22 Miles of Fun!

First I have to thank Lisa, I didn't take my camera on this run and my brother took a ton of pictures.  All of these pictures were poached off of their wonderful blog!  Thanks guys!

As I said in my previous posts, Dad, Erik and I ran a 10 mile run one day as a "warm up" for this run.  This run was to the top of the Matterhorn.  22 miles total and we will climb to about 9830 feet.  This is my dad and I at the beginning just arriving at the trailhead.  Erik is behind the camera!

There is one place that the Forest Service had to take out a bridge.  Fortunately a nice big tree fell right in that area to cross.  This river is  really cold so I was glad that we didn't have to wade across.

Here we are going up...  there is a lot of that on this run! 

My awesome Dad...

8 miles in is Ice Lake.  It holds fond memories for Erik and I.  He came home on leave from the Navy when I was about 14 and we backpacked in and spent the night.  We caught fish and just had a great time.  Those high lakes are so beautiful, I never get over it.

Erik (my amazing brother) and I with Ice Lake behind us.  Actually the Matterhorn is also behind us, but I don't think you can see the top from this angle

Two great guys!

Although we are about 9 or 10 miles in...  I apparently still have a little sass!

 

There are notebooks on the top of the peaks that you can write messages in...  It is a neat opportunity to look back and see who has been there in the past and read what they wrote. 

Here are the three of us on top!  It was so beautiful.  It totally reminded me of goat hunting with Clint last fall.  Made me wish he was with us so I could share the experience with him as well. 

Dad always tells us to "suck in our gut and stick out our chest" when a picture is about to be taken.  It always makes everyone smile!

Views from the top

Erik on top of the world!

Erik remembered this little arch from a past trip he took up there.  He found it again and we had to get a picture!

On the way back down to Ice Lake

Our trail back down.  If you look hard you can just see us towards the bottom of the switchbacks.

Erik on the way down.

The downhill is actually kind of tough as well.  You aren't really breathing that hard, but your quads take a beating and your legs can feel kind of shaky after that many miles.  (Okay, mine did.  There was no indication from Erik or Dad that they felt anything but amazing...  they both have this incredible toughness that goes way beyond the physical component.  It's this amazing mental drive.)

We did it!  I wish Erik would have told me he was taking my picture and I would have mustered up a smile or a thumbs up or something.  (Okay maybe he did tell me and I flipped him the bird.  He may have waited until I put my hand down to take the picture!  Ha ha!  Just kidding!) 

Truth be told, I was spent.  I have never ran that far and honestly I'm proud of myself for doing it.  However, my quads were pretty tight for a few days!  (everyone got a good laugh every time I went to sit down or go down stairs... ) 

I can see how my dad and brother enjoy it so much though.  It is a completely different style of running that is really fun.  I look forward to the next time I can do it with them!

Oregon Trip - Post # 2

The other butterfly picture that I promised!

What adventure is complete without a ride on the CAT...

I think that the looks on the kid's faces in these are priceless!

The hike to Slick Rock is quite beautiful, so everyone decided to do the hike one morning.  Some of the little ones decided it was just a little too far and after hitching a ride for a bit, Courtney, Marsha, and I turned around with Dane and Chloe.
Here are a couple little ones being carried by the guys!

5 Beautiful girls!  Marsha, Courtney, Naomi, Chloe, and Olivia

Gramps entertaining Kimber...  or Kimber entertaining Gramps!

Evan and Clint really enjoyed shooting together.  Evan did a great job and picked it up quickly.

On one of our trips to the lake we spent some time on the River as well.  We caught sculpins and minnows...  then we built a little "holding pond" for our catch.  Here are Evan, Gramps, and Dane checking out what we had caught so far.

Kimber and Dane enjoying a little mud!

Dane and a "toad frog" that he caught.  Look at the size of that thing!

Then there were the little baby "toad frogs" as well.

A nice trout

 

When Clint and I met, he was in Joseph for the summer working on a neighbor's ranch.  While we were there we went over to the ranch to reminisce a bit.  Here is the "cabin".  It is truly beautiful.

Clint has such fond memories of the people he was working for, Richard and Debbie Surface.  They owned a very successful nursery and he worked there for about 7 years.  Sadly, Richard passed away, but Clint still has such wonderful memories of the things he learned, and the time he spent, with these great people.  Debbie is doing well, and we just missed her when we arrived for our visit.  Maybe next time we can connect.

Richard, Debbie, and Clint 7-25-00

Clint said he got to have some fun on this!

