third longest cave in the world, and is chock full of sparkling formations and stalactites and stalagmites. We took a tour a few years ago, and I was excited to be back to see the shining crystals again. Unfortunately, it was a very popular day to visit the cave, and by the time we got there, the standard tours were all sold out for the day! They did, however, have a Lantern Tour a few hours later, so we got our tickets and had a picnic while we waited.

As our tour group assembled to hear the beginning of the tour and get our lanterns, a storm started to blow in. We hiked single file around the hill to the mouth of the cave, and right as we got inside, the clouds broke and it began pouring! We stood inside the dry cave and lit our lanterns, the thunder booming and the wind pushing the rain sideways in sheets outside. It was so exciting! It felt like being another person in another time. We heard some history of the cave’s discovery from our tour guide, and then walked into the cave.

If you ever want to know how it feels to be Indiana Jones, this is the tour for you! If you grew up watching The Goonies and wanted so badly to adventure underground searching for One-Eyed Willie’s treasure, this is also the tour for you. We just laughed out loud with excitement the whole way. The tour took us down incredibly steep and narrow steps that descend endlessly, until finally we reached The Heavenly Room. We all sat on rocks and listened to more stories, and then were instructed to blow out our lanterns. The darkness was absolute. It was thrilling.

We had such a great time on that tour! It was a great way to end our time in South Dakota, and we discussed how much we loved it the whole way to Montana.

And here we are now, fishing licenses in hand and ready to spend the summer playing in Montana’s backyard. Bring it on!

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