Glacier Park Jammer tour and Al's evening walk.

 This year we drove to the EAST side of the continental divide to take a different tour. The mountain range is still incredibly beautiful, but we saw almost no wildlife (unless you count some strange hippie-looking characters). The tour started at a beautiful Hotel almost 100 years old. Built with HUGE Douglas fir from the Pacific Northwest, it looked like Noah's Ark from inside!

This building is the dining hall of a lodging place that existed during

Teddy Roosevelt's presidency. He gave one of his famous 

"fireside chats" from this building.  Al is standing on the porch 

approximately where President Roosevelt spoke so many years ago!
(In the next photo)

From this building we walked around the corner to take a boat tour on this lovely Two Medicine Lake.

We got some stunning shots of the mountains from the boat.

(They need to be edited. )

After the boat ride we hiked up to a water fall... 

yes, we navigated this interesting bridge CAREFULLY!

 After the tour ended, we wandered in the front lawn of the hotel 

and visited the TeePee and flower gardens before heading out for lunch. 

We were hungry enough to eat a buffalo! 

So we shared a buffalo burger... YUMMY.

 And FLOWERS...  ah, sweetness! 

These pots were all over the porch of the hotel...

And in the wilderness I had Al stand next to these flowers

to show you the LARGENESS of them! INCREDIBLE stuff!

After dinner at the cabin, Al took the dogs for an hour-long walk on the property. He took some nice pics of his adventure....

A CABIN...

  An old barn...

And the pasture of the farm we stay at.

Just another day in PARADISE!

Walk to town?

 

Stretching after 10.5 miles!

Al decided to walk the entire rails to trails from Kila to Kalispell today... 10.5 miles, with a bit of detour adding to it somewhat. 

While he walked, I shopped! No sales tax is tempting, but having a small car curbs my appetite a bit! I found a few items I would have bought even without that no tax incentive! We have to be able to close the doors and trunk, don't you know?

Critter sightings...

No photos yet, but so far we have seen a few eagles soaring overhead, a deer in the yard this morning, chipmunks and snakes on the walking path in town, and not much else.

We'll keep our eyes open (and noses plugged... polecats make horrible roadkill).

Does she like vacation?

Domino relaxed halfway out of her bed this afternoon!

Day 2... just "waiting" for Dad

Dominoes sleeping and waiting at the door 

for her master to return from his walk...

They went with me to the garden to get photos 

this morning... HEY! get OUT of the picture, dog!

That's better! Thank you!

Al is back from his 9.5 mile walk on the rails trail. The dogs have over 300 acres to roam but they sit on the porch and wait for him.

We woke up in paradise...

Yesterday was a long day... a ten hour trip to our cabin in the woods in Montana. (Not really "ours", but even the host commented how often we come, LOL). We were thrilled to find internet hook up IN THE CABIN this year (past visits we had to sit outside their house for connection)! They also added a brass bed frame, updated HD TV and a washer/dryer is arriving today. WOW! These folks really take care of us!
[Note to sister, Jan: This is OUR kind of "camping"... dishwasher, BBQ grill, Fridge, full bath facility in the cabin, cupboards furnished with essentials, including food... luxury! REST, instead of WORK!)

 Last night we arrived at dinner, unpacked, ate and I laid down to rest a bit. Hours later I awoke and knew I would not be sleeping anytime soon, so I worked a bit on research for a scrap kit I am designing. Went to bed about midnight and awoke at 7:30... I think I am "caught up" on the sleep part.

So, this is the morning view from our cabin in paradise!

View from the cabin door...

The trees are SO TALL here in the area!

Well, back to "REST" now... Al is out running on the "rails to trails" local path. The dogs are already "resting"... ahhh! Vacation!

Published scrap pages...

"Can't Eat Just One" featuring Dominoes

"Heads or Tails" featuring Renfro's Sir Dewey

"INFLUENCE" featuring Hubby and 20 grandkids

These three scrap pages were submitted for publication and all three were accepted. Amazing to me... she and I must have the same sense of view!  All were made using Scrap Girl products. The supplies are in their individual meta-files.

