Man. If there ever was a most beautiful state in this country of ours... it might be Montana. Now I'm not going to lie -- I think Washington is pretty much the champagne state of the U.S. I mean, mountains to sound, wheat fields to the Columbia River, it pretty much has it all. But it doesn't have Glacier National Park, like MT. (which is fine because then it doesn't have the extra tourists either...). But I digress. Montana is freaking gorgeous.
Me and the littles got to ride the train out to visit our family of Saugens in Kalispell last month, and we had a lovely adventure. Christie is a way better hostess than me -- she planned hikes, picnics, beach days, man -- we were set and had 3 days of non stop adventures :) In the middle there she somehow convinced me to do a 50 mile bike ride around Kalispell.... now for dear sweet Christie, who is an amazing athlete, 50 miles is like 1/2 to 1/3 of what she could do. For me it was like HOLY SHI* that was a long bike ride :) The first 25 weren't too bad, considering I hadn't ridden a bike since May. The last 25 (TWENTY FIVE PEOPLE) got progressively slower... and slower... as my little quadriceps got tired... But I completed it, and had a grand time doing it! So fun. Next year Christie is going to do the full 100 mile ride. I think I will just cheer this time.
We had such a fun time visiting cousins and chatting over tea and whiskey at night. I am going to have to plan another trip next year too.
And now for the photos!
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| All loaded up at the Whitefish train station and headed to Glacier! |
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| The beginning of our hiking adventure. |
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| Auntie Christie and the boys |
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| BFF's. Forever. (Micah on the left, Olaf on the right, 2 weeks 6 days apart in age :)) |
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| Hot Dang. Remember what I said about Glacier? I don't edit these photos! |
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| The traffic engineer in me was sketched out by so many things on the going to the sun highway... |
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| Okay, Instagram edited this one for me :) |
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| Huckleberry 100 ride! (Well, 50 for us) |
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| Post ride. Still standing (barely). |
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| Playground fun. Forest Tucker and Kyler John. |
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| Nerd alert. Photo credit to Olaf. |
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| Watch out for the bike gang on the streets of Kalispell. |
