Tuesday evening....we just got back to our campground after our trek up to Sperry Chalet.  What a great group of friends to share this adventure with!  We left out early Sunday morning in the rain for the 6.4 mile hike UP to Sperry Chalet--and I do mean up--every step was up, up, up.  We couldn't see too much for all the low-lying clouds, but we made it up about 3 p.m.  We were SO wet!  After shedding our wet clothes and  hanging them around the pot-belly stove to dry.  There was so much fog that the visibility was about 10 feet!  We couldn't appreciate the beauty that was around us because we couldn't see it!  After enjoying Thanksgiving dinner at Sperry Chalet we looked outside and the clouds were clearing.  We could see beautiful mountains and scenery!   Monday morning we woke up to a beautiful day and after breakfast we headed up to Sperry Glacier.  It was 3.7 miles UP (again).  I don't have the words to tell you what an amazing hike it was...waterfalls, glacial lakes, mountains with the fresh snow from the day before.  I hope you can get an idea from the pictures.  After lunch at the glacier, we  headed down and enjoyed the hike down just as much. 

After dinner, we played Trivial Pursuit.  Oh, Sperry Chalet has NO electricity, No heat, No running water!  We kind of roughed it.  There was a very nice self-composting toilet building though.  They do all the cooking on propane stoves and have propane lights in the dining hall. 

We had all decided that we would take the long hike out (over 13 miles) instead of taking the same hike that we did up to Sperry.  It would be long, but we would have some beautiful trails and scenery.  Then when we woke up this morning--it was sleeting!  So we changed plans and took the short route.  It was still a very nice hike and we could see more than we could going up.

So...I would recommend putting Sperry Chalet on your bucket list--if that is "your thing."  It is a very unique and special place.  The people who work there are so nice and love being there and serving their guests.

Tomorrow Don and I, Ann and David head to the east side of the park.  We will spend a few more days hiking.  Then Don and I will head north to Canada.  I'll post again when we have internet!

Gem Mountain, Montana

My sweet husband drove us WAY out into the middle of nowhere Montana to that I could hunt for sapphires at Gem Mountain!  On the Travel Channel I saw a show about a lady who went here and other places looking for semi-precious stones.  I knew I wanted to go, but didn't think I ever would.  I LOVE things like this!  So Don drove so that we got there just in time before they closed for the day, and we looked through buckets of dirt and rocks looking for these sapphires. Don learned the trick of washing the dirty rocks in the trough. Doesn't he look like he is having FUN in the picture?  I know they don't look like much here...remember they aren't ready to mount yet! Sapphires come in all colors and shades of gold, green, blue and even pink! I did find one that was big enough to facet.  Don couldn't believe it...but I bought another bag of dirt, rocks and (hopefully) sapphires to look through when we get home.  I think the big one is in there!

Tetons and Yellowstone

It was hard to choose just these photos from over 900!  I hope you enjoy them.  The first ones are from the Tetons and then Yellowstone.  As you can see we are all having a wonderful time and seeing beautiful sights and amazing animals.  We are leaving Yellowstone today and headed north.  Hopefully, I will be able to go to a sapphire mine and hunt for sapphires!  

Brad's Office

Brad's office at RSI...nice view!

Hello from Yellowstone

It is Wednesday.  Tonight we are staying at the beautiful rustic Old Faithful Inn in one of the historic rooms.  We have camped out for the last 7 nights and really enjoyed it.  Well, except for the night we almost froze to death!
Thanks to friends giving us another sleeping bag and blanket we were warmer the next nights.  Tonight we will enjoy being in an inn.  Yellowstone has been quite an experience.  We have seen so much wildlife--hundreds and hundreds of bison (one I could have reached out of my car window and touched), grizzley bears and cubs (from a distance), wolves, pronghorn, elk, mule deer, eagles, and other small birds and mammals.  I have taken over 900 pictures so far this trip.  I will get them downloaded tonight and post some tomorrow.  It's going to be hard to choose a few!  We have enjoyed evening meals with Ann and David and Tom and Judy and visiting around the campfire.  We will be heading up toward Glacier tomorrow.  Our hike to Sperry Chalet begins on Sunday morning.  We will hike out on Tuesday and spend more time in Glacier either doing more hikes or recuperating from the 12-mile hike out! 

We are having so much fun.  The first 2 weeks have gone quickly.  We have decided that we are just going with the flow and aren't making any definite plans when we will be back home.  I will post as I can, but we don't always have internet connections.  Love, Don and Kathy

Grand Tetons

Here we are in the Tetons!  We have a beautiful campsite here.  Last night Jill, John, Tom and Judy joined Don, me, Ann and David for a fajita dinner, watch the sunset over the Tetons and Lake Jackson and then a campfire.  We have been on a couple of wonderful hikes.  Today Don, Ann, and David fished while I took pictures.  We are headed in to Jackson tonight to the Scottish Festival.  Tomorrow we break camp and head up to Yellowstone!  I will add pictures soon!

Fun in Denver

We've been busy since arriving at Brad's.  Don went flying yesterday along with Brad and Blair.  Don even got to fly the airplane for a while!  We have met many of the people who Brad works with at RSI.  They are a great group of people.  Today was a very exciting day at the apiary.  Brad's neighbor Paul has many, many hives and we spend most of the day robbing honey.  It was fascinating!  There were hundreds of thousands of bees around us.  As you will see in the pictures, we wore the complete bee suits.  We learned the whole process and saw the honey as it came out of the separator.  It is delicious honey!  We have two big jars.  One is for Justin Bezner because he requested honey with the honeycomb in it.  Tomorrow we will make a visit to Brad's office and then off to Steamboat Springs. 

We are nearly packed!

Tomorrow is the big day--we leave on our first BIG road trip. We are nearly packed. The car is loaded down. We just have to add our suitcases. We're getting very excited to hit the road. We've been married nearly 40 years and have been blessed to do a lot of traveling--but I think this is the biggest adventure yet!! We hope to add regular posts and add pictures. Emily assures me that I can figure it out.

We would appreciate your prayers for safe travels and hikes.

Our first stop is Abilene to visit a few cousins and drive by the homes we grew up in. Then we will head to Colorado for some time with Brad.