Going to the Dogs

Harlo - AKA Muffin

In the world of ice breakers, "Are you a dog or cat person?" ranks right up there in with "Pop or Soda?" in getting a quick glimpse into the personality or background of a new friend or acquaintance. Me, I've always been a cat person. Not really for any reason pertaining to their specific attributes and differences, but because that's just what our whole family was. Again though, that didn't even pertain to the animal types themselves, but we lived in a city, had no yard and were very busy people. I think deep down my younger brother and I really did always want a dog, but were always thwarted(quickly!) by that standard parental threat of being responsible for taking care of said dog.

Me & my hiking buddy, Buckeye

Well folks, the times they are a-changin. In the past 7 years of living in Steamboat Springs and Gardiner - on many days one could easily draw the not-so-far fetched conclusion that there may be more dogs in residence than humans - I have begun to change my ways. No need for my little Harlo muffin to worry, I still love her dearly, but one of these days she may just have to share her space with a canine companion.

Tater - AKA Sausage Dog

I have many, many friends who have dogs and have blessed me with their acquaintance....and some have even *gasp* entrusted me with their care for extended periods of time. At first I just did what I was told - food, water, potty outings, walks or runs in the yard, and maybe a little snuggle in the evening for those allowed on the furniture. Nowadays though, they are earning their place in my heart as man's best friend.

Why the sudden change? Maybe I'm growing up a little bit, heaven forbid. The idea of taking care of something more complicated and time consuming than a cat is not nearly the dreadful weight that it once was. The idea of a companion that is loyal even when it doesn't want something (hint, hint Harlo - you should be nice even when you don't want me to pet you!) is a nice thought, especially when living alone(which I don't know, but I'm sure I will at some point in time....). I just may be responsible enough to keep something alive and thriving these days. Well, at least in the fauna department - me and flora may never have a good relationship.....

Fuzzy phone pics! Yep, there are 4 of them in there somewhere :)

Of course while the idea that I could have a pet because I've grown and matured is a nice one, I still prefer the REAL perks.....Dinner dates with no cooking or dishes involved. No need to rinse dishes when there are any. A nice extra blanket on a cold day. Far less expensive bribes and apologies. No talking back when you just need to vent, and no need to add the disclaimer of "please don't repeat this". No need to make plans to go hiking, just open the car door and you have a hiking buddy.

I think I like Option #2. I do live in Neverland, after all......

Music in the Mountains

One thing that I always miss by living in such a small and out of the way place is live music. Sure, Bozeman has some and Billings has some, Missoula has a good bit etc etc, but those are 90 minutes on the short side and 5 hours on the long...each way.

However, what we lack in quantity we can definitely make up for at least a bit in quality of venues. Enter, Grand Targhee.

Grand Targhee is a small ski resort on the western slope of the Grand Tetons - little know but with ridiculous snow and scenery(over 800 inches this year, if I'm not mistaken....). In the summer they host concerts and music festivals such as Targhee Fest and the Targhee Bluegrass Festival. This year they also upped the line-up to a 3-day Widespread Panic show over July 4th weekend, which of course was a must-wander for me and a small group of 10-12 friends and the tent-mahal(hold your hat, I promise I'll explain...)

Any music weekend at Targhee is not complete without the camping, located anywhere from 100-500 yards from the music venue. In the past I have only midly experienced this, as I hadn't ever been able to do a full weekend down there before. Well, I learned this year, and learned big! The camping areas are basically large meadows and tree filled areas where you cruise in, get your little plastic bracelet that no one will ever check again and then make the mad, bumpy dash towards the best dry spot near shade you can find, all while the dazed and confused Targhee parking staff wave their arms around and try to at least keep lanes visible through the meadows(no offense to them, they did a great job....I just think it was a much bigger job than they expected and knew what to do with when it hit!). Once landed, you secure your area as best you can by circling the vehicles, staking out tents and picking the most tactical location for the all-wonderful shade tent. This was an especially important detail this year, as remember that earlier mention of 800 inches of snow this winter? Well, a good deal of it is still there, and where there is shade, there will be snow and mud because that great shade that keeps the sun off us also keeps it off the ground.....Behold, the tent-mahal(see? you didn't need to worry after all).

The tent-mahal(thank you Rebecca for the pic and amazing name, by the way), also referred to as the tunnel of love, was the great collaboration that came about with the realization that between the 10 of us camping together we had 4 shade tents that could all match up to each others sides relatively well. After 3.5 days of 80+ degrees in a meadow, I may never go festival camping without at least 4 of these wonderful creations ever again.

