The Road Back Home

The long, hot, bumpy, dusty road back home isn't so bad when the views are like this.  The road between Glacier National Park and our house includes this remote pass over the mountains and it drops us right at our driveway down on the other side.  The first time we took this route we ended up with not one, but TWO flat tires.  C wears a dust mask almost the entire way due to the dust kicked up from the road and what it does for his allergies.  You don't see too many people from out of state driving back here.

It's nearly impossible, in the middle of winter, to remember just how sweet summer really is.  It's seems almost a dream, even now while in the midst of it.  Seriously, sometimes I forget that I live in other people's vacationland.  I still find myself amazed that all of this is, essentially, right outside the door.   

I know it doesn't look it, but it was 95+ degrees fahrenheit so we took many, many stops along the way to swim in the river, in Polebridge for a sit in the shade with a cold drink and the famously good and intensely sweet pastries, to pick a handful of wild raspberries, the first of the season's huckleberries, and wildflowers, and to just plain soak in the views,

R missed out on most of the views, instead keeping his nose buried in his book in his attempt to read through book 6 before HP and the Deathly Hallows comes out.  I don't know how he manages to not get carsick but he did indeed finish, with several days to spare.  He's officially bypassed me by three books over the past couple of months.  We pretty well sleep, eat, drink, and breath Harry Potter these days, getting play-by-play versions of nearly every detail throughout the day. 

The alternate weekend plan that we opted out of were free tickets offered to us by one of C's clients for the first showing of the 5th movie in Calgary, smack in the middle of the Stampede.  It would have been so much fun in an entirely different kind of way, but, no thanks, I wouldn't trade the weekend we had for anything.  Likely, I would have ended up sitting in the lobby of the movie theater with a frightened out of his mind four year old.

 

Comments

[Hege]

As always - wonderful pictures! The view you had is beauyiful.

[Ava]

I would never knit anything just looking at the scenery! Lovely photos as always!

[marti]

i am glad you had such a great weekend and thank you very much for sharing your photos! i think that you made the right call on the movie, it was almost too much for my 9 year old.

[Kathryn]

Aaaah. I can smell the mountain air just by looking at your pictures. Wish we had rivers and streams to swim in here in Alabama. Well, we have them, but the snakes tend to like to cool off in them, too!

[Katherine]

Very beautiful. So peaceful looking. I can easily see why you love where you live. Thanks for sharing your photos.

[Charity]

Mmmm, my children just brought me our first raspberries last night - wonderful! It sounds like the perfect time away - and I know what you mean about Calgary. I avoid Stampede week completely! :0)

[mrspao]

How beautiful! I love your photos.

[Melanie]

Beautiful pictures! We are steeped in Harry Potter these days as well.

[Amber]

What beautiful shots. I remember that area around Glacier and it's so breathtaking. I loved Whitefish and the little towns around there.

Funny, we drove home today from a trip to my mom's and my son was doing the same thing in the backseat---reading the time away... I would be SOOO carsick if I did that!

[annamaren]

Oh me, that first photo is so beautiful. I think I see Heidi and some goats! : )
Seriously, the photo is so beautiful, it's almost like a little vacation all by itself!

[Jennifer]

Great pictures. I feel like I went on this car ride, too. I can almost feel the fresh air filling my lungs. Love the HP read-a-marathon. It's all we're doing around our house, too. We just saw the movie and are listening to the book-on-tape while eagerly awaiting the newest book to arrive.

[Heidi]

Catching up on lots of blog reading: I love your travel photos--everything is always so green and beautiful! That goldenrod meadow makes me think of getting out my dyepot! Wish that stuff grew wild here... It also makes me realize I need to get out of the city much more often than I do.

Also, I'm loving reading your quilt history posts--beautiful stories of a well-lived life.

[Lisa]

SO BEAUTIFUL!!!!! Can I come pitch a tent in your backyard for a week? I see your pictures and look outside at the San Diego (Desert Scrub) and I am so envious. And, by the way, you really have a GREAT eye - thanks for all of the pictures!

[suse]

Yes, my 13 year old and 11 year old have seen the new HP but we're keeping the 8 year old away until he's older.

Your scenery is amazing. Have you ever thought of houseswapping as a way of affordable holidays? Your house would be hot property! (D'you fancy a holiday to another hilltop house in Australia perhaps?? ;)