Pink House

Smith River, Montana - Day 3 to Upper Parker Flats

When we woke up on Friday the sky was cloudy and we decided to pack up quickly in case it started raining. It did start lightly raining, but we managed to get the tent and camping bags in the sealed box before they got wet. Everyone took off as soon as we were packed up.

The scenery today was incredible in the deep canyon areas. The first half of the day was cloudy and a bit cool so everyone put on their rain jackets and hats. But by lunch time it was sunny and warm again.

Today we went by the private guest ranch "Heaven on Earth" and stopped there to buy ice to refresh our coolers. It's in a really pretty setting - with a main lodge, restaurant and bar, and smaller cabins to rent. I would have liked to stay here for one night, but our group consensus was to rough it the entire trip. When we bought the ice, the young man that waited on us offered to take me up to the main lodge from the shore. I hopped on his golf cart and he drove me up to the lodge - he pointed out the restroom and I gratefully used it - a flushing toilet and RUNNING WATER to wash in! It felt great. (Note to self: if we do this again, book a night to stay here. A hot shower at this point would have felt really good.) I didn't get any photos of the ranch...

It was much easier to drift today because of the deeper water. Since K and I didn't have to spot for rocks much, I could fish from the boat which I did a lot. I got several fish and pulled in 3 (2 rainbow and 1 white) but threw them all back except kept one rainbow to eat that night. I still wanted to try to catch a brown trout, but never did. Later in the week, I had a brown on, but he fought hard and worked his way off the lure before I could pull him in the boat. Larger than the rainbows.

At one point in the float, during the first or second night, I starting thinking about how isolated we were from civilization and how you couldn't "get out" if you wanted to. There were no public roads or access leading to the river. So when you put in at Mile 0 at Camp Baker, you "stuck" (or so I felt) until you take out at Mile 59 at Eden Bridge. It can be a scary thought. There have been people who are injured during the float and have to be helicoptered out to a hospital. So when I started I told myself, this is it, I'm in it until the end. But on Day 3 we passed the halfway point on the float - and I could see the finish line in my mind at least. Even though we were having a great time, it felt reassuring to me to realize we were more than halfway to the finish.

I've mentioned that we saw a lot of "wildlife" along the way. Most of the float trip we continued to see birds that lived along the river and canyon walls. There were lots of Canadian geese, and another kind of "duck" that we weren't sure what they were. But they were very pretty with their rust-colored heads with spiked hair in back. We later learned that they are Mergansers (seen in the photo above).

 

We arrived fairly early at Upper Parker Flats, our campground for the night. This time K and I chose a little clearing under a grove of pine trees to set up our tent. It was also close to the river. Our group's tents were more spread out at this campsite.

There was enough time for the group to go fishing before dark. The 3 gals (in their 20's) of the group all tried their hand at fly-fishing. There were several of us lined up and down the shore standing in knee deep water, fishing at dusk. Very relaxing.

It was the Murphy family's turn to cook tonight and they grilled marinated chicken breasts, and served mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, and asparagus. We had smores later around the campfire.

There were several deer - bucks, does, and even a fawn who walked through our campsight and spent time eating the bushes around the campsite. They didn't seem frightened by us at all. (Sorry for the blurry pic but all of my deer photos were blurry.) It was a good day and we slept really well.

Smith River Float - Day 2 - to Upper Cow Coulee

I recently told a friend that floating the Smith River and the consequential 4 nights of wilderness camping was on my Bucket List. She replied, "Oh. I didn't see the movie."  Well I saw the movie, but actually I had a Life List long befor the movie came out. In conversations I've learned that many people have a life list, if not written down, at least in their heads. It's a list of all the things (big and small) that you hope to do sometime...in this lifetime. I actually wrote mine down several years ago. Then when I turned 50 I reviewed the list and realized that I hadn't made much progress on it for...10 or 20 years. So I updated the list (deleting things that were no longer meaningful and adding things that were) and started a concerted effort to really get going, and make some progress on crossing things off the list as completed. Check. I've also been accused of putting things ON the list and crossing them off immediately. My friend thinks this is cheating, but I just call it smart thinking. Whatever. Anyway, a "life list" or "Bucket List", whatever you choose to call it, is just a list of things in your head (or better yet, written down) that you want to do. They most likely will be some kind of personal challenge: mental, emotional, physical, social, etc. They might be an adventure (like sky-diving) or just an ordinary task (like making homemade pasta for the first time). Whatever. It's very personal - what makes sense to you. If you want to keep life interesting as you age, I encourage you to make a Life List of challenges and then steadily work on accomplishing them. ANYWAY........I actually intend to do a blog post about my Bucket List one day, but just thought I'd mention that when I first was invited to do the Smith River float, I thought, "Sounds like a great challenge for the Bucket List". And so I put it on there. When you pass middle age you start doing things like this...

