Our wonderful trip!

We had a really really great time in Montana. It's always good to sit back and relax for a long bit.

I'll skim some of the highlights here, but really a trip to Montana is mostly about staying outside all day long and playing cards at night. The best stuff ever. I will post some pictures later, once I get unpacked.



Chicago: We drove to Chicago in order to catch the train and save some time and money. Good idea in theory, but it didn't work out as well as we had planned. We got to Chicago with many hours to spare before we needed to be at the train. We parked our car and decided to take the boys to the Willis Tower (new name for the Sears Tower). They recently installed 4 all glass slide out boxes. Each box is 4 feet deep and about 8 feet wide. These boxes are solid glass and so you feel like you are standing on nothing when you step out over the city. The boys had absolutely no fear and Sammy spent his entire time laying down on the glass with his face plastered downward, looking at the cars and city below him. We got some great pictures!



Amtrak: The train that we rode out to Whitefish was the exact same train that I have been riding since I was a kid. Nothing had been updated. No plug-ins for computers or anything. Overall, not horrible on the ride out. Jay and I were really tired from driving all night but the kids did really well. 32 hours after boarding the train, we arrived on time in Whitefish. All in all, even being an older train, it is still a great way to travel. For those who have never traveled by train, here's some details. We've never done a sleeping car because of the price so I only have info on coach seating. There are no assigned seats, just assigned cars. The conductors tell you what car to sit in so that they let you off at the correct stop. Seats are in sets of two and are larger than aircraft seats. They also have a leg rest and a foot rest and the back leans back slightly farther. Two train seats together is about the same width as three airplane seats. There is no arm rest between the pair of seats so it makes spreading out really easy. There is a fold down tray on the seat in front of you, but if you are at the front of the car (first pair of seats) you don't get the tray, but get much more leg room (and still have foot rest). On the trip out, Sam and I were in the first seats with Jay and Tom directly behind and Joe across from Jay. The bigger boys wanted trays for coloring, while I desired the extra room. There is plenty of room for the kids to sit on the floor and have their toys on their seat (as if it were a table). The train is noisy at times, but typically people get quiet at night. There is a dining car (needs reservations and is really pricy). A passenger can carry on any food and non-alcoholic drinks they would like to have. There is also a cafe car that sells sandwiches, snacks, breakfast items, sodas, water, juice, and alcoholic drinks. They are a little pricy, but not as bad as the dining car, plus you just walk down there anytime it is open. Bathrooms (for some reason) are exactly like airplane bathrooms. The cars we ride in are double levels with seats on the upper floor for most everyone, handicapped seating downstairs and bathrooms downstairs. The upper level of the train is the only level that you can travel car to car on. It is fairly cheap to travel by train and kids travel half price. Each ticketed passenger is allowed two carryons (not counting purses, laptops or diaper bags) and three checked bags.
Our train home arrived almost 4 hours late into Chicago which was a drag. At least it was on time on the way out.



Whitefish: It is a beautiful place and I still love it. It has grown very much over the years and the neighboring town of Kalispell is starting to look very East Coast. The weather was really pretty good, with 93 degree days and 45 degree nights. It did rain all night one night and the last two days of our trip had much cooler days at about 77 and overcast.



Big Mountain: We drove up to the Whitefish Ski Resort on Sunday. We then rode a gondola car to the summit of Big Mountain and took a look around. The first plan had been for Sam and I to ride back down since we didn't think he would be up for the walk down. I really didn't want to ride back down. (In all honesty, the gondola car made me feel a bit panicky, and while I could have ridden a chair lift down, I wasn't sure that would make me feel much better.) So we decided to hoof it down as a family. The grade was very steep and the boys complained almost the entire time. Jay and I enjoyed it though my calf muscles were screaming by the time we got down. We got some great photos and saw many many pretty wild flowers as we walked down.



Glacier Park: The day after we walked down Big Mountain, we gathered the boys into the car and drove 1/2 a hour up the road to Glacier Park. I have lots of good memories from Glacier as a kid and it is a tradition to go there, even if you don't make it all the way up the Going To The Sun Road. Our goal was to make it to the top this time. So we did. We drove to the top of Logan Pass on the Going To The Sun Road. We got out at the visitor center where it was a cool 55 degrees and decided to hike up to the Hidden Lake Overlook, 1.5 miles away, uphill. The first 1/3 of the path is a wooden boardwalk, with sorta steep, tilted steps. We got to see some snow and lots of snowmelt waterfalls. Really pretty. About 3/4 of the way up the trail, we encountered a mother mountain goat and her kid. Some tourists had isolated the kid on one side of the trail while mommy was headed through the trees on the other side. The poor baby was crying and crying for its mother. Finally most people got out of the way (only after being asked many times by several of us bystanders), but there was still one teenage/collage age girl that wouldn't move. She was trying to get a cellphone picture of the poor baby. Even after the kid crossed the road and ran into the trees, she was still following them. Perhaps, the girl would have acted better if it was a grizzly bear instead of a mountain goat, but I am not sure. We saw several goats on the trip up to and back from Hidden Lake. We went to the overlook and someone pointed out some bighorn sheep. They were hidden about a mile away and could only be seen with binoculars, and still not clearly even then. The older boys wanted to continue on the trek, but the trail continued for another 1.5 miles and went down next to Hidden Lake. To continue would have been downhill, but the 3 miles back to the car would have been too much. It's not very easy to carry Sam if he needs it because we need our arms to balance ourselves. The path is fairly tricky at times. We decided just to head back. Once we finally got back to the parking lot, a ranger mentioned to Jay that there were some bighorn sheep at the end of the parking lot. We walked over there and sure enough, there were about 8-10 bighorn sheep grazing in a meadow about 30 feet from the end of the parking lot. Thankfully, there was a stone wall to keep everyone back with signs asking people to stay on the path. The meadows can get damaged fairly easily by foot traffic so it is important to stay off the grasses. It was great to see the sheep up close as usually they are just some blobs on the side of a distant mountain.



Molly: My brother and his wife brought their brand new puppy Molly along for the trip. The boys don't really remember any of our dogs being puppies so they thought it was so much fun to play with her. She really liked the boys. She is also one pampered pup and got even more attention than usual with three boys and extra adults to watch after her. She is a really cute little Wheaten Terrier.



My grandfather: We found out some bad news while in Montana, my grandfather has prostate cancer. He is currently undergoing chemo for it and it is basically a wait and see situation. This was really sad news as he has always had pretty good health. So far, he is feeling pretty good with only some minor problems on the days that he gets his shots. His doctor says that Grandpa is doing better with the shots than anyone he has ever seen.

Playing cards: Every trip we ever took to Montana and any time my grandparents came to visit us, my parents would stay up extremely late playing pinochle. Over the last 7-8 years, us grandkids have been allowed to sub in for one grandparent or another. This year, my parents and Jay and I played several games. Jay and I also played with Nick and Kelly and my Grandparents. For some reason, Jay and I never play with my parents or Nick and Kelly any other time we see them. It's a family tradition and a competive one at that.

Badmitton: The other big Montana family tradition. Nick and I used to play for hours as kids. Back and forth, we'd hit the birdie with the goal of seeing how many times we could hit it in a row. Every year, we get the stuff out (no net, though) and play. We are passing it along to our kids too.

Big Sky Water Park: The big boys love to go there. We had planned to leave Sam with my parents and go there, but my parents ended up going into town that day so I had to stay behind to watch Sam. My grandparents are really up to watching a little kid. Jay and my brother Nick took Joe and Tom and had a really fun time. Tommy was actually able to ride some of the slides without an adult this year.

Overall, a great trip and I am sure that I am leaving something out.