The LONG push home!! (Day 11)

Yesterday we traversed the entire state of Montana! Uff da! We drove till midnight and found a decently priced hotel on the eastern side. I don't even remember what town it was. Selena was suddenly homesick and Xavier was ready for us to return. And... I've had enough of driving in the mountains! I have to admit it was quite nice to see the flat lands of North Dakota. Again, we drove most of the day and arrived home fairly early, about 6 p.m. Now it's time to clean out everything but it's always nice to return home!

Leaving Glacier National Park (Day 10)

Last night we built a nice fire and had leftover spaghetti for supper. There were no bugs (yet) but it got cold. We were fairly warm in our sleeping bags but our feet were cold. This morning I made oatmeal and 2 local chipmunks decided that they wanted to eat some with us. One scampered up my pant leg and sat on my knee. I was shocked and didn't know what to do! All of the signs around here say, "All of the animals are wild and dangerous, don't feed."
Our campsite was right by the river and there were at least 4 other tents. It was no nice not to have to see or listen to RV's or campers. Everyone was so quiet that we almost felt like whispering!

We broke camp and headed toward the east side of the park. Before leaving we wanted to see what the other side looked like. The roads were closed inside the park so we had to go around it on the south side.
The east side is of higher elevation and one gets the sense of scarcer trees and more peaks and snow.
Selena liked the west side better. I have vague memories of coming here when I was a kid.
The air is very cool still but there are signs of summer coming.

Hiking in Glacier Park

There are many trails in Glacier National Park and we hiked in ALL of the ones that were open this early in the year. We guess that this hollow in this tree would be a good hiding place for hide and seek. Of course, I had to get inside right away. Selena wasn't so anxious to do so. She's always much more cautious than me!
This trail followed the river. The water is so incredibly clean that you can see right to the bottom. It makes you realize how much we have polluted this planet. None of the lakes that we visit in Minnesota are this clean by any measure.

We took advantage of our "bear fear" to talk about anything that came into our heads, even the most meaningless chatter. I was chattering away and another hiker came up behind me and scared me to death. She said, "I'm not a bear!" I said, "No, I didn't think you were dressed in that yellow outfit."

Some of these trees are at least 500 years old. This is one of the oldest tree stands in the park. Most have been burned or flooded, as is the natural progression of things.
More hiking and enjoying the park.

Towards Glacier National Park (Day 9)

Again we crossed Idaho and headed north to Glacier National Park which is on the northwest side of the huge state of Montana. We entered the park from the west side.Many of the roads campsites up into the mountains are still closed but we were fortunate to find camping in one of two campsites.
We were warned right away (as anyone entering the park) that we are in Grizzly country and there are no guarantees about safety. Yikes! Whenever hiking we must make noise (especially when coming around corners or approaching a hidden area) and let any animals know that we are present. Bears will usually stay away unless surprised or threatened.
It's definitely worth the extra drive, what a beautiful place!
We might stay two nights but haven't decided for sure one way or the other.

KOA in Spokane, WA (Day 8)

Selena is so tired of me taking pictures of her that she can hardly stand it!! She's a good sport (most of the time) and she's so lovely I can't help it. This photo was taken this morning before we left Mt. Rainier. I boiled a half bag of potatoes and we had mashed potatoes and butter. It was a good breakfast.
We took the road north towards the east side of the park to see if we could see the Mount. Unfortunately, the roads were closed after about 6 miles and we had to turn around! White knuckle time for Ahna, until I started to get my "mountain driving legs" back again. I'm O.k. if there are guard rails along the road, but this road had no railings, the road was skinny with hardly any shoulder on it! Whew! Anyway, it was beautiful even if it did make me a little nervous!
Notice any bugs on the windshield?? Some were quite juicy.

Later this evening we arrived in Spokane, WA and found a KOA campground. We're hoping to get some more sleep tonight and depending on the fact that it's going to be warmer than up in the mountains.



Supper is leftover potatoes fried with onions, tomatoes (from the Farmer's Market in Vancouver) and garlic. It was pretty good. Now that's a camping supper! Everything tastes better cooked outside.

A shot of our campground for the night. It's quite typical; lots of RV's, some campers and hardly any tents. Tomorrow it's on to Idaho.

A Day at Mt. Rainier (Day 7)

The conference ended on Sunday afternoon. It was a terrific experience and we were certainly re-energized by being with great people and seeing all the calm and happy kids. The talent show on Saturday night was absolutely terrific; everyone was free to perform ANYTHING that they wanted to share. There were 5 year old supermen , tiny tots performing "Twinkle, Twinkle" and a great Hawaian dance by a "Mom". It was great! Oh, yeah, there was also a tribute to bald men! Anyway, we left in the afternoon and arrived t Mt. Rainier in time to set up the tent and go on a short hike along the river (?) We had a campsite right by the river and it was really the most beautiful site that we have had so far. The river had falls and rapids, so it was also a very noisy place. The trees are gigantic and reach to the sky. It is a very rainy, moist place so there is moss and other lichens growing everything... on rocks, on trees... We also saw some adorable, gigantic slugs that we were fascinated with. Unfortunately my camera ran out of batteries so I didn't get a photo of any slugs.