DAY 2 on the Smith River Float:

Our route today:

I forgot to mention that the F family prepared dinner the first night on the float at our Rock Creek campground. They provided a wonderful dinner - grilled teryiaki chicken breasts, brown rice salad with feta cheese (so tasty!), ravioli salad with sun-dried tomatoes, and french bread. Very tasty! While they were cooking the rest of us sat around eating their appetizers: raw veggies, artichoke dip, and wine.

Every morning I have to have one or two cups of coffee before I can even think and form complete sentences. So I had to bring my coffee on the float. Whoever got up first put on a kettle of water to boil on the campstove and as people got up they made their own cup of coffee and tea. Here is how I started each day. If it wasn't for this, I probably wouldn't have had a reason to crawl out of my tent.

Everyone provided their own breakfasts and lunches and K & I elected to keep our's simple: fast and efficient. For breakfasts we had hardboiled eggs (I'd prepared ahead and even peeled and put back in the carton), granola bars or muffins, cantelope and honeydew melon chunks. All I had to do was reach in the cooler and pull out the prepared bags to plate it up. It took less than 5 minutes to make a breakfast like this. And clean up was minimal.  Yeah, bacon and eggs smelled good, but we didn't want to deal with the clean-up mess to have it.

For lunch we had pita pocket bread, deli turkey and ham, grated cheese, grated lettuce, and squezze bottles of mayo and mustard to make quick sandwiches requiring no utensils. We added grapes and a few corn chips, canned ice tea. And done. Easy to put together in less than 5 minutes with no leftover mess. While we like gourmet food, when you're camping like this we preferred to keep meals quick and simple, but still nutritious.  It was a treat to have the nice cooked dinners that we enjoyed each night.

Day 2 was actually my favorite day on the river. We finally got into the canyon area of the Smith, and the landscape became even more picturesque. Incredibly beautiful everywhere you looked. We also had two major creeks join the river and K & I could finally relax about dodging rocks, since most of them were now submerged. There were still some occasional boulders and rock wall turns, but those were far enough ahead that we could afford to look around and enjoy the scenery. Did I mention that K was a great rower/outfitter/river guide? Awesome! He steered the boat all five days (I asked continually but he said no until the last day). He did a great job and I would hire him again.

About halfway through the day, we decided to stop for awhile and fish. We found a nice shaded bend in the river with a rock wall (lots of these and the fish liked to swim in the deep area near the rock wall) and we pulled the boat to the shore, got out and walked and fished. I caught my first rainbow of the week! She was a beauty but right after this photo I released her and she gratefully swam away. I caught quite a few this day but threw all of them back. I kept expecting the trout to be larger, I guess after catching salmon in Alaska last summer, but these were all from 8" to 12". The browns were supposed to be from 12" to 16" but I never caught a brown. K flyfished and I used a regular rod with a lure. It was fun and the water was cool but not too cold to stand in for a time.

K and I floated ahead of most of the others, along with the F family.  We saw so much wildlife on this trip and that was memorable. If you look closely in the photo below, you will see a bald eagle who flew above us for quite a while, and also perched on a ledge on the canyon wall to watch. We also saw a hawk this same day.

We arrived at the Day 2 campground, Upper Cow Coulee and quickly pitched our tent. This was our night to cook! First everyone enjoyed appetizers of cheese, salami, and crackers, and the Murphy family made G&T's for everyone. K and I grilled marinated tri-tip steak, and served a baby greens salad, a spinach salad with HB eggs & cheese, and a hot vegetable dish. Brownies for dessert. The vegetable dish turned out great - I had made two large foil packets at home with: a little olive oil in the bottom, sliced zucchini, summer squash, yellow and red peppers, red onion, grated carrots, fresh herbs, and drizzled butter over the top, salt & pepper. I sealed these with another layer of heavy duty foil and kept cold in cooler. At the camp, we poked a couple of holes to vent in the top, and laid these on top of a griddle on the cook top, where they steamed up in about 10 minutes. Tasty!