While camping is of course an integral part of the Targhee weekend, the music is still phenomenal and in an exceptional place. Most festivals are a collection of bands throughout the day, with folks wandering back and forth between camp and venue, seeing who they want to see and then hitting nap etc. With a show like this though, it's every night at 6pm like a normal concert, which lends to the fun mass exodus from camp, line to get in the gate, and then a huge, crazy and enthusiastic crowd to dance around with for the next 4 hours. This was no exception, and so exhilerating. In fine fashion, the entire weekend opened with thousands of people dancing and singing as they fittingling opened with "Aint Life Grand" and the fun continued all the way up to the 3rd to last song of Sunday night where we may have all gone a little insane singing about the "Surprise Valley". Yeah, they played another song and a good encore that night as well, but my rousing finish was with that one.

Now, one more day of this terrible three-day work week before it's the weekend again....now to rouse some energy to do anything.

More Weekend Wanderings!




Jefferson River Valley from the trail to the cavern entrance

I'm being bad and throwing out more wanderings instead of being more creative, but it was such a fun wandering this weekend that I can't resist!



The adventures this weekend took me and my friends Laney, Lisa and Chase to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park, near Three Forks, MT. In the many years, off and on, that I have lived in this area, it is one of those places that I say "Oh, I really want to go there sometime" every time I drive by the exit sign for it on I-90, but then promptly forget it exists until the next time I drive by the sign. Well, not anymore!

While located near an area passed through by Lewis and Clark, they did not actually discover the caverns, or have any idea they were there...Montana just really loves naming things after them. They were actually discovered by two hunters in the late 1800s who noticed a bare area on the hillside during a February hunt. Upon further exploration(aka, dropping rocks in the hole and not hearing them hit bottom) they decided to come back later when it might be a little safer than mid-February in Montana. It took 6 years, but one of them did return and begin to explore in 1898. Sometime later, a successful prospector took over and began offering tours, utilizing a man-made entrance since the original discovery hole was more overhead to the cavern and descended into a rather large pit within the cavern. To give his tours, he created a walkway throughout with 2000 wooden steps and a 90 foot spiral staircase that often swayed as much as 2 feet from side to side.  

Lisa, me and Laney at the cavern entrance

Eventually the railroad discovered that they actually owned the rights to the land and claimed it, only to turn it over to the federal government in 1908. It was designated a National Monument and then locked up so people could not get in. The prospector, Dan Morrison, deciding that he didn't want to play by those rules, cut the lock, replaced it with his own, and continued his tours. Morrison and the federal government play this back and forth game until Morrison's death in 1932.

Around that point, the newly formed(1929) Montana State Parks system came into play, as they were then 3 years old but still did not have any park sites. With the help of the Civilian Conservation Corp, the rickety spiral staircase and wooden steps(wood in a moist cave does not exactly equal a good pairing) were removed and replaced by asphalt, some areas widened for better access, such as the entrance, and a new section of the cavern was discovered and opened to the public. After the discovery of this new section, an exit tunnel was also created so that visitors no longer had to retrace their steps back to the top of the cavern to get out.





Stalactites on the cavern wall


There are several areas to the cave, both large and small, and you actually spiral down throughout the cavern as you decend with each of the large rooms 100-200 feet below each other. They have intriguing names such as the Cathedral room(named for it's shape), the Sample room(named because of the large quantities of "samples" that Dan Morrison encouraged his guests to break off and take home with them to show their friends) and the Poison room(named for the eerie, venomous colors).

Crystal Pool(it's back there, I promise!)



One mile above sea level



Another neat concept we learned about was the way the cave can change your perception. In the Poison room, our guide pointed out a tall, narrow feature that appeared to be about 20-25 feet away and maybe 2 feet tall, which was actually 62 feet away from us and 6 feet tall....I am still baffled that the little white "stick" she pointed out was actually almost a full foot taller than me! The other was the idea, so kindly labeled for us on the stairs, of being at the one mile above sea level point while underground. That's a fun way to mess with one's mind a little bit!



