What MacKenzie has been up to...

Boom and MacK

Miss MacKenzie got to stay at her "boyfriend's house" since Susie is in Africa right now. MacK loves staying with Boomer (OK, Bob and Judy!) and always sends us a lot of photos when she's there. We love that!

Nap time! 

That little pup sure isn't shy and just makes herself at home no matter where she is staying. Here she is in Bob's chair taking a little nap.

"Which ball do you fancy?"

She also "lets" them play ball with her. She even gives them options. What a thoughtful pup. ;)

Catching yet another nap...

Judy says she and Boom have taken many walks, played a ton of ball both inside and out and have just plain stayed busy. They have so much fun together.

MacK "sharing" Bob's chair with him

We even got a photo tonight of MacKenzie agreeing to let Bob sit in his own chair with her. She's a mess. We have loved being out here but are excited to be reunited with this little puppy!

Flathead Lake

This morning we slept in a bit and then got dressed to go for a hike. We stopped at the grocery store last night so we were able to eat breakfast at the cabin. It was so nice not to have to go out to eat. Sometimes that is what gets oldest when traveling. Jackson found a hiking trail near the Swan River which flows into Flathead Lake. We hiked along it for about 5 miles.

Taking a break by the water

I wore a hat to try to combat ticks. I clearly don't do well with hats as I cannot pose and wear one. Oops! 

We were able to peep on a deer accidentally, too. 

Does a deer pee in the woods?

"Excuse me, folks, can a girl get some privacy?!"

Other than looking at us like we were rude the deer just hung out right near the trail. I think the deer around here are pretty used to seeing people. That or they're just chill like all of the people in this part of the country. 

"I like this photo, but that tree is in my way!"- Me

"I'll move it out of the way!"- Jackson

Jackson is so funny. I complained about the tree ruining my photo and he agreed to go hold it down. The tree wilted under his weight and he went flying down the hill. I screamed. He laughed. He was fine and enjoyed giving me a hard time about how much he sacrifices for my blog. He always calls it "my blog" when he is talking to me and then calls it "our blog" to everyone else. I feel like he needs to pick a side. ;)

FINALLY! I got the photo I wanted! 

In the end I needed to just move down the trail a bit to get that tree out of my way.

A view from the lake

After our hike we came back to the cabin and made PB&J sandwiches before heading out on the lake. Is there anything more lake-like than PB&Js? Jackson thought it was SO weird that I wanted to have them instead of ham sandwiches, but whatever. They were awesome. The guy we are renting the cabin from owns a water sports rental place so we got standup paddleboards from him.

Jackson taking a break on the water

Jackson did standup occasionally, for a short, short time, but I was only snapping photos when we were taking breaks.

Heading to shore to go to the Dragon Boat races

Jackson got to shore first and was able to snap a few shots of me coming in, too.

Hi!

Putting in work.

Still coming in...

Look how clear the water is!

Dragon boat races

They were really cool races

The winners!

We stopped in at the little festival celebrating the dragon boat races. We had what have to be the best noodles ever made. Hands down. (http://www.islandnoodles.com/ ) It turns out they only do a booth at little festivals and don't have an actual location. I wanted to cry.

Jackson eating our Island Noodles...AMAZING!

The festival was missing a lemon shakeup vendor, though. That was a disappointment. Clearly regional specialties like this haven't made it out this way yet. ;)

Our attempt at a clear water picture

You cannot believe how clear the lake's water is. I could actually see the boat's anchors hit the bottom when the water was exceptionally deep. I got brave and tried some yoga poses on my paddleboard. I got a few done pretty well and was shaky on others. I continued my streak of not falling off the board. Jackson....did not. He improved from his first try at Saxony Lake, but he still just isn't a great SUP'er. That's OK. He says he is in "disbelief" that I am better than he is. I don't know if that should offend me or not. ;)

Making fun of me...AGAIN

We tried to stop in at one of the original MacKenzie River locations for dinner but they did not have a television to allow us to watch the Michigan vs. Notre Dame game. WHAT?! A restaurant with a bar and no television? Lame! We went on down the road to a place called the Montana Club per the hostess' suggestion.

We had some pretty good nachos!

We thoroughly enjoyed watching the Wolverines smack down the Irish. We were having a nice dinner when these people sat down next to us. They were watching a different game and the woman had be over-served. Before long she was talking about how her date had taken "magic pills" and was now an "animal in bed" and she felt like a "sex slave" and needed a break. Ma'am, you look to be my mother's age, I need a break from YOU. Vomit!!!

T.M.I.

We got home and noticed that the sky was FILLED with stars so Jackson assembled these cots and we watched the sky for a bit. It was just gorgeous.

Stargazing 

I cannot believe this is the same sky that we see from Indiana every night. It was literally bursting with stars. I cannot recommend enough coming out to Montana, folks. It is just an absolute must.

Exploring the country a tad...

We woke up to a wet Spokane, but since the rain had stopped we ventured out in search of Frank's Diner. We googled, "best breakfast Spokane" and read over and over that we couldn't go wrong with Frank's. They were right. Frank's is in an old train car and was super quaint and cute. It was about a mile walk from our hotel through downtown Spokane so we got to see a little more of the city that way, too.

I think everyone should eat in an old train car at least once

It was SO cute inside! 

