This is how amazing the scenery is right at our Yurt site.
This morning, we woke up the sleepy kids early so that we could hike early and be on the road by about 9:00. This was both so my dad and I could get back to our work days and also so that we could leave Goblin Valley before it got insanely hot.
Before leaving the yurt site, we got to see a neat sunrise.
The morning was perfect weather and the valley of the goblins was not crowded at all. We had such a good time!
We climbed the green mountain.
And climbed and walked on the dragon’s back.
Goblin Valley has become such a prominent getaway spot for our family and it was so so fun to share it with my dad and Suzanne. We are so grateful they came to make the trip extra special!
In the morning, I took the kids to church and we had a picnic on the lawn with our friends in the congregation.
After church, I visited with my cousin Alexander and played basketball with him. He beat me in horse every time. It was so fun to get to know him more. He’s really thinking deeply about his life and what he wants to do with it. I was very impressed with his maturity, introspection and desire to make progress in his life. He has a lot of valuable life experience to lean on at such a young age and it was fun just to get to know him more. While we played basketball, the kids played in the yard, including Clarissa, who built this house out of random objects.
After spending time with Alexander, the kids and I went shopping at Smith’s and then we went to my dad and Suzanne’s house where I made tin-foil dinners. The last ones I made with Todd turned out super well, and I was excited to do it again. No meat, just chopped vegetables, olive oil and seasoning. Then we all left, picked up Lily in Orem, and made our way to Goblin Valley. I was thrilled that we visited the San Rafael Swell on the way. It is one of my all time favorite landmarks. Look at the drama and motion!
When we arrived at our yurts, the kids played while the grown-ups set-up and watched the kids and I cooked.
Today we woke up at 4:30 so we could have time to hike to avalanche lake as a family before driving home. Lily was so in awe the first time she went and she really wanted the family to see it. I’m so glad we did!
Clarissa led is in a jog for a fair portion of the trail:
At the lake there was a cool secret passageway I captured on video:
On the trail back to the car, Lydia pondered how beautiful everything was and felt a depth of emotion wondering if she would ever see it again.
After the incredible hike to and from Avalanche Lake (It was like a fairy forest just as Lily promised), we went to the visitor’s center where there was a bike trail that was about 4 miles round trip. I biked with the kids sans Clarissa while Clarissa napped in the car with Lily. When Clarissa woke up, Lily took her to the path to scooter. Clarissa talked to Lily about her birthday while scootering on the path:
I had an amazing time biking with the kids on such a beautiful path.
When the kids and I met up with Lily close to the car, I gave her my bike so she could experience the path. We picked her up at the end of the path.
It was a lot to pack in before noon……….
Then we got Huckleberry shakes and fast food and drove home and got in late.
To start the day, we all took familiy photos at Lake McDonald for Georgia’s Birthday. It is always her birthday wish, which I think is very sweet.
Then the kids played on the beach while some of the grown-ups swam. Lily particularly loved swimming in Lake McDonald.
In the afternoon, we hiked St. Mary’s falls. I carried a sleeping Clarissa most of the way in. And she led the group most of the way out. As long as she was in front and leading, she was very motivated.
Today, Lily, Swathi, Sruthi and Mani got up early to hike Avalanche Lake. Lily was so taken by the beauty of the scenery that we ended up doing it again later as a family.
Back at home, Clark watched the children while I worked. After Lily and the group got home, she went on a hike with everyone while I worked, and some of the group took the skytram down the mountain.
In the evening, Lily and I took our kids plus Soren to the rodeo. Lily and Mary were particularly disgusted by the cruelty to the animals. I felt a little bad as well, but I also genuinely enjoyed the spectacle. It was incredibly entertaining and the skill of the Cowboys and Cowgirls was incredibly impressive.
Also, earlier today, Lily and I signed all the final paperwork to close on our home. I’m so profoundly grateful to be done with the process, that it sold for so much, and that there was such a good team in place to get it done.
Clark wanted to hike the 14 mile highline loop trail for his birthday and he invited me to go with him. I jumped at the chance. We woke up around 4 or 4:30 (I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight), and headed to Glacier in order to be done by noon and so that our drivers Sruthi and Mani could find parking.
