Our First Glacier

A trip that has been on Sheila's list for years...way back during our Davenport days is Glacier National Park. This summer we finally took the opportunity.

We got an invitation to visit some friends living in Great Falls, Montana. We settled into a campground just outside the east entrance to the park and invited Darrin and Terri to stay with us in our new garage/bunkhouse. We had an excellent time, and two of the best Glacier tour guides you could ask for. We spent the entire time enjoying the scenery instead of trying to find our way around.

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The view of the campground out the back as you walk thru the living room, garage and down the back ramp. The garage then converts to sleeping quarters for our guests at night.

The day before our friends arrived. We took the opportunity to ride "The Going to the Sun" road.

Another absolutely fantastic ride on a bike. Someone told us, you can DRIVE these roads in a car and watch the views, or you can RIDE these roads and live in the views. That's so very true. It's a whole different experience riding a motorcycle.

When Darrin and Terri arrived we didn't waste any time getting right to the hiking! We packed into Glacier Lake. Pictures and words will not do any justice to what we experienced. Breathtaking.

I met Darrin thru a mutual client, hired for an Annual Report as the photographer. I highly recommend him for high quality work! (Darrin Shreder Photography)

So of course there had to be a very cold, dark-thirty of the morning wake-up to catch a sunrise over a mountain, right? Yep... (this was my version, Darrin's were much more professional : )

There was plenty of rest and relaxation as well.

After our guides left, we took one more opportunity to hike into the park. This is a simple hike just behind the visitors center as you start up the "Going to the Sun" road.

This trip was an awesome experience. Highly recommended if you've never been here.

We will be back for sure.


 

 And I almost forgot...we actually fit in a rafting trip as well : )
(this rapid was filmed in the movie River Wild)

 

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I'm going to leave you with yet another artful image of my incredibly wonderful partner.

Thanks for reading!

BUNCO TIME!

I know this is not a travel oriented post...but we have such a great time with these it's well worth an entry.

We've been throwing Bunco parties for years. It's a fantastic opportunity to get together with a large group of friends and have some fun!

Some time ago, Sheila and I got a little bored with just the same old bunco games, so we decided to change things up and add a theme. We've added Bunco themes for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween and Birthday's. So why not a version for camping?

The idea is to include not just a theme, but a game within the game of Bunco. For Thanksgiving we added a "Turkey Shoot" game. For Christmas you collected "Gift Tags" for a gift auction. For Halloween we created a Zombie epidemic. You get the idea.

This summer we decided to combine two themes (as if one wasn't enough). We added a survivor challenge to a "Camp Chrystal Lake" theme. Those of you from the 80's know this as the infamous "Friday the 13th" movie backdrop.

In the end Jason and his mom were not able to "kill off" all the campers. Two survived and their surviving team split the loot! A great time was had by all...


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Everyone got checked in at Camp Chrystal Lake...

...the camp supervisor went over some camp rules.

Bunco cards were distributed..."you must win to survive!" was declared.

 The killers collected the name tags of their victims.

There were survival games to help even the odds...

Of course there was food to help re-energize...

...and there was just plain silly-scaryness everywhere!

Of course there was some actual Bunco being played : )

As night fell, the marshmallows were toasted...

...and the survivors were roasted.............I mean rewarded.

Until next time : ) Thanks for reading!

Vegas Baby!

For as long as we can remember, we've been heading south to Las Vegas, well before we started the full time on-the-road thing. The weather is usually beautiful and we enjoy the shows, sights and sounds of the city that never sleeps. We've entertained clients, spent time with family, vacationed with old friends and met many new ones...as well as just the two of us relaxing by a pool.

Last summer was no different. We packed up the new Toy Hauler trailer and headed south for it's first journey. We flew Shelby down a week later and met up with our Texas cousin's Jack and Cheryl who own a condo down there.

We spent an excellent evening with Jack and Cheryl at a comedy club.

We had a unique experience at the Minus 5 ice bar with Shelby...

...and made a visit to the wax museum. Some of the figures are pretty life-like!

 We always try to catch a major show by "cirque du soleil". This time we saw "O" (for the second time) and afterward walked thru the museum. Interestingly, the "cirque" sculptor (Macdonald) works directly from live models...not photographs. Fascinating how quickly he works. (I think this was one of Shelby's favorite things to see, she's spending a lot more time drawing and creating these days. Go figure, right?)

Sheila and I have seen just about every Vegas show by now. But we did catch one of the newer ones at the Wynn Hotel... "La Reve" Almost entirely performed hanging in the air.

We met a couple of fellow campers from Quebec, Canada on this trip. (Carol and Manon) And went on one of our first long group rides. We introduced them to Red Rock Canyon, a beautiful 26 mile bike ride. (A one-way road thru the canyon makes it nice not worrying about oncoming traffic while you take in the views)

 We had a great (but very short) time with our new Canadian friends. We exchanged info and were invited to visit them in Quebec when we traveled east to Maine. (which we did in a future blog).

I'm going to end this one here. and leave you with this chilly image : )

 Thanks for reading!