The people of Frank's were some of the nicest we've encountered. I'm tell you, people in this part of the country are just sweet as can be. We decided that the hospitality one used to find in the Midwest has moved up here. Jackson had their grilled biscuits and gravy and hasn't stopped talking about them revolutionizing the way he'll eat biscuits since. I had a fantastic vegetarian omelet with salsa and hashbrowns. You guys, the hashbrowns at this place were magnificent. We finished our lovely breakfast then headed back to the hotel to check out. I'd read about a park in the middle of Spokane that I wanted to visit so we headed that way. If a park is #1 on TripAdvisor I'm there. Manito Park didn't let us down! We stopped in the Japanese garden first and found our zen. ;) 

"DO I LOOK RELAXED?!"

"Babe, like this..."

"THAT KOI FISH COULD EAT MACKENZIE!"- Jackson

"OH THAT IS PRETTY!"- Jackson

I have all of Jackson's quotes in all caps because he missed the serenity part of the garden and was getting on my nerves  talking A LOT. We headed over to the garden that the park is known for and marveled at its beauty.

Such a gorgeous garden

I loved these arches

A little oasis in the middle of a city!

We hiked around the park and took in its loveliness before getting in the car for a long trip back to Montana. This time we'd be staying in the little town of Bigfork right on Flathead Lake.

Hooray! Hooray! 

You guys, the drive from Spokane (which takes you through Idaho, of course) to Bigfork was gorgeous.

I LOVE trees!

The view from the side of the road...seriously gorgeous!

I couldn't stop taking photos of the splendor. 

We read about the National Bison Range at a rest-stop (What? You don't get travel tips when you're stopping to pee? That's odd. HA!) and decided that it was worth a stop. We were probably a little wrong on that, though. Ha!

A stuffed Bison in the ranger's office. It was only mildly creepy.

A little background info...

They collect all of the shed antlers and put them here

Pretending one poked me. Don't worry, I think I'm funny and that's all that matters.

We started on the drive around the park and quickly got to a road up the side of a mountain WITHOUT GUARDRAILS. I hate when that happens. At one point I told Jackson that I'd rather be sitting in a cinnamon bath, drinking cinnamon tea, eating a cinnamon roll and listening to Eric Clapton songs than be where I was driving at that moment. He knew things were not going well at that point. Luckily, the climb ended and we were just on flat roads with steep drop-offs. What an upgrade. ;)

There are those bison we wanted to see!

Keep in mind that Jackson was terrified of bison as a young boy so I was not sure how he'd react to seeing them to close to the car. He was fine and kept trying to get out of the vehicle even though that is prohibited since bison are known to charge people.

The bison have a nice view

We enjoyed seeing the other animals, too, like this deer.

"I'm all ears. No really, I am!" HA! :)

When I was able to stop convulsing from going up and down the side of a mountain WITHOUT GUARDRAILS I was able to acknowledge how pretty it was up there.

Do you like my dirt/gravel road? I didn't either.

Doing his best Steve Irwin impression

We stopped at a designated spot to get out and snap some photos when I saw a pronghorn antelope behind a rock. I was on edge about rattlesnakes because they were supposedly especially prevalent this year so I had my eyes peeled. Jackson didn't see him until I pointed him out. I'm just a natural hunter who doesn't hunt I guess.

Jackson proving that he knows the touchdown sign even if this was the wrong venue

I keep thinking we were living in a screensaver because the scenery was just gorgeous

Our antelope friend again. He didn't seem to mind us. 

We think he was sick because he was all alone. Poor guy!

Elk cooling off in the river

If there weren't bears around I would have gotten in the river, too. It was blasted hot on that mountain!

"Oh what a nice road!"- said no one. Ever.

Signs said it should take 2 hours to get through the park. Always one for a challenge, I refused this time table. We were out on 1.25 hours. We enjoyed passing fellow park goers in our Buick. They probably thought Grandma and Grandpa were in an awfully big hurry. Nope. I just wanted off that mountain.

"The things I do for you..."- Jackson

We had ZERO cellphone reception so we had to stop at a little gift shop outside of the park for directions. We also got some huckleberry jam which is all the rage around here. I'm excited to try it when we get home. From there we finally hit the home stretch to get to our little cabin in the woods of Bigfork, MT.

Our Montana home for the next 3 days

A little 1 bed, 1 bath cabin in the woods

You cannot tell, but the kitchen area is actually quite nice

Montana at its most real

A panoramic view of our cabin

We found this place on a website called airbnb.com and were a little skeptical because it was only $75 a night. It turns out it was not too good to be true and we really do get an awesome place to stay for that price. I love when that happens! Once we were all settled into our temporary home, we headed down to Flathead Lake to watch the sunset.

Gosh, it is so ugly here. ;)

What a cute sunset gazing boy.

This is the life.

I told you I loved the panoramic function.

This will be us tomorrow- standup paddleboarding!

We loved the sunset over the lake and mountains. This is just the most gorgeous part of the country. We stopped in at a laundry place to wash our disgusting-from-hiking-so-much clothes and then grabbed a quick Mexican dinner before retiring to our cabin in the woods for the night. It was a busy day of driving, but we got to see a lot of the country to it was worth it. Today (Saturday) we intend to stay around the lake and out of the car as much as possible!