Everlasting Summer

July came suddenly. We had a long spring in Yellowstone, with cooler temps, random June snow showers, and lots of rain. July came in its full glory, vaulting us from 70 degrees to 95 degrees overnight.  Although we have gone hiking almost every weekend, going camping just hasn’t happened yet.

Fishing just hasn’t been the same for Tony since New Zealand.  Not only are the rivers too high to fish right now, he is still just having withdrawals from those gin clear rivers on the other side of the world. So he had to find something else to occupy his time with this spring, which is Elk shed hunting.  For those that don’t know what this is, Elk have really big antlers that fall off every spring. People then go into the National Forests and try to find these antlers and then they are able to sell them, sometimes for a very pretty penny.  Tony got lucky and did find a few antlers, but really just getting into the woods and getting off trail is what he has come to love the most. He has taken us and the dogs on some fun adventures into more seldom explored areas this spring.

I had an adventure of my own this spring by getting to work in Glacier National Park. The company I work for took over some of the hotels in Glacier (including restaurants, gift shops, etc inside the hotels.) The park is 7 hours north of Yellowstone on the Montana-Canadian border. What started off as a 4 day trip, turned into 3 weeks, but with that kind of mountain scenery there were no complaints on my part.  The views are breathtaking with teal glacier water, high rugged mountains, and even the occasional free ranging horse meandering on the out skirting roads of the park. I had a wonderful time getting to work there and gained some great experience. I think Tony kind of missed me and was tired of eating frozen pizza and smoothies, so it was time for me to return to Yellowstone by mid June.

I returned to a blooming garden that Tony devotes at least an hour to every day. He ensures that all the plants have enough water, sunlight, and just general company and friendship they deserve. So far our we have baby green tomatoes, baby peppers, delicious carrots, kale, lettuce, onions, a handful of snow peas every day, and lots of squash plants starting to grow.  Needless to say having a house this year has been more than wonderful and we are enjoying every minute of it. We have two roommates, Becka and Krissy, who will be with us until the end of August. Tony has to put up with three girls and we all have to put up with Tony, it seems like an even keel to me!

The 4^th of July was as eventful as a small Montana town can get. Although there is not an organized fireworks show, there are just lots of people who by huge quantities of fireworks and just shoot them off in front of the local BBQ restaurant. I have never lived in a town that allowed fireworks within the city limits, especially not one that posts in the local newsletter to please “only use fireworks between June 24^th-July 4^th between noon and 11pm.”  We stayed at home and were able to have a wonderful show from the front window, overlooking several hours of fireworks in front of the moonlight mountain across the town. Roxy however didn’t appreciate the fireworks nearly as much, which resulted in lots of standing on me and breathing in my face while I was trying to sleep.  Sam ran around the yard and into the fence trying to get to the fireworks.

Summer is here and it is fun living on the hill, overlooking and watching this tiny town swell with visitors in these hot months.  There is ice cream, BBQ’s, hot sidewalks, young love, dogs walking, a river bustling with rafts and fisherman, flowers blooming, elk roaming, and the sweet sense that everyone is on vacation, even if you’re not.

Montana Bound

After spending the winter at our cozy little house in Texas, we have arrived back in Montana.  I have to admit it was a bittersweet departure, with trees budding out, bluebonnets blooming, and gardens being planted. As it still gets the occasionally snow day in Montana, I just get to experience spring twice really. The past few months I was working at a little organic market with wonderful people and a great atmosphere, and it was not easy to say goodbye. It was so nice to spend time with great friends, family, and just enjoying the simple life. A special thanks to all those who are in my life and I was able to spend time with again!  A funny thing happened while we have been away, my friends had babies or their babies got bigger, and it was so much fun to meet them and get to know them before we left again.  But as life goes, curiosity is sometimes just too hard to turn down, and we just had to see what was down this road.

                We packed as much as we could in the new Subaru and headed north with the 2 dogs.  Traveling with dogs is never easy, so we were not able to take a leisurely trip, but still tried to take our time. Our first stop was a quick visit with our friends Alicia and Collin in Lubbock while the dogs sniffed through the house, luckily they did not find their pet rabbits. We then headed onwards to Amarillo where we stopped for the night and had a good dose of meat at the Big Texan Steakhouse, known for the 72 oz. steak. Clearly we did not accept that challenge of meat, but we did take the complimentary ride in an old limo with longhorns on the front to and from our hotel. The next morning we battled the wind and stopped off at the Cadillac Ranch to see these relics stuffed into the old Texas soil. I must admit I have never seen anything like it, but it was worth the 2 mile detour. We then drove through the corner of NM and straight through CO and onward to Casper WY, where we stopped for the night and ate at a 50’s diner with amazing hamburgers. The next morning we battled the several inches of snow that had fallen the night before in our new AWD vehicle and just took it slow on the roads. Sam had been excited for a whole 30 seconds about being in the car, and 24 driving hours later he was shaking in the backseat and completely done with the car ride. There were some slick patches, but luckily nothing that stopped us from making it to Gardiner right on schedule.

