Heaven...aka The North Fork

I was lucky enough to get to take a week vacation to Montana. My family has some property that my Great Great Grandparents Homesteaded in North Western Montana. It happens to be right next to Glacier National Park. I Love it there! That place is heaven to me. Not only is it neat because of all the history behind it... but It is the most beautiful foresty area I have ever seen.

Anyways, Mike and I went up Saturday. Mike ran the Farmington Half Marathon in the morning... then we headed out about noon. We went as far as Missoula, MT and stayed in a motel that night. The next morning we left by 7 am and headed the rest of the way up to the North Fork. It is about a 12 hr drive all combined. There was a decent amount of family up there. Jenny, Roger, their kids, and Rogers Mom were up there. My parents were also there. Shelley and her kids, Linda, Dave, and their kids, as well as Kari and her kids. Plus my grandma was up there for a couple days. I would say total we had about 12 adults and 11 kids up there for a couple days. Jenny and Roger then went home, followed by Kari a couple days later. My parents were next to go... and Mike and I, and Dave and Linda stayed. It was pretty chaotic, but oh so fun!

So I am going to try to recap the days... if I can remember.

Day 1 - Sunday

We got up the North Fork at about noon. We got Lily all settled in his big cage... and let him soak up some sunshine for a few hours. We played in the creek with our remote control boats and Kari's submarine for a little while. Me, Mike, Dave, and Kari also did some fishing. We didn't have any luck. Although I was lucky enough to witness Dave sliding down the hillside trying to catch the contents of his tackle box which was also rolling down the hill. It was hilarious! I guess earlier that day Dave was knocking over litte trees and managed to fall down the side of the mountain there. Jenny caught that on camera but I didn't get to witness it. Then we had a little Birthday thing celebrating all of the birthdays in the month of July... which is Kari (9th), Hannah (14th), Dad (22nd), and Linda (30th, or 31st.. sorry Linda). This was the last night Jenny and Roger were there. They had come up the week before us. They went to town the next day to relax before heading home on Tuesday. So that night we stayed up and hung out at the fire. I am a chicken so I kept shinning my flashlight every which way making sure no bears or other animals were sneaking up on us. Oh and we also did fireworks that night. The ones that shoot into the sky are not illegal in Montana so we had lots of fun.

We had Brownies, Peach Cobbler, and per Hannah's request... and Cheese Ball cake which was basically Cheese ball in a cake pan with Happy birthday written in nuts.

Everyone Gathered around the deserts. My new favorite thing to do is try to focus on something and have everything in the background kind of blurred. Hence why the big flower is in the middle of the picture.

Day 2 -Monday

It rained all day long! Mike and I went nuts! It wasn't long before we got cabin fever. Mike had managed to get out and go for a jog that morning before all the rain started. I was scared for him because we were in Bear Country. My parents, Kari, and Shelly all went into town for awhile, and Jenny and Roger also went to town to spend the night before heading home. I managed to get a lot of reading done, and also played a few games with the kids.

Molly ran to greet Mike as he jogged back to the cabin

Day 3 - Tuesday

We floated the river in the morning. It was Mike and I, Kari, and Dave. We didn't catch a single fish because it was overcast (that was our excuse anyways). I also managed to cast out right into a tree. It ended up breaking the reel on my pole so Dave had to fix it for me the following day. I ended up losing a perfectly good hook as well. Mike and I then went into Apgar Villiage in Glacier and had lunch and did some shopping. It was Hannah's birthday and I had yet to get her a present. We also had to have Huckleberry Ice Cream Cones while there. That is a tradition. That night we ended up having another birthday deal for Hannah with another cake (a normal cake, not cheese ball this time).

Day 3 - Wednesday

We managed to get a couple river floats in that day. Mike caught a pretty big fish. It was funny because Lizzy loves to gut fish so Mike convinced her to gut his fish since she was gutting Dave's fish as well. Anyways, she went to rinse it off in the creek after gutting it when she dropped it. It ended up getting caught in the current and going down the hill into the slue. Mike hiked down to the bottom and worked his way up looking for his fish. He was NOT going to let his fish get away. It took him a little while but he found it about half way down, stuck in between rocks. That night Linda made us a nice big meal of Fried Chicken, Potatoes, and Gravy (my favorite meal ever). Mike and I also got to take a nice little four wheeler ride to Teepee Lake. It is a small little lake and in a pretty area... but it is full of leaches... so no one ever plays there.

Mike and his huge grin after retrieving his fish. It is hard to see, but he is holding it up for all to see.

Day 4 - Thursday
We did a float from the Canadian Border down to Ford Ranger Station. That ends up being about a 4 hr float. It was Mike and I, Dave, and my Dad who did that float. I managed to catch three big fish and countless babies which we threw back. It was a good trip. We ended up having fish for dinner that night since we had so many to eat. I hate fish... so I ate a hamburger foil dinner instead. After Dinner my parents and Shelley headed to town before leaving the next morning for home. That left just Linda Dave, and their kids... and Mike and I. It was a rather quiet night.

Day 5 - Friday

We jumped in Linda's van with them and headed to Glacier Park again. This time we went to Bowman Lake. The road getting up to the lake is narrow and windy and made me a little car sick. We hung out at the lake for a little while. Linda and I brought our remote control boats and played for a little while. It was fun. Linda smacked into my boat so hard that Tinkerbell fell off the front and fell into the lake. Dave was nice enough to wade in and get Tinkerbell out of the lake for me. Matthew loves playing in water so he was sitting on the shore with his little feet in the water. He kept grabbing handfuls of rocks and trying to eat them. It was all we could do to keep them out of his mouth. He was cute playing in the water though.

After Bowman Lake, we went Columbia Falls. We visited the House of Mystery which all my family has been to but me. I guess it is a vortex which does some weird gravitational things and paranormal things. The tour guide we had was not very good. He sounded like he was just speaking a memorized script. I wasn't that impressed. I think it was too commercialized. I would have loved to go and experimented with things without there being a crooked cabin in my way and other stuff. I do believe in vortexes and the energy they create... but some of the things they had there were too much like a gimmick. Anyways I was impressed with the ways the trees grew crooked in a clock wise manner around the vortex.

We then went back to Apgar and did some shopping while Mike and Dave went fishing. I was able to buy a book I wanted about a guy who settled in Montana in the mid 1800's. I am excited to read it. Linda bought the book that my great Grandma and Great Great Grandparents are in. I already have a copy of that book. We once again got Huckleberry Ice Cream and then headed back to the cabin. We then spent the rest of the night on cleaning duty since we were the last ones leaving. The rule is to leave the cabin cleaner than you found it. Sadly enough, neither Linda and Dave, nor Mike and I were the firsts to arrive so it was hard to know how clean it was before hand... or what stuff was left up there on accident versus what was already up there. We managed to get it done though.

Mine and Linda's boats in Bowman Lake

Day 6 - Saturday

We got up at 4 am and got everything loaded in the car and headed out. Mike and I got to see a bear. It was a brown bear that crossed the road in front of us. It didn't seem to care that we were there watching it. Anyways I was too slow on the draw and didn't get any pictures. I was excited to see a bear. Linda and Dave had been driving just a little ways ahead of us and missed the bear. It was probably on the shoulder of the road when they passed... and probably wasn't too noticeable.

The drive home was not very eventful. We managed to get home at about 5:30 pm. It was nice to get home and get everything all unpacked. I am glad we came home Saturday because it gave us an extra day of relaxation before heading back to work tomorrow.

I think that was about it for our trip. It was a very fun trip... and very enjoyable. It sucks I wont get to go back for a whole year. Hopefully time will go by fast.