One of the great illusionary examples

  

Poison Room - 6 foot tall feature is the small white line in the upper left



Weekend Wanderings

A few weeks ago I discovered an iPhone app called Trover that kind of reminds me a "photo" Twitter. You sign in, post photos of your "discoveries"(anything cool or interesting that you'd like to share) and it posts in a running feed. You map and name the location, as well as provide a brief description of why the discovery is "cool", for each photo, which allows other users to see where you took the photo and what it is. This also allows you to seach Discoveries by what is nearby - either nearby to you, or to another discovery you found interesting. This little app has led me to a new goal of the summer(since I have failed miserably at many of my 2011 goals and challenges so far, lol!). Enter, the Weekend Wanderings of Summer 2011.

I have lived in this area off and on since 2002, and thought that I knew it pretty well and had done a good many things. Definitely not the case, as Trover has taught me in the past few weeks! So far, I have discovered enough new places to see and things to do that, combined with my other already set plans this summer, may definitely be enough to leave not a free weekend to be found!

These first photos are the beginnng of the Weekend Wanderings, though not to new places....



Grand Tetons behind (still frozen) Jackson Lake - Grand Teton National Park May 2011

The bottom of Colter Pass as a storm rolls in - Chief Joseph Highway, Wyoming - May 2011



Buffalo Bill's Historic Irma Hotel - Cody, Wyoming - May 2011



Pioneer School near the Wyoming-Montana border on Hwy 120 - This was a new discovery that I just saw a small sign for on the side of the highway! May 2011

The first of the new explorations, less than 2 hours from my house along a very scenic drive!
Natural Bridge Falls - Gallatin National Forest, Montana - June 2011

The weekend wandering to Natural Bridge falls also included the fun of a borrowed pup(a friend was out of town so pupsitting was also involved!) as wel as a fabulous dinner at the Grand Hotel in Big Timber, MT - was expecting to grab so bar grub on the way home and ended up with an AMAZING meal!!

Next weekend, Lewis and Clark Caverns :)

Oi.

Seasonal life strikes again :( As I said in my last post, things have been a little crazy, though not blog appropriate subjects(I'm sorry!)

These times are never fun, but they are usually survived via the support and companionship of friends and significant others. Unless, of course, you live and work in a place where almost all of your friends are seasonal employees. Seasonal means anywhere from 1-8 weeks of built in vacation between each season. Paid. Well, somewhat(thank you State of WY fun-employment fund!). While it can have it's negative moments(occasional boredom, lack of funds) it is typically a great benefit to seasonal jobs. And one that I do miss...a lot sometimes! But what I miss more is my friends.

Of my best friends(well, local best friends...the #1 is I. CO), one is in the valley, one is in Bozeman, and one is in Oregon. While the valley isn't honestly far away...I'm talking basically the 50 mile stretch North of Gardiner, it's still an 80 mile round trip to see my dear Laney. Lisa, in Bozeman and just home from a winter in AZ, is a 150 mile round trip. With today's gas prices(a whole other animal to be discussed....) it's a tough deal compared to having them within a mile of home.

So what does a girl with he blues do when blues? Go to the Blue Goose and have a shot, of course :) I think tonight may call for a good old Saturday night filled with irresponsibility and mini-Irish car bombs...bottoms up!

Sent from my iPhone while driving, applying make up, changing the radio and drinking a cup of coffee...have a great day!

For 'Tis Life - Shiny Happy Photos

As happens in life, just by nature of it being the unpredictable, uncontrollable, baffling roller coaster that it is, I've been feeling a little funky lately. For the entirely self serving purpose of having to look at them and hopefully brighten my world for a fleeting moment, it's about time to impart some happy-thought inspiring photos out to the rest of the world....

March 2011 - Funny, I know. But my car's back door hasn't opened in over a year, and I fixed it myself the other day....quite a happy moment!

May 2007 - My best friend's dog, Arthur, making himself comfy in the back of my car during his very first Yellowstone visit. Other than a brief stop to try and lick some sticky gunk off the Gardiner bridge, he was very well behaved for a puppy on a road trip!

Winter 2010/11 - Photo courtesy of Beth Pratt - Mama Bison and a late-born baby(aka lil red dog...we don't usually see lil guys this red when the snow is around!)

September 2002 - Iris and Colonnade Falls in the Bechler region of the Yellowstone backcountry. My first backpacking trip, almost 10 years ago.

December 2010 - My best friend in world, Jayne Rockford Pond, with her husband Alex and their one year old daughter Reesa. Family ski day in Steamboat Springs! I miss that girl an awful lot....

July 2010 - One of my nearest and dearest, Laney, fishing on Yellowstone Lake on her wedding day

May 2007 - Me on the widow's walk of the Old Faithful Inn...one of my favorite places in the world

May 2004 - My mom and me at an overlook for the Lower Falls of the Yellowstone River. Mom's first trip to Yellowstone, back when I was 21 years old.

