Summer evenings

This kid is SO DARLING. From the pictures I've seen, he looks a lot like Ryan did as a kid. This is me crossing my fingers that our kids are this cute!

Cousins with their "old lady sticks." [:

 The next four photos come courtesy of various kiddos. [:

Blogger is doing its weird airbrushing thing again...

We were thrilled to have Amy and her kids in Utah for a few days before Ryan & I headed to Montana. Since Ryan's parents just recently moved from Ketchikan to the Salt Lake area, we've gotten to spend a lot more time with his side of the family. It's AWESOME. I love being an aunt to these adorable little people. 

Glacier National Park: Day 1

At this time one week ago we were haulin' the heck out of Utah in a rental car, trying to beat traffic as we started the 10-hour drive to Kallispell, Montana to stay with Ryan's uncle & aunt. The drive was ridiculously long but we took comfort in the fact that a) we weren't putting those 1,400 miles on Don Carlos, and b) that we were in a car that got much better mileage than him. We arrived in the wee hours of the morning and were thankful to crash in a comfortable bed, even if it was only for six hours. My family came in a couple hours after us.

The next morning it was off to Glacier National Park with Uncle Bill as our enthusiastic tour guide. Bill is awesome. He is so wonderful and kind and in love with life. He also is probably one of the most hilarious people I've ever hung out with. From "Shoot low, they're riding Shetlands," to "What's the deal, ferris wheel?!?!" to "He-LLO!!" he had us all laughing while he showed us around the park.

 The day started out with a quick stop at Lake McDonald, which was absolutely stunning.

 Rain fell on and off throughout the day, which deterred a lot of visitors to our delight! We loved the peace and quiet.

Skipping rocks.

Because of the rainy weather, Bill took us to the more "touristy" locations that would normally be full during sunnier days, i.e. the easy stuff that everyone and their mother can do. First was Avalanche Gorge, which I highly recommend. It's an easy peasy walk through an incredible cedar forest, with extremely rewarding views. Sneaky Bill even took us to his secret shooting sites, but anyone could see that this place was absolutely unreal from every viewpoint. 

 Seriously a fairytale land.

 Then we took the Going to the Sun road up, up, up into the real-deal glacial stuff. IT WAS AMAZING. Glacial valleys, hanging valleys, waterfalls, glacial striations, truncated spurs, aretes, horns, and cirques EVERYWHERE. This park is a geologist's dream. You can't help but let your jaw hit the floor. The views were unbelievable. But due to the rain, I got better pictures on the other days. They'll come later.

 We went up into Logan Pass and hung around the visitor's center for awhile (holy crowded. Everyone was trying to get out of the rain.), then drove down into the eastern side of the park and did the St. Mary/Virginia Falls hike, another one that I'd recommend to anyone. Pretty short, hardly any elevation gain, and several beautiful falls along the trail. It's also a fairly active location for bears! We barely missed seeing two black bears, according to several groups we passed on the way in.

St. Mary Falls

Virginia Falls

With some of the lightweight stuff out of the way, we were so so ready for the better weather that was headed our way and the longer hikes that would come with it!

Glacier National Park: Day 2

The next morning we allowed ourselves to sleep in a little bit to catch up from the previous night of driving. [: Which was GREAT. Then it was back into the van and back to beautiful Glacier. 

Happy Glacier faces

 There were still some clouds on the west side, but they made for beautiful pictures as we got up high.

Seriously. Unbelievably beautiful. Earth is so awesome! Thank you, glaciers.

Lil' mountain goat up at Logan Pass.

Shadowfax the space shuttle and I. This van... he's the best. He was my car in high school. If you're looking for the greatest party van ever, do yourself a favor and go buy yourself a Mercedes Sprinter. Plus you become famous among your neighborhood/high school/cross country team/church/everywhere because everyone knows it's you when they see it. Yeah, you're welcome.

 We passed St. Mary Lake, went out of the park, drove north, went back into the park, and headed to the Many Glacier region. Iceberg Lake was our destination, a 10-mile round trip hike. As far as we Krops were concerned, that's definitely a bit more like it. We were stoked about the hike, and we weren't disappointed.

Not 2 miles in we saw a bear chillin' in a meadow. He was pretty awesome.

 We caught the end of the spring wildflowers, and they were gorgeous. Self-heal on the left and beargrass on the right.

 The trail took us in and out of spruce forests, with absolutely incredible views of glacial valleys and spurs when we were out in the open.

There were avalanche paths criss-crossing the trail the whole time. Having worked with avalanche-damaged trees for my job in the BYU dendrochronology lab, I had to take some pictures. [:

Columbian ground squirrel. They are adorable.

 The lake was stunning. The turquoise water was surrounded by a huge cirque wall that towered over us like a castle. Yellow glacier lilies filled every meadow. It was heaven. We ate our classic backpacking lunch (sliced summer sausage, cucumber, cheese, and crackers) in a meadow and soaked up the sunshine.

PS at this lake we almost got run down by a buck chasing a doe. It was life-and-death, people.

My cute mom & dad. I'm so lucky to have been raised by such healthy, active, outdoorsy parents.

Gorgeous little meadow pond near the lake.

 I'd highly recommend this hike to those who are up to the task of 10 miles. There's really not much elevation gain, and the scenery makes the miles pass quickly. Totally one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on.