Check these pages out quickly because they have to be removed while they are published... I will put this blog post in stored status until August after this week. Thanks for looking!

Father's Day... Honoring Hubby

This scrap page began over a year ago... I wanted to give it to him LAST Father's Day. However, because I did not have all the photos of the twenty grandkids to put in his "shadow" and "steps", it had to wait! 

What a difference  you have made in our lives, Preacher! We love you!

Online version:  Steps

Father's Day... Al and Charity

Al & Charity on the front porch of our first home
in Dearborn Hts MI.

 I was looking for a photo of a DAD for our church bulletin. After searching online for a bit, and then in our ad files, preacher suggested I look for this early photo. My goodness! That was 41 years ago! How fun!

Pink! Still love it!

When I was about fifteen my mom made a pink striped dress for me to wear to my cousin Don's wedding. It became my favorite dress of my teen years!

Shopping for my Mother's Day dress this year, I expressed a need for a sun dress before we went to the desert in early June. We were surprised to find THREE dresses to try on that day. We loved all three and could not decide on JUST ONE. Two of the dresses were white with black and pink flower prints. I loved both of them! When we learned they were all on sale at 40% off, we bought all three! I am so blessed! I think this is my favorite of them, but its still hard to choose... Thank you, honey!

Online gallery link.  Thanks for looking!

Desert Getaway Scrapped

These two matching pages may end up on our wall instead of a scrapbook!

Thanks for looking!  See more of the photos in the next two posts!

Online:  oasis;   Birds

La Quinta Randomness...

Nice shot of Al by the fountain sign.

H.B. London and Focus on the Family sponsored

the retreat. Very encouraging meetings. 

Please pray for the ministry during tough times.

The dining hall from another view, and...

... a better perspective of its "SIZE".

This resort was a "get away" for Hollywood stars in its infancy.

 The lobby entrance where celebrities once entered...

... and sat in the foyer.

I'm pretty sure the bird arrived since 1926, however!

This fountain is near the foyer entrance and flowed from 

the top of the garden hill in front of the dining hall.

I loved this walkway we passed thru every meal... 

a very sweet passage.

While we waited for the next session we entertained birds

near the fountain sign... 

.... and even behind Al's back!

As we left the relaxing retreat, we decided to look up

Clint Eastwood's local restaurant the Hog's Breath Inn. 

Great meal before we headed back to the airport!

KEEP READING... MORE PHOTOS IN THE NEXT POST!

Some like it HOT! What a treat!

We were excited to find this Pastors and Wives retreat in Palm Springs! We had no idea that our NW spring would extend and be only low 50's when we departed. Landing at Palm Springs to a stifling 95 degrees was quite the experience... think sauna!

Pictures are worth a thousand words has been said. I don't think pictures will do this place justice! To experience this floral beauty firsthand is more than we imagined!

The entry road was symmetrically amazing!

Mountains surround this beautiful resort.

Outside our room, a pool to share with a few others.

We swam alone, however.

On the pathway to the dining hall... covered paths,

palm trees and fountains, besides the flowers!

Bowers of flowers and beautiful

trees everywhere we looked!

Morning shadows make such lovely photos!

(and nice guy to take me to this lovely place!)

Some guy offered to photograph us... and himself!

Dining hall with a mission bell! 

(It didn't announce dinner, however!)

Waiting for the breakfast hour,

we took more flower photos, of course!

We met John & Linda at dinner the first night.

From Maryland, near Camp David, we enjoyed

visiting with them most meals!

Trees, flowers, brick-lined pavement... nice!

Bougainvillea covered many walls and archways.

(beep! beep!)  This roadrunner was spotted on the way 

back from the morning session! 

We were so excited to see this little guy! 

We have stayed at some lovely places, but this place BY FAR is the most lovely we have had the privilege to stay. We enjoyed meeting new friends, getting some ministry encouragement, and spending time together.

We hope they offer this retreat again, and we hope we can get in on the deal! It was a sweet treat, an oasis in the desert! We will recommend it to other friends in the ministry, and if they won't go, its their loss! We loved every minute of it and have been encouraged to stay in the battle for the Lord!