Montana adventure Labor Day 2010

Well what do you know. I actually got some photos done.
You might be wondering what the big deal is.
Well let me just say I started at 7:15 and it's now 8:40. I just got done loading all the photos onto blogger. Because my photos are rather large, I can only upload 2-3 at a time.

On Labor Day weekend I went to Montana with Torkie to visit my mom.
It was my first trip this long with just me driving. I felt very confident though.
It ended up only taking me about 11 hours on the way there, with very little stops. Mostly just gas.
I got great gas mileage too. One tank I got 30 mpg, which for a sporty car like mine is really great. I arrived around 6:30pm mountain time.

The day I left I woke up pretty early. My moms outdoor thermometer read 36º. Brrrrr! My doors were almost frozen shut!
I made it home in 9 hours! I don't really understand how, but I did. It was amazing.

Photos from the weekend:

Our first day consisted of heading out to Virginia City to poke around. It's an old town with a lot of historic buildings.

Some famous road agents were hung and buried above Virginia City on what is known as boot hill.

It's a little hard to see, but this is miniature and says "rodent agents". Hahaha.

Grave markers of the road agents

On Monday we went to Yellowstone National park. I was happy to get a chance to go there again. I've been there more times than I can count, but it never gets old.

Torkie got to come along. He had a nice time even if it was a bit chilly.

Up at the Mt. Washburn overlook.

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone(yes it's really called that). So awesome.

Our first animal sighting. Bison meandering along.

Then we came upon a whole herd.

Silly looking baby bison.

One of the geothermal spots.

Lake Yellowstone... which is huge.

Torkie and me at the continental divide. This is an invisible line that naturally determines which ocean any water flows towards.

My mom and Torkie. They love each other.

Amazing sunset in the Paradise Valley on our way home from Yellowstone.

At 5:30 am, I was travelling west on I-90 probably about 45 min from Livingston. The sun was following me home.
This is the most amazing sunrise I've ever seen. I had to pull over on the side of the highway, dig out my camera and take some pictures. I did NOT touch up these two photos.

The sky was on fire.

It's 9:08pm and now I'm finished. :)

Back home and tagged!

Well I made it to Montana and back with NO problems.
The drive there was about 11 hours. Had a great couple days with my mom.
The drive back was some how only 9 hours. I made great time.
More on this later though...

Little fuzzy guy napping on the way to Montana. Which he did pretty much the whole time.

Ashley over at My Carnival Ride tagged me in a Q & A game. I feel honored! :)

Here are the questions she picked:

1. If you could pick any decade to have grown up in, which would you choose?
Hmm.... That's a hard one for me. I love the simplicity of the older decades, but they had their problems. I would love to experience the 30's and 40's and the pioneer times in the wild west. :)

2. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I was very interested in being a marine mammal biologist. I loved whales and dolphins.

3. If you had to change your name, what would you change it to?
Yikes. I don't know. I don't like a lot of girl names very much. I'll keep mine for now. :)

4. If you could go on a road trip with anyone, dead or alive, who would you choose and where would you go?
My husband. He is the best road trip companion. And I would have us take a month and go across the whole USA. We did a lot of the western part on our honeymoon but I want to see more. :)

5. What is the best concert you’ve ever been to?
Tool. I've seen them 3 times and every time was amazing. U2 also puts on a really great show.

6. What is the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
When I was a little kid I ate an ant. Other than that, some people think sushi is weird.

7. What is your all-time favorite song and why?
I can't pick just one. I have a lot of favorite songs. They change every few years too. A special one is Don't Cry Out by Shiny Toy Guns. It reminds me A LOT of when Ryan and I met/started dating. It has really special memories attached to it.

8. What is your biggest phobia?
Well I HATE bees. I will run from them like a crazy person. Or spiders. Ewwww. Fleas also really creep me out.



I'm so happy this is such a short week for me.
Fall has officially come to the Northwest. I'm a little sad but excited for the changes. I can't wait for Halloween and all the fall colors.

Walking in the rain.

It started raining this morning on my way to work.
As my friend and I made our way further south into Seattle, the rain got more rainy. As we were walking from our second bus into work I had to duck my head to keep the rain from going into my eyes.
Now it's raining pretty hard so I am thankful we made it inside before it really started coming down.
I've been pretty lucky this summer. I haven't had too many rainy days when going to and from work.
I guess this means summer is really coming to and end. I am both distressed and eager about the changing of the seasons.


