August Inside and Out

I'm crying inside. Crying for Houston's worst flood ever, crying for summer's end, but smiling looking back at our awesome August. Between the big adventures (Hiawatha and solar eclipse), we filled up our time with lots of fun pursuits, like meeting cousins at Craters of the Moon. My Colorado cousin Cynthia and her family were passing through nearby, so we met there to explore the lava tubes. Another good use from the headlamps!

Unfortunately, Owen was wearing the same shoes he wore in Hiawatha tunnels, which meant he had to stay outside the caves. (Apparently there is a fungus that can be spread cave to cave on clothing/gear within a 12-year window that kills bats! Note to self to wear different clothes next time.)

Second cousins Hadley and Reilly became fast friends and avid cave explorers, especially in the Buffalo Cave loop.

Craters is still a pretty neat place, but as expected, it is hot in August! Even more so when it's recommended to wear pants and jackets in the caves.

We finished off their visit with a stop at the dairy for some delicious, cold ice cream after our hot day of hiking. We managed to make it just as some antsy cows were going to the milking barn. This parade was happily moo-ving!

Another minor adventure was boating with friends. It was the kids' first time to go boating, and they both loved it! And already asked us to get a boat... Hadley was pretty fearless and eager to try anything. Owen was a bit more cautious and would wait until others had shown him that they wouldn't get hurt doing it. Our friends had lots of fun floats, tubes, and knee/wakeboards to try. It was tons of fun!

Some days were so hot that we sought indoor diversions. This place had fun inflatables like bubble battles and jumping across bouncy islands.

Kids got free bowling from the library summer reading program, and they were both eager to go use their credit. Owen was less than enthused when he lost both games to his little sister! But check out her winning form! 

We also went back to the new KidsTown, which is always good for a couple of hours' stretch of the imagination muscles.

I think the kids went to the climbing gym three times this summer, which makes them better climbers than I ever was at their ages. Now we know we have options for the long winter.

And I always try to encourage them to soak up the warmth outside while we've got it! They used some more library freebies for rides at Funland on a cloudy day.

More fun was had at the city's Roaring Youth Jam.

We toured the playgrounds, parks, and pathways around town.

And Owen started another season of flag football! One game down already and he played quarterback (in black below), made some pretty fast cross-field flag pulls on defense, and scored the team's only touchdown. Sometimes he even says he wants to be a football player when he grows up! Dream big, kid!

What a summer! But my favorites are moments like this:

Total Eclipse

The total solar eclipse was the most spectacular thing I think I have ever witnessed. It definitely surpassed my expectations! We tried out the eclipse glasses and box viewer as it was starting, and pretty much threw the box away. The glasses were way better!

Then we headed to a friend's house close by for an eclipse BBQ. What a cool thing to experience with friends! A crafty mom made these plate headbands to keep glasses on the kids. Kinda funny looking, but they worked!

 Everyone was counting down the final minutes until totality.

And the grown-ups had a local, special brew to celebrate the occasion, too.

I only had my iPhone, so I couldn't get any really great pictures of the eclipse itself, but this one gives you an idea of darkness settling in for two minutes just before noon. It was so eerily quiet that we could hear other neighbors cheering as the lights dimmed and stars came out. I didn't expect it to get so cold either (I had to get a blanket from the car in August!), but it definitely gave me a new appreciation for the sun and its light and warmth! So grateful we had a clear day, too. If you look closely, you can see the dark spot in the middle of the sun, which is the moon. During totality, we had to take off our glasses to actually see the eclipse, and it was like something out of a sci-fi movie. So indescribably beautiful!

This shot was taken by a friend with a fancy camera and lens filter. Isn't it incredible? You can even see solar flares at 1 and 3 o'clock. What an amazing world we live in! Watch out 2024, we might just travel for another one.