Our group liked this campsite as one of the best. K wanted to try pitching our tent right by the river, but it was a little too close for me and the sound of the river made me feel like we were going to be washed away in our tent during the night. Another good night telling stories around the campfire and laughing. But it's always good to crawl into the cozy tent at the end of the day, tired but happy.

Day 3 to Upper Parker Flats tomorrow.

Smith River Day 1 - to Rock Creek campsite

The K family who had done the Smith River float before selected our campsites for the group. They were all great campsites. When you began the float, the ranger gave each boat a detailed river map showing the campsites along the way, and I saved mine. When we started out each day, our group would discuss which campsite we would stop at for lunch, and where our night campsite was. So we kind of had a game plan for the day.

Wednesday evening our first overnight campsite was at Rock Creek. It is a really pretty location right on the point at a bend of the river. There are flattened down areas in the fields where other tents have pitched on previous nights, and so after landing our group would spread out and each family group pick their tent site. We had a central kitchen area which was usually closest to the river and with a fire ring. That's where we would set up all our food cases, and put our folding chairs around the campfire.

The first night everyone was pretty tired out. It had been a long day with the preparation for put in and the first day learning how to manuever the boats etc. Over the day, the rafts would get spread out along the river and many times K & I couldn't even see anyone else. But we'd always meet up at lunch time and evening camp.

As my friends know, I was most anxious about the camping part of this trip. I've only camped for one or two nights at a time before, in an established campground with facilties and with our vehicle nearby. So this was a challenge to me - to be really "out" in the elements with no choice but to finish the 60 mile trip. So the first night I wanted to quickly get our tent set up (a 6-pound 3-man tent borrowed from a friend that worked out GREAT for us) and our things set up and tucked inside before dark. K and I figured out the set up routine quickly - who would do what each night and each morning. And where we would put things inside and outside of the tent. After day one, it all worked like a charm. I needed our tent to feel like a comfortable refuge and it did.

K and I had packed and organized our supplies so that we could pack and unpack quickly and efficiently each day. The fact that there were only 2 of us made it easier as well since we needed fewer things to bring along. We kept all of our things grouped together in containers - I think I counted 6 tubs or bags that we had to unload and reload each night, and we always kept one cooler and our fishing gear on the boat.  We wanted to make it as efficient as possible which worked out well. I didn't want to spend all our time working on reloading daily or hunting for something. We had our system down and it was about efficiency and quick set-up and take-down. Extra work at the beginning but then it made every day easier.

The latrines on the other hand........    Each campground had a latrine that the FWP and dug and put in for floaters to use. Very very rustic. We're talking a stool to sit on, out in the open, usually a short walk away from camp. Ugh. You went as least often as you could get away with and always carried a plastic bag with TP and moist towelettes. This was definitely the worst part. Rock Creek's latrine was up a steep hill behind the camp, with the trail dodging rocks, bushes, etc. at a steep pitch. When you got to the top of the hill you were rewarded with an incredible view...and a nasty dirty latrine. Yuck. Each night K & I took the bathroom visit together and I would try to NOT have to go back until morning. Thankfully, I never had to. Ok. Enough toilet talk. Moving on...

Part of what kept you distracted and rewarded throughout the river trip, were the incredible landscape vistas everywhere you looked. You would be going down the river (I sat in the front of our boat to balance the weight) and would point out to K the tree-covered mountains in the distance. Then I would turn around to say something to him and gasp at the view behind us as well. Spectacular views everywhere.

Our friends who had done the float before told us that there were basically different experiences each day of the trip:

Day 1: Mostly forested landscape through shallow water with lots of rocks. Learning to manuever the boat around sharp turns.

Day 2, 3, & 4: Beautiful canyons walls with deeper water, fewer rocks, faster flow. The best part of the float. The best fishing too.

Day 5: River straigthens out and slows, flows more shallow again. Landscape turns to rolling meadows and farmland. It seems boring compared to earlier days. You're tired and just want to get to the take-out spot.

That's it for Day 1 - overnight at Rock Creek. We had lots of funny stories to tell around the campfire that night. It felt good to unwind and realize, "Yes, we can do this."

Day 2 tomorrow. Wildlife photos.

Smith River Float - A Great Adventure

We have a lot of friends and family wondering how our 5-day float was. The short of it is that it was great! An adventure. I took a lot of photos and journaled every night by flashlight in the tent. So I'll take a few days here to share the stories and photos.