                Although we have worked in Yellowstone National Park for several summers, this will be the first time that Tony and I are both working in Gardiner MT. Anyone who knows a thing about this town also knows that finding a place to live is like winning the lottery. We lucked out and were able to rent an amazing house, with a gorgeous kitchen, a fenced in yard for the dogs (and a doggie door I hope they eventually learn to use), all with a view that takes your breath away. Each morning I make the 15 minute walk to work while I see Elk walking by the Yellowstone River, Mule Deer eating people’s grass, Antelope grazing in a field, and Bison walking down the middle of the main road in town. There are not too many morning commutes that involve any of those things, let alone all of them.  

                Our adventures have pretty much consisted of going grocery shopping in Bozeman, a few trips to the Vet to get Roxy’s abscessed tooth pulled, and getting our raised bed ready to garden. Tony has done yet another amazing job on creative gardening.  This is a 10x4ft wire covered garden bed with a double hinge opening, which will be perfect for keeping out those pesky deer. Hopefully by Friday we can have some greens and carrots planted, then onward to spring planting in the next few weeks (with plastic of course).

And yes, Tony finally got to go fishing! He was gone for about 2.5 hours and when I asked him if he caught anything, he responded with, “of course, I’m not in New Zealand, I caught 18.”  Although he is extremely happy to be fishing again and in this beautiful area, I think the real challenge will be putting away the big fishing net for awhile.  However when people catch that many fish, that just means maybe even I can catch a few this summer.

Butter and Biscuits

By the time we got back to TX, the durable Honda was starting to make an unreliable sound. We headed to San Angelo in West Texas to visit my Dad and other family. Luckily my Mom’s  family owns Wilson Tire & Automotive and they were able to take a look at my car and give me the bad news that the bearing in the transmission was bad and I needed a new transmission. I ordered a part online thanks to my dad’s quick research and just had to wait it out. There could be worse places to be stuck, that I am sure of. We stayed with my Dad for a few days and enjoyed some good home cooking and family time.

                One of the hitches was that we were supposed to be picking up the dogs, Sam and Roxy, that Sunday. Since my mom happened to be in town visiting my grandmother, we hitched a ride with her and all made our way back home with dogs in tow. The next two weeks we spent time at the house, organized, cleaned, filed paperwork, unpacked, and washed every dish in the house.  Being gone for 10 months really adds up to your chore list fast. We were also finally able to make the last major purchase for the house, a shiny new 5 burner stove. This is where the Pintrest and cooking addiction really set in. My friend Alicia came in for the weekend and we were able to make a home cooked meal of sweet potato burritos with avocado salsa verde and a pumpkin crunch cake. Lucky for me, Alicia just so happened to be heading slightly in the direction of my car and was gracious enough to go out of her way to get me back to the reliable Honda, after a detour to Ikea of course.

                Only a short week after I got my car back it was time to pack up again. Once again headed East, but along the northern route with 2 dogs. We spent the night in Jackson MS and made it to Tony’s mom’s (Rachel) house in Greenville SC the next day. After only one night Tony’s brother David and his family made a surprise trip to spend the weekend in SC and Virginia. Rachel made her famous chicken and dumplings and the kids had marshmallow banana boats by the campfire outside. The next day David’s family packed up for Virginia and Tony and I were close behind. We spent the next 2 nights visiting with Tony’s dad (Rudy) and his family in Virginia while the guys dressed up in camouflage and roamed into the woods seeking deer. It is always too short when family leave and we were glad that David, Vikki, Chris, Trevor, and Dustin were all able to visit while we were there too.

                The next few weeks we went back and forth from SC to Virginia another time, seeing as much family as we could. Since Tony and I are on an extreme budget, we didn’t do as much site seeing as we normally would, but we did get to enjoy some fall colors in SC when we first arrived and even saw a few snow flurries. We had an early Thanksgiving in VA and spent Thanksgiving with Rachel’s family in SC.  Tony is a magnet for babies and children and he had a good fix with rubber band babies (when you can give them back to their parents) for a while. Meanwhile young children still seemed terrified by me, so we all had a little entertainment.  Southern hospitality is always at its finest here were the biscuits are hot, the honey is flowing, and the butter is never in short supply. Every house we went to we tried new recipes and Rachel’s thanksgiving dinner was composed of many a Pintrest dishes that turned out beautifully. I can’t even count the butter I have consumed on this trip, and it will not be easy to burn off.  It is so nice to have gotten to spend this time with friends and family, but it will be nice to go home and sleep in our own bed again, even if that means hitting the gym and job hunting.

