My Hooper

Jamie loves her hoop.

This was actually a really neat picture of the two of us hooping together and laughing.

I was trying to be artsy and ended up erasing my face which resulted in a really eerie picture of Jamie talking to a headless ghost mommy. So I edited the rest of me out and ended up with my beautiful girl doing what she loves.

Lolo

We stopped here just for you Lauren!
We looked for a shirt or other souvenir but no luck.

South Bend Highlight

Another generation in awe of Big Uncle Ted.

Inspired

We're heading up to Canada tomorrow with the intention of doing some mellow meandering followed by meeting up with some friends at Kootenai Lake.

We are all looking forward to our last little journey before setting some roots, starting school, setting up a home, reconnecting with our friends, having space for various projects (sewing, welding, growing, etc.)

I won't have access while we're in Canada but I'm going to set up some trip highlight pictures and schedule them to come up while we're gone.

Hope you are treasuring your last few weeks of summer as much as we are.

Blue Lake RV Park

When you buy a campground guide book from 2008 you have to expect that a few of the entries will be out of date.
Not to say it doesn't throw us off every time it happens. "But in our our outdated book your prices are so much lower...."

It happened again today, but I must admit this one is worth the price.

They have all the usual amenities plus; giant chess, foosball, spotting scope, swim dock, badminton, and a tree swing.
Mini golf, canoes and pedal boats for a small fee. Vending machines with turtle, fish or dog food are right at the swim dock.
A thoughtfully laid out and stocked park, in a terraced, wooded landscape.

Quite enjoyable.

We were a bit wary of the two available sites, one right on the highway and one with loud mooing cows on the other side of the fence, but when we explained that we didn't need hookups they said we could use the tent area, right on the little lake, in the shaded meadow, all by ourselves and a lower fee to boot!

Here comes Jamie in her first kayak experience.


And there goes Bobby in his.



The brave little one spent her afternoon swimming (in a life jacket) to and from the swim platform about 25 yards out in the lake.



We ended up getting some neighbors at about 9 tonight. Family of 5 tent camping.

Robb has named them the stealth campers, they set up their tent and camp and are all sitting out by their campfire and we didn't hear a sound. There should be camping awards to hand out to people like that.

Long Day of Driving

Sometimes we stumble on hidden little camping gems and luck out.

Today was not one of those days.

With the intention of seeing for ourselves why our friends speak so highly of camping along the Yaak River we set off.

We chose the longer route to enter the Kootenai National Forrest so as to avoid the northern access bridge. We've had the experience of not being able to cross a bridge before and played it safe.

LONG story short, we missed where we were supposed to stop and ended up doing a huge loop on some "not maintained for public access" roads (the kind that make you feel like you were run over by a truck) over a fairly steep pass only to end up at said bridge anyway.

Luckily it was easily passable and we made our way back south and found a fine little campground along the Koocanusa Lake.

Actually the flies were pretty bothersome and it was right on the highway, what made it work out was meeting some new friends. Amazing what some good company can do for an experience.

Our kids made friends with their kids before we had the parking break set. 8 year old boy and girl twins. Jillian was very hopeful they would have a little sister hidden somewhere but she was out of luck. She was however lucky enough be included in instant friendship that formed. The new little gaggle showed everyone what summer nights should be; bike riding, rodeo games, tag, s'mores, flashlight exploring, stargazing, chatter, planning and giggles.

After dinner we had gone over to introduce ourselves and give permission for the kids to accept the invitation for s'mores. The rest, as they say, is history. We sat down and didn't leave until, at 11:30, Jillian finally climbed in my lap and called Uncle.

The kids were pretty bummed the next morning when our new friends actually did leave bright and early to beat the July long weekend traffic. Jamie, ever optimistic, got up early "just in case" but sadly watched them pull out at 8:12. (Oh the accuracy of kids with watches.)

Now they can't wait to get home and start some serious pen pal writing!

Lions Little Bitterroot Campground

When it fits, it fits.

One of our new favorite places to be.

It was so peaceful and relaxing here we had to stay two nights. In hindsight we probably would have stayed more.

We moved across the drive for our second night and were right on the lake, still within a stone's throw of the playground.

The lake was so clear Robb and I borrowed the kids' goggles and did some treasure hunting. Robb was the winner when he caught a craw fish to show off.

With no cell phone service, a cool breeze and very little road noise we slept like babies! Babies that sleep well that is.

I miss it already...