What: Smith River Float in central Montana between the Little Belt Mountains and the Big Belt Mountains.

When: July 1 - 5, 2009

Who: K and I were invited by the Murphy family (5 of them), and joined by Murphy's cousins (the K family) who had done the float before (3 of them), and the F family (3 of them). So 13 of us total in 5 rafts and 1 drift boat.

Why: For fun, of course!

How: The Smith River is a permit-only 59 mile stretch of river through some of the most picturesque and rugged Montana wilderness, featuring pristine trout fishing. Permits are granted through the Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks Dept. and are limited annually. Only 12% of the people who apply each year are granted permits to float the Smith River. Murphys drew the permit and invited the rest of us.

K and I drove up on Tuesday late afternoon to White Sulpher Springs where we stayed the night at a hotel near the put in spot at Camp Baker. The others elected to arrive at Camp Baker on Tuesday night and the plan was to camp there. But it was so cold, windy, and rainy that most of them ended up sleeping in their cars for the night. We got up early, showered and dressed at the hotel, and arrived at Camp Baker at 7:15 am. We were really glad that we had stayed at the hotel that night. It was cold and windy at Camp Baker and everyone was freezing. We met with the park ranger for instructions and to pay at 7:30 and then we were free to launch. K and I already had our things packed in the Tahoe and quickly transferred them to the boat and strapped them down, launched the boat and were ready to go by about 8 am. But the others still had to pack up their tents and equipment, eat breakfast, blow up the rafts, put them in the water, and load them. So we all didn't take off until about 10:30 am.

Packing: We tried to keep things to pack to a minimum, but with having to bring in all that you will need for 5 days: food, camping gear, fishing gear, clothing - it's a challenge to fit in all in a compact and organized manner. Everything must fit on your own boat and be in waterproof containers (in case of being dumped in the river or rained on). K and I each packed one small duffle with our clothing and toiletries, one cooler and one tub for our breakfast and lunch food and dishware, and one cooler for the dinner we prepared for everyone, and all our water and drinks. One tub for our camping gear (tent, two mattresses, two sleeping bags, two small pillows). We each packed 1 long pair of pants/jeans, two shorts, four t-shirts, swimsuit, rainjacket, fleece jacket, socks and unders. 1 pair of water sandals and 1 pair of sneakers. This filled our boat leaving just enough room for two people, 3 fishing poles, 1 fishing vest, and 2 life jackets. Tight.

The first morning started out cold and windy, but had warmed up significantly by afternoon. The first part of the river is pretty, but the middle days are the best with the spectacular cliffs and rock walls. The first part of the river is also the most shallow and K and I spent a lot of time watching for rocks and steering around them. I found that we were looking down more than up - but thankfully the water flow improved the second day after a few significant creeks flow into the Smith.

Two things that impressed me most were the beauty of this unspoiled wilderness area and the wildlife that we were able to observe so closely. We were in their natural habitat, and since the area is protected, it was like we were just visitors to their house. A priviledge for sure.

We averaged about 10 miles per day of floating. Before the trip we didn't really have much to gauge that by, but we expected that we would be "floating" for about 2 hours each morning, stop to eat lunch and fish awhile, and then float for about 2 more hours before arriving at camp for the night (the ranger assigned us campgrounds but our group had made a list of the requested campsites for each night and we were first on the list). But what we actually did was a LOT of rowing, steering the boat around boulders, away from rock canyon walls, rowing through slow parts, and some just "floating". The river is very twisty with lots of bends, requiring backrowing and turning continually. So we usually had to float about 3 hours in the morning, stopped briefly for a quick lunch and potty stop, and then floated another 3 hours (at least) to arrive at our overnight campground. It was a LOT of time in the boats. We couldn't have done it in less than five days (you're only allowed four night on the river).

So our daily routine was: Sleep in until about 8 am, eat breakfast, bath in the river, dress, pack up camp and load the boats. We'd start out, convoy style, one boat at a time from camp at about 10 or 10:30 am each day. And pull into our evening campsite at about 6 p.m. We'd then unload the boats, set up the tents and equipment, eat dinner (each family took one night to plan and prepare dinner for everyone), maybe a little fishing before dark, sit around the campfire and tell stories, and then head to bed at dark about 10 or 11 pm. It became a comfortable routine in just two days. Kind of like being at summer camp.

