bog of eternal stench

day 2 of our travels.
we one-wayed it out of sandpoint with our sights set on mount baker in washington. the drive was a bit windy and took us through high elevation mountainous national parks.

this particular drive turned out to be fairly uneventful with the exception of a small apple stand that we stopped at which delivered the largest, juiciest, and sweetest apples that forest and i had ever tasted.

we came up to mount baker later in the evening as the temperatures dropped a bit. it was damp and cold. We found a spot in the park nestled at baker lake, at the foot of the mountain. at this point, it was too dark out to see much scenery but we were tired and hungry....so we made it camp for the night. with feet and hand warmers stuffed in our socks and gloves, lit by headlamps and lanterns, we managed to still make a pretty incredible 'coleman style' dinner. forest threw together his creole shrimp and i roasted a batch of colorful veggies...quite possibly the highlight of this particular night.

we shivered all night.
i woke up on the wrong side of bed because of it. just a foul mood.
looking out in the distance, we noticed that this little lake front campsite we pulled into was no more than a muddy graveyard of trees.



it reminded me of the bog out of the labyrinth... serious yuck.



void of much life. damp. foggy. foul.



needless to say, we wanted to peace out as soon as possible. so after a nice long run to get our blood flowin, we bounced.

sarah, angie, and andy

as i write this blog, i am in northern california. driving through the redwood national forest....looking for sweet coastal bluff trail heads with my boyfriend forest.

this particular blog, however, i am taking you back to day 1 of our travels.

the big FIRST day of our journey came creeping up on us, slowly at first then nipping us in the butt... we were prepared. everything from homeade vegetable soup to spanking new gear. even a whistle. thats right, we have brought a whistle. its silver with a yellow string.

we slept in on our day of departure. mosied about, took our time. we packed everything in forests nissan but the the kitchen sink. we even brought a pumpkin, which we managed to squeeze somewhere in between loads of pillows, dry food, and bongo drums.

the sun held our hands for several hours as we drove to sandpoint, Idaho. This little town is sprinkled with people i am fond of. family and friends.



i called miss angie ragland, my beautiful friend/sister/cousin/whatever you wanna call her. and she just so happened to be up in the woods at Andy Anderson's house, another long time old friend of mine. It had been about 15 years since i had seen Andy actually and he is still as adorable as i remember him, only with carharts, a wife, and facial hair now. We sat next to the campfire, swapped stories of old, laughed, played guitar, sipped on sierra nevada and angie's economy size bottle of white zinfandel.

Sarah Shaffer, my other ethereal Sandpoint cousin graced our presence shortly after forest and i showed up. yes, sweet miss sarah, who has been blessed with the most contagious laugh of anyone i have ever met. sarah, just like when we were kids, was the source of tall tales and witty quips. so there we were, around a roaring campfire, sarah romanticizing stories of the past, leaving us all in stitches.

beautiful night. but we were sooo tired. we stayed at sarah's triangle house that night and got a great night sleep.

the next morning, i made my way downstairs to find sarah dehydrating freshly picked plums.



her floor was covered in harvested tomatoes and peppers. the grape tomatoes were the sweetest ever. yum!



over a cup of jo, we crammed in 6 years of catch up into one morning. forest made us breakfast with sarah's fresh chicken eggs and tomatoes.

i wasn't ready to leave. i could have stayed much much longer. but i will take sarah in whatever capacity i am able. left with plenty of love and a tote plum full of tomatoes and peppers.

lexi and rosie

meet rosie


and lexi


these girls love the camera...and the camera, needless to say, loves them.
originally our plans were to meet at 9 a.m. sunday morning, bright eyed and bushy tailed for a fun photo shoot.
Around 11ish, coffee in hand, we got the ball rolling. 'we' being myself, forest (rosie's uncle), rosie, and lexi. forest helped me out with the girls and took some great shots as well! we started at the notorious east end of town. the old mill district. blighted bozeman. we also went to bogart park and skipped around downtown. the girls picked out white dresses, white tops and jean skirts. the contrast was perfect against the graffiti background.

heres some of my favorites...





























we all kinda lost the skip in our step after 3 hours or so and called it quits....
overall, a sunday well spent. its my turn next. :)

spanish peaks

wow. my tailbone hurts. my whole body aches. i feel like ali's punching bag. but it was worth it for views like this.