It got really cold that night and neither one of us slept very well. In the morning we went on a 2 hour hike. At first we were a little alarmed to find out that there are mountain lions in this region, but we took the information and put the fear behind us. It was a very nice hike and the forest still had a lot of snow around. We also crossed more than a few bridges over the river. Now, it's on through Washington towards Glacier National Park.

Market Day in Portland and Sash the street performer... (Day 6)

This morning we went to the Market Place in Portland, OR (just across the river) where they have artisans of all sorts selling their wares. Music, food and art. I ate an "authentic" Mexican taco, YUM, and we had some great coffee. The highlight of the morning was entertainment by street performer, Sash, who swallowed his knife while juggling and escaped from a strait-jacket entwined in chains all with a sardonic sense of humor (using an eastern european accent.)
"SASH" (I wonder if the accent was part of the act!)
After returning from the Portland market we walked to the Farmer's Market in Vancouver. The public park here is fantastically green. I'm enthralled by these huge pines! I know it rains a lot here but, geez, it's so wonderfully green and lush. Anyway, we enjoyed bought 5 pounds of tomatoes for the trip back. (We have to start thinking about that, now!) We've been enjoying the conference discussions, panels and lectures but now I think we're ready to head on to something different.

Life Is Good Conference (Day 4-5)

We arrived in Vancouver, WA on Thursday morning after a full day and half of traveling through Montana, Idaho and Washington. What a relief it was to find the hotel and start to meet other unschoolers from the northwest and beyond. It's really nice to hang around with other like-minded people, but it is also reinvigorating to share experiences; one doesn't feel so alone.Selena spends some moments in our hotel room re-connecting on the internet.
This is the view from our hotel. Portland, Oregon is on the other side.
This evening Selena and I ate at the hotel restaurant. I had calamari and Selena had a salad. Tomorrow there are more presentations and panels so i won't have much time for blogs. I'll try to get more photos tomorrow of the goings-on around here.
p.s. last night we watched the movie, "Astronaut Farmer" with Billy Bob Thornton on HBO. It's 3 thumbs down from both of us. YuK! What a dumb movie and what a waste of time.

To Yellowstone Park (Day 2)

Selena and I left our campsite in eastern Montana and made our way southwest and then south to Yellowstone Park. We decided to venture south into Wyoming to visit the park and see Old Faithful before going on towards our final destination: Vancouver, WA. One of the rest stops along the way was in the "Crazy Mountains" of Montana in Custer County.
The approach to a mountain range is always impressive and promises the feelings of awe and wonder. The mountains seem to rise out of nowhere. Here we were approaching the mountains of western and southern Montana. Driving in mountains always makes me a bit nervous and I DO suffer from some fear of heights.

Even though I'm a bit nervous I try to enjoy the feelings of awe and expectations of nature.

Photos fail to capture the beautiful sights. We had a GREAT time making our way down to see Old Faithful. Selena read out loud the most common myths about the Geyser. One myth is that it spews water at the same time everyday (actually, it averages a burst every 90 minutes).
We walked around the hot springs area and saw many mini-geysers.
These are incredible mineral deposits brought up from below the surface through the hot springs.
Of the wildlife we saw, here is an elk.
The buffalo had many calves. I don't have many good photos but the calves here were very curious about us whereas the adults were accustomed to human presence. The calves watched us and made little grunting noises as if asking their parents about us.
Like other babies, these calves ran around kicking their hooves in the air.
Not a good photo, but this buffalo was right next to our car on the passenger side, which made Selena a little nervous.
Finally we arrived at Old Faithful right before it spewed! There were hundreds of people waiting around for the event. It was REALLY awesome and a sight worth seeing. (See the webcam at: http://www.nps.gov/archive/yell/OldFaithfulcam.htm
If you had been watching this website on Tuesday around 6 p.m. you would have seen us online!
What a spectacle! Afterward we took a hike around the area until it started to rain. At that point we decided to return to our campsite that we had set up in Yellowstone Park. Tomorrow we have a long day ahead of us through Montana, through Idaho and as far into Washington as we can get.

Our Trip to LIFE IS GOOD conference (Day 1)

This morning at 4:30 a.m. Selena and I quietly did our last minute packing, drank our essential coffee and started out on our trip to Washington state. We are attending the northwest Life is Good conference for unschoolers. http://www.lifeisgoodconference.com/register.htm? We are so excited to meet other unschoolers as well as to see another slice of the country. Unfortunately Xavier had an important classical guitar masterclass the same weekend, so he stayed home to take care of the dogs and other animals.
Well, we rolled out of the driveway at 5:30 and traveled northwest until we got to Fargo, North Dakota where we had some coffee and a friendly chat with some people at the welcome center. Oh, no, I still have a hat on!! It was SO windy and cold but it warmed up as the day went on.
NORTH DAKOTA... need I say more.

In the car we listened to Podcasts, the music to "Wicked" and Selena read the book "Wicked". She's enjoying her free time now that classes are over. We had lunch at a Visitor Center in North Dakota. Selena made sandwiches last night so we ate them for lunch.

We finally made it to Montana and drove for a couple hours before finding a campsite in Miles City. We are right now sitting in front of a fire and thinking about getting in to our sleeping bags.


Hasta manana! Tomorrow we make our way across the HUGE state of Montana.