Monday, August 30, 2010

Montana Vacation!

Sadly, the whirlwind that was our Montana vacation is over. Luckily, we came across some photos to remind us of the good times had and not just the days spent driving!

It started with a 16+ hour drive to my parent's house in MT, followed shortly thereafter by an 8 hour drive to Whitefish to watch miss Shelby get married. She looked absolutely stunning and luckily the setting was almost as beautiful. We used to refer to one another as "soulmate" but I guess I got bumped out of that position! I'm okay with that, though. Rob and Shelby look so happy together!

While in Whitefish, I got to see some of my BBT and choir friends from college, which was great! It had been far too long to say the least! We spent the evening walking around, drinking, and sharing stories old and new. Love you guys!


Another 8 hour drive took us back to my parent's house, where we spent most of our time gorging on Flathead cherries, scolding the out-of-control herd of mutts, and hanging out. Jared and I continued our traditional vacation he-runs-while-I-ride-along-on-a-bike outings and even did some fly fishing with the fam. (It should be noted that I caught 5+ fish to each of Jared's...but who's counting anyway?)







The dogs also had an amazing time playing in the water and practically demanded their own section of photos.






From MT, we cruised down to Jackson Hole, WY for a quick get-together with a couple of my roomies from college! The drive through Yellowstone Park, while beautiful, was as slow as molasses and took us 7.5 hours. Needless to say, I'm afraid we didn't arrive in the best of spirits. I believe that I demanded a glass of wine immediately upon exiting the car! We did get some pretty rad photos, though, even taken from a moving car.


When insanity starts to set in, the only thing left to do is take pictures...so that's what we did...


And just when we thought we couldn't take it anymore...we saw this...




The rest of that Friday night in Jackson is a blur of sushi, wine, dancing, shooting pool, and laughing so hard my abs hurt and I almost wet my pants then laughing some more!

I love these ladies SO much and can't believe it had been 3 years since I'd last seen them!

Sadly, this is where vacation took a turn for the worse. Not only were we totally over being in a car, but I woke up the next morning with some sort of stomach flu, (which ended up lasting about a week. ugh). The girls and their guys went kayaking for the day, while I stayed in bed and watched the Food Network. It was still beyond great to see them, and I'm glad we made the trip!

Fourteen hours of driving later, we arrived home.

While I'm sad that time passed so quickly, some time away gave me the much needed break from the ordinary and hope for a future filled with laughter, mountains, room to breathe, and good company!

In conclusion:
3,700 miles +
2 dogs +
a handful of old friends +
family +
the great outdoors =
AWESOME!