Logan's Pass in the Jeep

It was finally a nice day around here so we decided to go for a drive to West Glacier. Kevin worked for a few hours in the morning and then called it quits and we took the top off the jeep and went for a drive in the beautiful sunshine. Here are some pics of our adventures. We were lucky to find some friends at Apgar who had their boat out on the lake so Shane bummed a knee board ride. It was a fun day.

Ptarmigan Tunnel

The Ptarmigan Tunnel was built in 1930 through the Ptarmigan Wall at an elevation of 7200 feet in Glacier National Park, near Many Glacier. It is 250 ft long.


On the way up to the lake.


This is from about half way up the switchbacks that take you to the tunnel. Ptarmigan Lake is in this shot.



Wow, what a great view on the other side.




It was pretty cold up top, so we didn't stay too long. I wanted to sit and relax in the sunshine but no such luck. We made a hasty retreat down to the bottom where it was warmer.

This is the valley we hiked through.

Hiking Chronicles

To commemorate the big 40 and to also cross off one of the things on my bucket list I've decided to do a 15 mile hike that starts with the Highline Trail hike in Glacier National Park and finishes in Many Glaciers. The midway point is the Granite Park Chalet (Night of the Grizzlies location.... so the overnight stay in a tent is not happening). The plan is to do it in one day.

In order to get ready for it I am doing some smaller hikes and the first one was at Waterton. It is called Bennett Pass and it is at 7200 ft. and it is a 1400 ft. climb from Wall Lake up to Bennett Pass in 1 1/2 miles. I had never heard of it before but some well-seasoned hikers told me about it and said the view was spectacular. They were right, so worth the stiff and sore muscles I was feeling the day after. It starts at the base of Wall Lake and takes you to the top of Akamina Ridge.



This is a panoramic from the top of Akamina Ridge looking towards the United States.



Just reached the top, definitely had to stop and catch my breath. The wind was howling up there, but the view was amazing.



Wall Lake from the top of the ridge.

Ptarmigan Tunnel is on next week's schedule so I will get some pics up from that one.

Photo fun

Just having some photoshop fun on a cold Sunday afternoon.

A first....

Today the newly turned 16 year old got his driver's license and drove into town for the first time on his own. Yikes I am so not ready for this life changing event. I am sure it will take a few days for me to stop "worrying" about him driving. He is going to get sick of it and will probably be rolling his eyes at me in no time. But isn't that what mother's are supposed to do? He is a responsible kid so I know that he will be careful, but still.....

He recently had a tournament up on Calgary, here is a couple of pics of the action. The lighting wasn't that good in the gym so the pictures aren't the greatest but they will have to do.
























I went for a walk in the snow today and took my camera with me. I am thinking that I should get ready for winter, it will be here sooner than I want.

An early Halloween

A funny thing happened in the house the other night. We had a visitor from the "that should only happen on Halloween" category. Let me give you a hint about our unwanted house guest. It has two beaty little eyes, some sharp teeth, wings, and hangs upside down. I think he was living in the house for a few days cause I found a "present" on the window sill that I thought a mouse had left for us. So that morning before school I am busily setting mouse traps before I head off for work thinking that a mouse had found his way into the house but also wondering how he got up on the window and why that "present" was bigger than normal. Anyways on Thursday night Rylan pushes up the blind so that he could see the new truck that Kevin brought home for Colton (that's a whole other story). As he gets the blind up to about eye level I see him stumble backwards and he's trying to mumble something that I can't understand. He takes off into the bathroom and then runs back and points at the window all the while on the verge of hyperventalating. I look over to where he is pointing and see this bat hanging upside down from the bottom of the blind. He doesn't move he just sits there watching all of us. Rylan said that all he saw when he was nose to nose with it is pink, his pink mouth opening up to bite him. He was pretty freaked out. Luckily Kevin was home so he got the pliars, grabbed a leg, and set him free. Meanwhile all of us "chickens" were hiding out in a bedroom with the door closed.


Not sure if it looked this menacing but Rylan sure thought so......

My brother's cute family

So this is a couple of the pics I got of the cute little neices and their mom and dad. Luckily they were in a good mood that morning so we were able to coax some smiles out of them. I took my youngest out there so he could dance in the background and make them laugh. They seemed to enjoy his "monkey dance" the most. Can you imagine my brother's life in 5 years with all those girls? Yikes!! Good thing they have two bathrooms in the house.