Into the Spokane Valley

Just down the river, past that little part of Idaho up there near Canada, is the town of Spokane, Washington. It's the nearest mid-sized city, or the biggest city not eight hours away. It's not quite three hours, so it's a decent little trip to hit up some stores we don't have here and eat at some places that haven't made it over the pass yet. We spent a weekend in March in Spokane, checked out Riverfront Park, and bought some stuff we probably didn't need. Good times.

Rode the gondola over the falls!

Adam and Nolan always behave themselves when riding next to each other...

On the way back we stopped to check out Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Arm wrestling championship between the masker and the anti-masker...

GO! GO! GO!

NO!!! The masker won, that means 6 more months of COVID restrictions... well at least they're building a Firehouse Subs in Missoula, maybe life will be normal again when that's done.

Good thing Spokane has a Guitar Center... or maybe that's not a good thing, not sure yet.

Great Scott! Great Falls!

When I was at an airport a while back I picked up a book about Lewis & Clark. I'd obviously heard of the duo, growing up in Lolo they were basically the only historical figures who'd ventured through the local area, so they were well-discussed in school. However, I honestly didn't know or remember much about their story, so the book was a good read. Hearing about all the locations they stopped in Montana made me want to go check them out for myself. So we took a short drive over to the Great Falls of the Missouri River and stopped at the interpretive center to learn a little more. It was mostly closed due to COVID, but we did get to take a nice walk along the river and checked out the river and a nearby fish hatchery.

Bitsy didn't care for Lewis's dog... but then, she doesn't care for most dogs.

Not the great falls, just a great spring...

Ski and Sled into Spring!

It takes a long time for the winter to go away for good in Montana. I'm pretty sure it was still snowing in May in some places (Three Forks). The boys took full advantage of the winter for winter sports. The sledding hill by the house was pretty epic, to say the least, and we hit Discovery for more skiing in March. The former Texas Boys picked up the necessary skills to handle steep snowy slopes pretty quick!

It's a lot steeper than the picture gives it credit.

It's not that cold... I sw-sw-swear...

Watch this epic trick!

Discovered Discovery! Loved this place as a kid, glad they got to check it out!

One of the best views from any ski slope...

Nothing slows Nolan down...

It was winter back then...

By the time I'm making this post it's basically summer, but I've fallen way, way behind on blog posts, so this one goes all the way back to winter. Way back in the month of January 2021! Back then, Montana was a frigid winter wonderland and life was all about snow shoveling, sledding, and hitting the ski slopes. We took the short drive up the canyon to Snowbowl to check out Missoula's closest ski resort. The snow never seems to be as good up there as it is at other resorts, but you can't beat the convenience of closeness. The terrain was also a little more advanced than the boys preferred, but they managed well. Nolan and I got in a little over our heads at one point, staring down death at the bottom of a slightly steeper slope than he had hoped to go down, but he handled it like a champ! On another cold winter day we took a short hike up to Waterworks Hill in the Rattlesnake area. While is a close hike, it was one we'd never done, and the views of the city were fantastic. Great times were had by all!

Nolan, the bravest little skier, about to descend the dangerous slops of Snowbowl, aka Icebowl! He ain't scared!

Future Sentinel Spartan... but since he's a thoughtful kid, he took the green way down.

Paul will take the smart route, but for Nolan... it's double Black Diamond time!

It was a rough ride to the bottom. Took the ski patrol an hour to break him out of the ice...

But a little Dr. Pepper can warm you right back up.

He survived to venture out another day! Well, most of him anyway.

If there's water at the top of Waterworks Hill, it was definitely frozen on this day...

Great view from up here!

Getting Lost on the Slopes!

Skiing at Lost Trail was one of my favorite memories of growing up in Montana, so of course now that we're back, we had to get the boys out on the slopes. They took a some lessons and ventured out on the mountain for the first time! Adam had it a little rough, since he opted to try snowboarding, but he was moving pretty good by the end of the day. The weather was great, the snow was smooth, and you can't beat the feeling of being out on the mountain surrounded by endless snow covered trees! Hopefully it'll be something we get to do over and over again...

Even Cousin Mo came along!

Staying warm!

First time out in more than 15 years! Little sore the next day, but otherwise felt great!