This Friday I will be leaving really early (5am or so) to head to Montana to see my mom. It's just going to be Torkie and me on this adventure.
Ryan has a lot to do and felt like he shouldn't take the time away. I, on the other hand, feel strongly that I should go. It's going to be my last opportunity to see my mom until Thanksgiving or even Christmas.
I get Monday off for labor day so I only have to take 2 days off work. I will be coming home early Tuesday morning.
It's a 12 hour drive there. I've done it enough times that I know the drive like the back of my hand. I've even driven the whole thing myself before, but not by myself. I feel confident though. I'm leaving at 5am specifically so I will only be driving during the daylight hours which is safest. Plus, I'll have my little fuzzy guy with me so I wont really be alone. I also got myself set up with AAA in case there are any problems. Ryan is more concerned with me driving out there than I am, but it's to be expected. He loves me, that's all. :)
I'm excited to see my mom and for her to meet Torkie. I think it will be really fun to have some time together to do whatever we want.

Speaking of Torkie, I can hardly write a blog post without a cute photo of him. Ryan sent me this yesterday morning. Apparently Torkie was looking extra cute because he wanted Ryan to take him potty. :)

And the best part for last...

On Saturday Torkie and I met up with my friend Laura and her little 4 month old Boston Terrier, Dexter and went to the Marymoor dog park.
I am thrilled to report that Torkie was the perfect little pup and very well behaved. He mostly trotted along right by my side and didn't growl or bark at any other dogs.
On the other hand, he didn't really play with anyone or check stuff out too much. Which is ok, but I wanted him to enjoy himself.
Little Dexter wanted to play with Torkie SO bad but Torkie was mostly ignoring him.

We were nearing the end of our play date and just walking around the fields at the park. Torkie decided to potty for the 10th time(where he had it all stored, I have no clue) and when he was done he did his little "burning off" or kick his paws back on the grass thing. After that, he seemed to be filled with some crazy energy and took off! He finally got a chance to let it all out and he took advantage of it!
Poor little Dexter was trying SO hard to keep up with him, but Torkie is really really fast. I think in a couple more months though, Dexter will keep up more.
It was SO cute to see Torkie running like he was being chased by demons or something. I was also so happy that he finally got to have some fun. He would almost let Dexter catch him and then would take off again.
Unfortunately, I forgot my camera.... BUT Laura had her iphone and was able to get some video of Torkie going crazy! It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen and I've posted it below.



Happy Tuesday everyone! I can't wait for the week to get over and to hit the road!

4th Of July in Livingston, Montana

We went to Montana to visit my mom and for a little vacation for the 4th of July weekend this year.
Ryan picked me up from work around noon on Wednesday and we immediately hit the road.
We got to Spokane around 4:3o. One of my favorite clothing companies has a store there that I really wanted to check out. It's the closest one to me. After doing a little shopping, we had mexican food for dinner, filled up with 92 octane for the last time and hit the road again.
We stopped at mile post 16 in Montana to get some fresh cherries to munch on. My mom is located off milepost 333 approximately, so we still had quite a ways to go.
There was a lot of road construction on I-90, which isn't surprising, so we had to slow down a lot. Other than that we made pretty good time.
We reached Livingston and my mom's house at 2am Pacific time, so the drive took us about 14 hours.
Thursday we just poked around town and relaxed. We also had a mini birthday celebration for me with my mom since she doesn't usually get to see me on my birthday anymore. I even got an ice cream cake! Yum!
Friday was the parade and we also went to the arts and crafts fair.
Saturday we went to the craft fair with my mom and attempted to go to Fairy Lake but the stupid road was closed. Saturday night we all went to the rodeo which was cool. They were throwing stuff out to the crowd during intermissions and I actually caught something! A hot pink Livingston Round Up hat. I was very excited.
Sunday Ryan and I went to Natural Bridge and hiked around. When we came back to my mom's we had a delicious dinner and watch the fireworks from her house.
We left at 7:20am Mountain time on Monday morning to come home. Our drive back took us around 12 hours.

This seemed fitting to take a picture of. :)

The view at my mom's house

Cute husband

Me and mom

Friday afternoon, waiting for the parade to start

Smokey the Bear!

Family friend of ours. Seriously.

Donkey with a hat? Too cute.

Cool old snow plow in a field on the way to Fairy Lake

Wild flowers

Indian Paintbrush

I love this photo. I really enjoyed messing around with different types of processing. I'm not sure which I like the best.

The road to Fairy like was closed after 4 miles. I was not happy. If we had more time, I would have walked the rest of the way.

Natural Bridge. During the summer, the water flows underground and you can walk over the river. It spits out about a 1/4 mile down.

There are a lot of fossils and neat rock formations all over the bridge.

This is where the water goes under.

The other side.

We hiked down a VERY steep "path" to get to where the water shoots out. I'd never had the chance to go to the bottom of where the river comes out before and it was well worth it. Getting back up was interesting.

Little Ryan next to the raging river.

Home at last with our new little bear. He's made by the same old man as the bear on the step above him. My mom got him for my birthday and I LOVE him.

So adorable. I wish I could snuggle him, but he's wood. :(

Videos of the river at Natural bridge. The first from above, the second from below.