Hiking!

The first weekend of July, Steve and I went backpacking in the Big Horn Mtns. We had beautiful weather and it was wonderful to get away for the weekend. Meanwhile, there was a monsoon happening in Sheridan and our neighbors were vacuuming the water from our basement - needless to say, everyone in town now knows where we keep the extra "hidden" house key. Fording the creek - balancing can be tricky with a huge pack
The scenery from our tent the first night - can't beat that!
Old cabin ruins along the trail that were once lived in by miners in the 1920's
Hmmm, slight structural damage, no?
An opening to a mine, right across the trail from the cabin shown aboveLake Geneva Steve on the trail next to an old petrified tree and the lake
We had two passes to go over - this is from the top of the first pass looking down at Lake Geneva
The meadow after the first pass - the second pass is behind Steve

Walking down from the second pass into another meadow area with several small lakes (the black form to the right of me is Guinness, Steve's dog - he made sure every squirrel and chipmunk in the Big Horns was chased after)
Beautiful flowers growing right in the middle of a group of large boulders

Our camping area on the second night - not a bad view!
Looking out from the front of our tent at Granite Lake

Fly fishing in Granite Lake - we didn't keep anything for dinner because all the fish (Brooke Trout) were absolutely tiny. It looks like I'm trying to give my fish a big kiss and he doesn't look to happy

We were catching fish on every cast - they were hungry little suckers! Here Steve holds another mini trout

The morning before we took off

Self portrait on the way back

FROLICKING IN DC

Our visit to DC has been punctuated by happy family moments, by moments of awe walking through the Iwo Jima and WWII Memorials, and by sad somber moments as we visited the tombs of our young men and women whose lives have been cut short by this senseless war.JIR

BEAUTIFUL COUPLE

Ever get home home after several hours at a wedding, all dressed up and feeling like: "it's our turn to shine"? Well, here is picture of one of the best looking couples (modesty aside) who attended such a wedding recently. Notice the cool tie my lovely bride recently brought me back from her visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright Museum in Chicago. Notice my gorgeous bride wearing a sexy outfit and the black pearl I bought her in Bora Bora. The background...well you've seen it before, but we never get tired of it. JIR

Attack of the Hummingbirds

As always, we put out our bird feeders when we arrived in Helena, and in the summer months, we add several Humming Bird feeders. Within 24 hours, we had two hummers, and as the week has gone on, the amount of birds have increased. Last night, our birds entertained us as we sat on the deck eating dinner, and about 8 or 9 hummers came to play, fight, feed and mostly divebomb each other. At times we would have 4 feeding on one feeder, with several on the other, and some in the air, hovering, just waiting to come crashing down.

FLOWERS AND WILDLIFE

Our flower garden in Montana is alive and well. A little Spring weeding and fertilizing, great sunlight from its southeast exposure, and drip-system watering keeps these plants coming back strong every year. Our resident chipmunk lives somewhere in the garden and regularly feeds on bird seed-he or she is a cutie

Sadly, the wine lounge I worked at, Meritage, was recently sold. These are pictures from our last hoorah, a "field trip" down to Denver.

Those wine glasses are huge!! I am one classy lady. (Balancing a spoon on my nose at a fancy restaurant...nicely done)
Ready for the circus!
The pictures above are from our first night, when we went to dinner at a fantastic restaurant called "1515." After dinner, we went to see Cirque de Soleil! The guy on the bike was our ride from the car to the tent - these bikers were everywhere downtown, transporting people around for tips.

POSTCARDS FROM MONTANA 7-10-07

To some of you, reading about us vacationing in Montana may sound mundane or routine. Looking at these images may quickly change your opinion. It starts from the bottom up with grain bins at the end of a gravel road, the OHara's gorgeous new home, rows of golden wheat ready to be harvested next week, and the mighty Missouri-first image just west of Fort Benton and the others around Hardy, MT on our way back to Helena. Unfortunately, I did not document in pictures the most fulfilling portion of our visit-nurturing and enjoying the wonderful friendships of Judy and Herb Hazen, Ann and Don Hazen, Janet and Harvey Worrall, and almost the entire O'Hara clan (Hillary, we'll have to catch up with you soon). We also caught up with several other friends during a get together at our home in Clancy. Mundane or routine? Never when we visit Montana.