Day two was more exciting.........more details tomorrow.

We're back!

So I'm back from the Smith River float, and will begin photo posts soon. Too much unpacking and clean up to do here. Need to pick up Rocco. Behind on homework and work etc.

I not only survived, but really enjoyed it. An amazing adventure with the photos to prove it.

And only minor mishaps and injuries.

What I haven't told you yet...

We're busy packing. We're going on an adventure that is a total stretch and challenge for me. I'm excited, but nervous and a bit fearful too. It is so much work to get ready for.

About 3 months ago our friends invited us to go on a 5-day river float trip with them (July 1 - 5). It is on the Smith River in central Montana near the Little Belt Mountains. This is a pristine, limited-access river in a remote part of the state. You can only go on it by permit, and permits from the state are extremely limited and drawn by lottery each year. Some people try year after year and never get to go. Montanans get crowded out by out-of-state fishermen. It's a premier trout-fishing river. Normally, I would not do this kind of thing. But this is just the kind of "adventure" and challenge that began appealing to me when I turned 50. I started thinking "If I'm ever going to do this kind of thing, I'd better do it now".

So we've been planning, preparing, and packing in earnest for the last month. Down to the last two days now. It's difficult to pack because you need: boating equipment, camping gear, fishing gear, clothing and toiletries, and food for 5 days. And all of this has to be packed tightly to fit inside your boat. Oh! And did I mention there are NO facilities along the way?  NO bathrooms at all...for five days. That's the hardest part for me. No refreshing showers or clean toilets. Ugh!

Anyway, lots of our friends and family were thinking that I'd back out of this. But guess what? I'm not! K decided that he wouldn't do it unless I went along, and he's really looking forward to it. So my challenge is to complete the float. Believe me, I've thought about the Survivor TV show a few times as I've prepared for this challenge. I will NOT be the first one voted off of the island! But my main coping strategy is to do what I need to do to take care of myself and lay low. My focus is to just cope in a quiet way. :) The whole trip has become a personal challenge to me and one that I've put on my Bucket List and will cross off in a week.

The other night we were at a social gathering and people were asking about it. It seems that it's the kind of trip that is every GUY'S ultimate dream trip, and every GAL'S worst nightmare! That was the consensus. I agree. It is definitely NOT my dream trip.

Of course, I'll be blogging when I return. I plan to take lots of photos (supposed to be breath-taking wilderness along the way) and will take notes in a small journal as well. So........watch here for more details of the adventure to come.

In the meantime, it's back to preparation and packing.

Hey, Kim (Mrs. Howell)! If I (Ginger) can do it, YOU can do it. We'll see. Maybe next year I'll challenge you.... We could get Mary Ann to come too. We'll just have to get the Skipper, the Professor, and Gilligan to come along and take care of stuff for us!

Quilt for Summer - Photo Shoot

I recently finished a quilt that I made mostly for fun, and to play to with colors, but its primary purpose was to be a summer quilt for the back patio. When you sit outside in the summer evenings and it starts to get chilly when you're reading or talking, it's nice to have a quilt to pull around you. And it might as well be a pretty one. Right?

I started this last fall and most of the fabrics were ones that I had in my stash closet, and I added a few new ones to brighten up the palette. My main colors were greens, oranges, and purples.

There was no pattern - I just made a center square or rectangle and then sewed strips of fabric around each block, in two or three borders. Kind of a modified log cabin design I suppose. I just wanted to make it simple and fun. I cut and pieced it while sewing with friends (lots of chatting) and it was really nice to not to have to follow a complicated pattern.....just mindless cut and sew.

When I had about 30 blocks, I laid them out in rows on the floor and played with placement a bit. Then I began sewing the blocks together in vertical blocks. When one block was wider than another, I would trim down the large block to fit the finished block next to it. I then had six long rows. I should have been disciplined enough to make additional blocks, to add another vertical row or blocks. But I was kind of tired of the project at this point and wanted to finish it. So it's longer than it is wide. But I told myself that it's okay for this kind of casual use quilt. No rights or wrongs. Sometimes that kind of sewing is a relief.

The quilt top sat for a bit in the studio until I decided to look for a backing that would serve as a subsitute "top" when quilting it on the long arm machine. I've seen our local quilt shop owner do this before and had always wanted to try it: to choose a fabric backing with some kind of pattern that could be traced in thread to create a quilting design for the top of the quilt. I looked for quite awhile to find a fabric that would be the right color and offer a pleasing quilting design as well. I finally settled on this cream-colored background with a pale orange flower design.