22 miles roundtrip. approximately 4000 feet vertical climb. 10 hours.
breathtaking.



7 miles in to mirror lake...blue skies, fresh mountain air. delectable.



123. jump!


still bustling with untapped energy, we forge ahead... the freshly snowcapped peaks beckoning us to come get a closer look...



almost there, 6 hours and 11 miles into it... jerky break.



and finally, after multiple sightings of fresh bear and mountain goat scat as well as potential cat tracks.... we make it. bear canyon trail to the ridge.



and bask


view over the ridge


and now, because i feel like i had a scuffle with the mob... i am off to make like gumby and get stretched out at bikrams....

glacier park

in an ideal world, i would be actually working. but, once again, i have drifted away from that nasty 'workzone place' into my delicious little 'personal productive zone'....which right now is blogging.

i had the opportunity to visit one of the places i call home a few weekends back, the flathead valley. forest, who is my friend/boyfriend/compadre/male-counterpart/travel-buddy/muse/mystery-man..... joined me! oh and his little dog too...REX. sigh. rex and i have a very tumultuous relationship. i have never had such torrid little 'feelings' towards a dog....

glacier park.

love.



it had been several years since i had last been to glacier and it was forests first. the first day, we chose avalanche lake as our destination. we headed up through the lush forests on a groomed walkway, with rex in tow. Yes, we did see a sign babbling something along the lines of no dogs. but i think we blinked? yea, thats what happened.
the only sign we really paid attention to was this one...



halfway up the trail, we met a forest ranger. he made us walk down. with rex. damn. all of our tails between our legs.

we decided to head BACK up the trail...legal this time.

avalanche lake


it rained hard and we took cover under large pine trees...when the rain didnt let up, we decided to keep going. as forest and i spoke of more appropriate hiking apparell, we passed people slopping through the mud in flip flops and short sleeved shirts...

we continued driving up the 'road to the sun' and were tantalized by everything we saw.

saint mary's lake


we finally found a spot! in grizzly country. surrounded by service berries, which happened to be BFF with the tastebuds of grizzly bears.



we camped in the middle of around 100 campers or so....so, how many licks does it take to get to the center? enough to where we felt safe and sound in the center.
okay, thats an exaggeration. we slept on a pebbly grade and were cold all night long. forest may have gotten the brunt of it, sleeping squished in between rex, i, and a rock posing as a thermarest.



the next day brought us looming clouds and whistling breezes. but no rain. we had pancakes and eggs in the glacial mountains and chatted about prospective weather.

Logan Pass was gorgeous. there was some sort of electricity in the air, the scents playing hide and seek in our nostrils.



we saw mountain goats and big horn sheep on their perks... probably looking down at us with the same sort of wonderment. we found hidden lake too!

hidden lake


on our drive home, we both memorable endulged in this decadent huckleberry chocolate bar from the heavens. it really was only fair, seeings how our other senses had been given the star treatment that day.

i can and i will.

slug bug

sometimes i just sit and stare at my computer screen, wondering what, amidst the unanimous topics of potential interest, i should write about. so heree goes...
i sit here in my 29.99 black cushy office chair, which is very comfortable for the price i might add. I think i got a great deal on it. but, with that being said, most of my hodge podge furniture is from craigs list, which i scored at alarmingly amazing deals. like this desk i am writing on. free.
anyways, currently i am in the throes of illness. what started as a little head cold has crept its way down my throat, past my tonsils, high-fived my uvula and has made itself at home in my lungs. this bug i have, has not been invited and is really outstaying its welcome. so, bringing in the arsenal, i have been trying to wash it out of my system with teas, tinchers, theraflu, multi-vitamins, pain relievers, garlic, sudafed, hot peppers, apple cider vinegar, water, gatorade, emergenC, rest, honey, lemon, vitamin C, steam rooms, and pots of steaming water...., new toothbrush, clean sheets, fresh air, sun, sweating it out...hot baths, fresh flowers, avoidance of ALL harmful substances (ahem...does a whole box of dove coffee ice cream bars count?), incense, candles, great movies and not so great movies...chicken noodle soup, AND straight chicken broth.... yet, the bug remains. lodged.
i know my immunities have a black belt, because i haven't had so much as a head cold in 2 years.... so i suppose, i should just let this buggly run its course, while i endure the gamut of side effects. must just be due time.