The trip to Oregon was wonderful!  We had such a good time and although I wish I could, I can't possibly include pictures of every moment or every experience.  It was great to see all of my family and spend some good time together doing things that we all love.  Now we just have to let Marsha and Dad recuperate so we can do it again!  :)  Or perhaps everyone can come to Montana!

A trip to Oregon - Post #1

 It has been a long time since Erik (my brother), Courtney (my sister), and I have all been in the same place at the same time.  In fact, I have been with Clint for about 11 years and he had never met Erik.  Crazy!

Early this year we decided to make it happen.  So, we all picked some dates and decided to meet at Dad and Marsha's house in Oregon.  It is the perfect place for all of us to meet.  Lots of outdoor activities, lots of great memories, and just a beautiful place. 

There ended up being A LOT of us.  There was Me, Clint, Kimber, Dane, Courtney, Olivia, Naomi, Chloe, Erik, Lisa, Evan, Owen, Erica, Dad, Marsha, and Mom.  WOW, what a group! 

Luckily Clint and I just purchased a new (to us, but certainly not new!  More like a 1992!) pop up tent trailer.  We weren't in the market for one, but we had outgrown our tent and the price was so good we couldn't pass it up. 

So, we hooked it up and used it for the 8 days that we were there!  It worked like a dream!  Dad and Marsha live way out in the woods (no electricity, snowmobile home during the winter, etc.) so it was a great place to set up "camp".

Of course Dane loves the tractor, as did all the kids.  Gramps was super good to them and let them go for several rides.  The act of riding up and down in the bucket is now known as "the redneck carnival ride"!

Dane and Gramps

Don't look down!

While we were there some of the neighbors came over and got a picture of us.  Mom hadn't arrived yet, so sadly we missed her in the picture.  Kimber wasn't really cooperating, but amazingly enough the rest of us came together and stood still long enough to get some pictures!

My Dad is an accomplished roper (From actually roping cows in Nevada.  He was a cowboy for years.)  Olivia worked hard to figure it out and made some definite progress.

 

How were they doing that???

 A couple of the days that we were there, we went up to the State Park at Wallowa Lake.  It was a nice place to hang out, visit and let the kids play.  Here is one of the resident deer that hang out in the park.  The tourists really like them, but they actually can be real nuisance, so we always chase them off and don't feed them.  Too bad there is no hunting in the park! :)

 Our poor deprived (yeah right!) child Dane had never roasted marshmallows before.  In a moment of weakness before the trip I bought these monster marshmallows thinking they would be good.  They actually were too big and didn't stay on the sticks very well.  Dane took about 3 bites and was done.  But, he was so excited about it and did seem to enjoy the experience!

 While at the Lake there was a lot of fun to be had.   Here they are playing Frisbee...  poor Kimber is always behind, but she kept at it!

Bones getting some love from Evan

 Wrestling also proved to be a lot of fun.  I think poor Gramps was getting ganged up on!

Dane trying to out run Uncle Erik and Owen

Wasn't quite fast enough!  Here is Uncle Erik tickling Dane!

Some of the days we split up and did things in different groups.  One day Dad, Erik and I took a 10 mile trail run up Slick Rock while everyone else went fishing at Salt Creek Summit.  Clint is so patient and was able to help the kids catch some trout.  They all had a great time!  Below is a picture of Clint showing all the kids how he fillets the fish.  Dad, Erik and I had a great time as well.  This run was a warm up for the longer trail run we did later in the week!  Both Erik and Dad are in amazing shape.  I know that they had to slow down a little for me, but they did so without complaint.  Erik took his camera and did a great job taking pictures.  He is going to send me a jump drive with those photos so I will have to do another post later with some of those pictures.

That day Marsha, Lisa, and Courtney did a bunch of laundry.  But, then of course I come home with my icky running clothes.  I know I will need them again soon and I don't want to bother Marsha to do more laundry (it's a pain with starting the generator, pumping water and such) so I decided to do it the old fashioned way.  Yes, with a baby on my back!  Clint had to take a picture cause he said that anytime you can take a picture of your wife doing laundry in a bucket...  you just can't pass it up!  (Marsha was so sweet though and assured me that in the future she would happily do another load for me!  She spoiled us!)

While I was slaving over the laundry, this butterfly came and was drinking the water from the pavers.  Since Clint had the camera handy, he was able to get a few great shots.  Lisa also took some wonderful pictures of this visiting friend!  I will have to post the other picture on my next post because my computer is a little temperamental and didn't feel like cooperating on that download. 

Kimber was quite fortunate on this trip and all of the kids (and adults of course!) treated her wonderfully.  Here is Naomi watching over her!