When I rented the long arm machine at the LQS, I then mounted the actual quilt top (the pieced blocks) on the frame as if it was the backing and added the batting as normal. Then the solid piece of fabric for the substitute "top" which I then "traced" along with the quilting machine, following the flower design on the backing to then make this floral quilting design on the real quilt top. I used a cream color thread (very difficult to see to though!) on the top of the machine, and a varigated green thread for the bobbin thread that would blend in with the quilt top and help blend together the various fabric colors. All went as planned.

When I first pulled the finished quilt off of the frame, I wasn't sure that I liked it - either the quilting design or the thread colors or the finished result. But there's something I've learned in 26 years of quilting - and that's to KEEP WORKING ON IT because it DOES GET BETTER. You have the quilt top, the back, the quilting, the thread color choice. But then...you still add the binding. And then you run it through the washer on gentle cycle and the quilt kind of puffs up and settles into itself and start to look like it all belongs together.

When I made the binding, and sewed it on, I started to see that the quilt was looking better. When the binding was on, there was still one more task to do - one more detail to finish: I added two trims for embellishment. A large green rick rack and a smaller green crocheted trim. These helped pull it all together and add a touch of whimsy too.

I finally took it outside in the sun to photograph. Serendipitously, it matched the colors in my flower pots this season. I must have had orange, purple, and green on the brain this year. These colors are cheerful and just make me happy.

At the last minute Rocco decided to join the photography project, settling himself in the middle of the quilt as I was trying to photograph it. He's that way. Thinking that its somehow all about him.

To Do list: Quilt Photo Shoot.

Check.

Sneak Preview!

I finally finished a summer quilt! More details to come!

University of Chicago Tour

I don't usually mention business stuff here on the blog, but as I look through my photos of the Chicago trip, I'm so struck by how beautiful the U of Chicago campus photos are. Really.

Does this remind you of Harry Potter movies?

I went down there to do a tour and info session while in Chicago and K came with me because he wasn't sure the area was safe (but turns out it was). We were both so struck by the pretty campus, beautiful, gothic, grays & greens.

This was in a stone floor that people walk over all the time.

Ivy too. So just for kicks, before I move on to something else, I just thought that I would share a few photos for my tour. Because they're too cool to keep to myself.

Ivy crawling everywhere

Another college counselor that is in my network had visited Chicago about two weeks before I did, and he had toured Northwestern, DePaul, and Chicago. But I had already toured Northwestern about 6 years ago, so this time I was headed only to U of Chicago. When I returned, we compared our impressions by email which was interesting.

Lots of detailed doorways, arches, and gates

When I tour campuses I try to keep an open mind, observe as much as I can, and listen for what is said and isn't said.

We were watched from the tops of several buildings.

I always meet interesting people when I do tours, and usually someone asks, "Where are you from?". And they can't believe it when I say "Montana". Like they're surprised we actually leave the state.

Grizzly Bar in Montana and a day along the Rosebud River

For Memorial Day weekend, we loaded up the Tahoe and drove K's parents up to Absorkee area for a day trip. It's nice to get out of town and to the mountains when the good weather finally hits.

They used to have a cabin up there along the Rosebud River and when our sons were young, we would take them up to the cabin for an overnight trip. Sometimes more little cousins would come and tent it in the backyard to the sounds of the nearby river. Good times. We walked in to the property and talked to the neighbor for a bit.

A little further up the road we stopped at the Grizzly Bar in Roscoe, Montana for some lunch. This restaurant is pretty famous around this area, known for beef, and is a particularly popular watering hole for the Harley Davidson crowd. The weekend that we were here, the Harleys were lined up side-by-side in the parking lot outside - it's a nice day ride from Billings for them. It's a very small-town Montana kind of place.

We found a public fishing access up by Fishtail, Montana and sat in a grassy area beside the river for awhile. We'd brought lawn chairs, coffee in a thermos and cookies, and I had my Kindle. Unfortunately, the guys had forgotten to bring my father-in-law's fishing pole and he was eager to throw in a line. But it was a refreshing place to spend a couple of hours.

Memorial Day at Absorkee, Montana cemetery with view of the Beartooth Mountains in the distance.