We had so much fun on the trail and he is an incredible hiking buddy. We both moved very fast, jogging at times, and we covered all sorts of topics like health and dieting, how to keep a positive outline, the stages of grief, the media, the scandal at Michigan state, and the state of the world. The views along the way were absolutely stunning. At the top of the glacier overlook, I ate a brunch that I had been looking forward to:
These horses are carrying supplies to the Chalet
On the trail, we crossed paths with another hiker whose birthday it was, and who was hiking with a happy birthday baloon. We took pictures of course!
While Clark and I were hiking, Lily, Swathi and the kids spent time at Lake McDonald.
Here is Ammon entertaining Meera in the car
Later in the day, we ate dinner and then went fishing at a fishing pond in Columbia Falls and celebrated Clark’s birthday with cake. We didn’t catch anything which was incredibly demoralizing to me. But as always, it was fun to fish and be together.
Today we took an easy morning and got some much needed rest. Here are some cute pictures of Clarissa and Lily in bed together.
Later in the morning, Clarissa played with Meera. Here are some cute videos of them playing together.
In the afternoon, we went to Whitefish Lake. It was so so so fun. We rented Kayaks, and I got to take each of our kids on a nice long kayak ride. I also did some fishing from the Kayak, as did Swathi, but we did not catch anything which was not surprising since we heard that fishing in Whitefish lake was not that good.
Today was our first day in Glacier with Clark and Soren. Swathi, Mani, Sruthi and Meera went to another part of the park that did not require a ticket for the going-to-the-sun road. We’ve been trying for days to get tickets for the going-to-the-sun road. The process is crazy! You have to be online at exactly 8AM and try repeatedly to purchase one of the 365 tickets that’s available. Because so many people are trying to do the same thing at 8 AM, you get error message after error message as you try over and over again to get through. Amazingly, Lily got us a ticket on her very first try. But Clark, Swathi and her family didn’t have the same luck, so only one vehicle was able to go up the sun-road. Fortunately Swathi scored aa ticket the very next day!
The first thing we did was hike a mile up the loop trail and then a mile back. We would have done more the the mosquitos were super intense! All-in-all, I’m proud of the kids for enduring as long as they did. As I sit here on the ride home catching up on blogs, I’m still scratching various mosquito bites that I got in Montano.
This deer was super close to us!No teeth in this smile as I just took a bite of sandwich :). This is at the end of the trail where we all had lunch.
After the Loop hike, we continued up the going-to-the-sun road, which is one of the most incredible drives I’ve every been on in my life. It was so so so pretty. We stopped at a nice area for the kids to play in a stream.
We also stopped to check out some snow by the side of the road.
At the top, we scored a parking spot at the visitor’s center at the top, which was not easy, as Glacier was so so so crowded, and parking was a consistent challenge.
The hike at the top (Hidden Lake trail) was absolutely stunning. It was a boardwalk that occasionally went through snow. Mary and Clarissa were in sandals and their feet got very cold so we didn’t make it to the lake overlook, however, the trail, was absolutely gorgeous.
We saw this ram in the parking lot
Also, here are some cute baby goats we saw on the ride home:
At the end of the day, we went to a delicious restaurant Clark found. I ate an insanely spicy bowl of Pisole.
On Sunday, we woke up and started driving to Montana. We amazingly arrived in Whitefish around 9:30, just before their firework show was about to start. We parked, walked to the lake and met up with Clark, Swathi and Sruthi, and enjoyed a magnificent firework show. I loved the ambiance, the perfect weather, being outside and with family, being so close to the fireworks, and seeing the lake with a lot of people in kayaks under the fireworks. The whole thing was very magical. It was a perfect introduction to what would be a very magical trip.
The kids had A LOT of time together in the car today!
This week Lydia and Mary have been in an acting camp co-organized by Eliza Freeman. Today was performance day. The script and costumes were adorable as were the kid actresses and actors, and the entire thing pulled off very well. I was impressed with the craftsmanship that went into it, especially with such young directors, script writer(s) and actors. I think Eliza wrote the script, but I’m not sure if others helped. Lydia was a security guard and Mary was a young girl who awoke to no presents in the White House. Here are some pictures and the full 8 and a half minute video:
After the play, we went to brunch with Georgia. We ate at Magelby’s, and I loved it! I got an omlette and was very happy to finish off other’s french toast. It was great to see Georgia!
Also, here is a cute picture of Basil sleeping in his crate with his front legs straight up and his back legs straight back. Tomorrow we leave him for 8 nights. We’ll miss you Basil!