November 2008 - My little brother and me(yes, I'm happier than I look....Dad has such great timing for catching terrible faces with the camera!). This was my brother's first visit to Colorado, and the first time I'd seen him in almost 5 years. 

November 2010 - The epic snowstorm that hit Gardiner, MT. This is only a happy picture because it looks pretty, and I got to drive away and leave on vacation about 2 hours later.

November 2010 - Balanced Rock in Arches National Park. Not only is this just cool to look at, but Arches is also one of my favorite National Parks. I also get warm fuzzies because Edward Abbey's trailer house was near here during the time he wrote of in Desert Solitaire, one of my all time favorite books

November 2010 - The wonderful man I love, playing in slot canyons in Arches National Park

October 2008 - My Dad and me on the Fish Creek Falls bridge, Steamboat Springs, Colorado

May 2007 - Arthur and me at the South Entrance to Yellowstone. I have a thing for signs when I visit places, and this is by far my favorite and most photographed....I have no idea why :o)

Summer 2010 - Me, Laney and Tyrene, another of my nearest and dearest. I have known Ty almost my entire duration of time in Yellowstone, and she is a wonderful, kindred, native Oregonian, Portlandian and Oregon Ducks football fan to have around. Plus, she's the reason I even know Laney. I love these girls!

A Girl, a Boy, a Windy Day and No Fish!

Just to the bottom right of this is one of my favorite little fishing pockets...just have to get there!

Most of last week and this weekend, we were graced with sunny skies and temps in the 40s-low 50s(or cursed, considering it's just a tease before the next big, inevitable, snowstorm) and yesterday was the most exciting of all: first day of fishing for 2011. I must add the disclaimer, though, that first day doesn't mean the season started yesterday because you can fish in Montana year-round. I'm just enough of a wimp that I don't go stick my hands in rivers of mountain run off in the winter...my hands get cold enough as is, why on earth would I want to make it worse?

So, after a good sleep-in(daylight savings is wonderful...guilt free sleeping into the late morning because "honey, it's really only 10am...". Gotta love it.) and a bit too much lounging, we decided to head out fishing since it was such a beautiful day. Beautiful does not, however, mean dry. Or clean. Or not windy.

This is Vegas(I'm not one for naming cars, but my friend Sarah is....my car is Vegas because inside is where whatever we say can stay there!). She took us fishing yesterday.

Vegas got to play in the mud....

Section of the Old Yellowstone Trail, looking North

Terrible picture, I know(dirty-rotten-no good-good for nothing Blackberry....) but I imagine you get the idea. Lots and lots of mud. Yellowstone is still closed for fishing until Memorial Day weekend, so our adventure took us up a long, windy and sometimes treacherous road called Old Yellowstone Trail, which runs between Gardiner and Paradise Valley for about 20 or so miles, following the old stagecoach route into Gardiner. It's one of my favorite places to go fishing because of it's relative solitude(you can still see/hear the highway most of the time, but your across the river so it has a semblance of peace and quiet) and it's convenient access to home. Not the mention the incredibly fun puddles and mud bogs you can drive a 4WD through this time of year.

It also has a lot of very interesting history to be seen all along the route. There are several areas where you can distinctly see where the stage road went a slightly different course than the current road, a very fun area of hoodoos to explore, and even old "signs" from the stage days(they used flat rocks and paint to make the original roadside "billboards").

Part of the old "Yankee Jim" Stagecoach Toll Road....no, you don't have to drive on this anymore!

That said, it is also a pretty crummy place to be when it's muddy AND windy. Which it was. Which it OFTEN is. Because we may have a shortage of some things around here...fast internet, movie theaters, summer. But wind is definitely not one of them. I started out the day a bit behind, as I forgot to check my leader on my fly rod until we were there, and discovered way too late that I had about 8 inches of it left. Oops! Bryan on the other hand, was plenty stocked up with everything....including the knot after knot that ended up in his leader from the wind deciding it did not want to listen to wear he was telling it to send his line.


All in all, we caught about 4 sticks, a few snowbanks, slide down the muddy canyon hillside and fell in the river(well, that was just me....but it makes me feel much better to say we!), saw a group of bighorn sheep, including a beautifully full curled ram, and caught zero fish. Guess I have some catching up to do next weekend. Happy Spring in Montana!