Hiawatha Trail

We braved smoky southwestern Montana to check out the Hiawatha Trail with some friends last weekend. We had 16 people total: 4 of those in trailers/tag-a-longs (we felt Hadley could probably have done half easily, but didn't want to deal with the extra bike when she got tired, so she was in a trailer), 4 junior bikers, and 8 adult bikers. It was a little challenging to keep all of those bikers together along the 15-mile descending trail, but it was pretty fun, even in small groups, and everyone did great. Even Owen's bff Carson and his family came over to meet us there!

This was the start of the trail - straight into the 1.6-mile tunnel! It was so dark and cold (about 40 degrees) in there, that headlamps were required to see where you were going. The kids said it was spooky, but they were also howling like wolves, which was pretty funny in its echoes and free-spiritedness. We went through 10 tunnels, but but most were pretty short.

Since it was an old railway, there were not only tunnels, but trestles as well (7 in all). The views were supposed to be even more stunning on a clear day, but the local wildfires prevented us from seeing much. It smelled faintly smoky, but it wasn't too bad for breathing, at least.

Some views of the trail between the tunnels and trestles.

We had lots of chubby chipmunks come out from the woods during our lunch stop.

And we made it - 15 miles! A little saddle-sore and covered in a fine layer of dirt and mud splatters, but not too tired, surprisingly. I guess that's the advantage to an all downhill trail.

But we were definitely glad to be done! So proud of him for biking the whole thing!

The kids were excited to be taking the shuttle back to the top! It actually dropped us off at the first 1.6 mile-long tunnel, so we got to do that one twice.

Here we are making the last couple of miles back to the car, through the tunnel. It was a lovely place and probably worth a return trip in a few years (when we can all bike sans trailers) on a clear day!

Aldous and Hancock Lake Hike

Last weekend, we joined some friends for a hike about 2 hours NE of town. I think we missed a turn because we had to open/close at least 6 gates, 2 of which were labeled as 'no trespassing', but we ventured on through the tire tracks until we reached the gravel forest service road. Phew!

And we finally made it with no major snafus! (Just don't tell anyone about the sage grouse that may have exploded under our car on the highway.) Interesting to note that the lake trail is also part of the Continental Divide Trail.

There was plenty of shade on the hike, and it was near a creek most of the way, so it was quite pleasant. There were several sections of boardwalk over greenery or tiny trickles of water. Unfortunately, we discovered many bug bites when we got home. I guess that's the trade-off for shade. Next time, we'll remember to pack our bug spray. Shows how spoiled we are with our unfamiliarity with bugs up here.

Aldous Lake was a little scummy for my taste, but there were a few groups that passed us wearing life jackets and going for a swim. It was about 1.3 miles in to the first lake, so that must be the reward for them!

Once we started to the next lake (a mile further and no other travelers), we noticed a bunch of huckleberries by the trailside. This became a new motivator for our traveling companions and Hadley, our resident berry-lover.

The wildflowers were also on full display in the mountain meadows. The picture below really doesn't do it justice, but there were probably a dozen different kinds of flowers all vibrant and delicate and thriving in their little patch of sun. I felt like I was channeling my dad who used to bore us with his many pictures of wildflowers on family trips!

Hancock Lake was very serene and untouched. We were the only people there after a steep and rocky mile hike to get there. We all took off our hiking shoes and dipped our toes in the cool water. It was perfect until someone said they saw leeches! And then we noted the time. Time to go!

It seems like after a steep, uphill hike, a return trip down would be a welcome change. But, hiking down is actually more treacherous, especially for little feet. This young lady must have fallen down ten times on the hike back, but she kept picking herself up with an "I'm okay" and moving on! Owen and Dad were the trailblazers in front, our friends were berry-picking in the middle, and Hadley and I brought up the rear. We also took turns hiding up the trail and scaring the rest of the group as they approached on the way back, which made the repeat scenery a little more interesting. It was supposed to be a 4.3-mile hike roundtrip, but our step trackers reported closer to 6. So proud of our little hikers!