Florida

There is something about traveling that makes people want more, and we couldn’t just come back from NZ and start again, we needed a segue back into society. After 3 short days of sprawling out our belongings, unpacking, washing, and repacking clothes, we left Texas for a trip to Florida.  We packed up the durable Honda Civic with 225,000 miles on it and proceeded east and made our way to Gulf Port MS for a good night’s rest. The next day we arrived at Tony’s brother (David) family’s house just in time for a backyard BBQ dinner. Our jet lag was so bad coming back to the US that we had been staying up until 3am (bedtime is usually be 9:30) and had to do our best to get to sleep by midnight.

                Tony’s favorite time of year to fish in Florida is in September, and he has been unable to take a trip back in several years. Saturday Tony, David, Vikki (David’s wife) and Chris (Tony’s niece’s boyfriend) all fished in a kayak tournament and Tony and Vikki even placed at it, some might say beginners luck!  The next day we packed up the kayaks and headed for a camping trip on the beach. The tricky part of this trip was that the best place to fish was not the best place to camp. Tony’s friend Alan let us park the car at his house and dropped us off at a kayak point with David and Chris. The four of us kayaked out Simpson’s Creek for about an hour to Nassau Sounds, which is Tony’s happy place. Alan met us in his boat and we spent the day fishing and I caught up on some sleep and shell collecting. That evening Alan towed our kayaks to a nice spot to camp on the beach, dropped off our gear, and took Chris back to his truck. We set up the tent, ate some ramen noodles, and enjoyed the stars and the ocean waves. The next day Tony and David set out early to catch some fish, while I caught up on some more sleep, then met them for some more fishing. About noon we had a wonderful surprise when Alan showed up to fish with us and even brought some fried chicken.  We spent the next 2 nights battling the wind and the sand in our tent, food, hair, and other places you would never want sand. After our third night of no showers, we packed up and kayaked out all of our belongings, but Tony had the worst of it by towing an extra kayak full of camping gear behind him.  Due to a complicated parking situation, Tony and I ended up in the back of a pick-up truck roaring down the interstate to get back to my car parked at Alan’s house. There is nothing like laying on your back, covered in sand, reeking of camping, and staring at the Dam’s Point Bridge over your head to put you into your place in the world.

                After a few good days of rest and catching up with friends and family, we were back out on the beach. This time we convinced Tony’s 22 year old niece to join us for the night.  Tony and I had the luxury of getting dropped off on the boat by Alan, while the rest kayaked in.  This time the wind was not the problem, but the lack there of. Not only was it hot and muggy, but the sand flies were out with a vengeance, but after a rough night of camping the fishing was still pretty good. David out beat Tony on Redfish and it was a good day, even if Cortney will never camp again.  Tony and I stuck it out another night and then the rain came. There is one good thing about kayak camping in the rain, everything is already in waterproof bags. After a soaking wet kayak trip back to the road, Alan was there waiting to pick us up and give us back to the car, this time inside. A hot shower never felt so good.

                The next few days we visited more friends and family and made our way back to Texas. We stopped off in Alabama to the Lambert’s Throwed Rolls café and indulged on some southern cooking. Thanks to all the friends and family that let us crash on couches, beds, floors, etc!

Island Time

We arrived in Fiji around 7:45pm and quickly made our way through customs and hauled our bags to the hotel shuttle van. Our first night in Fiji we spent at the Raffles Gateway, which is close to the airport and convenient location for our resort shuttle the next day. Thank goodness the room was air conditioned, since we were not used to the hot and humid outside, which was vastly different than the cold New Zealand weather we had been experiencing for months. The next morning we awoke to rolling hills with palm trees and tropical flowers and made our way to our island resort.  

                The shuttle drive, complete with a Mother Mary air freshener and velour upholstery, was only about 15 minutes through the countryside to the port for the boat. We were able to see fields of sugar cane, small villages, people walking, and a little bit of the “real” Fiji, which is unfortunately very poor. After I grabbed a quick muffin at a shop, we boarded on a small boat for our 1.5 hour ride to the island. Fiji is made up of 300 small islands, and we were staying in the Yasawa Island chain which is on the Northwest coast. After a pretty smooth ride we got to Paradise Cove Resort about 10:30am and were greeted by a group of staff singing a welcome song and playing guitars on the beach. After our welcome drink we were shown to our adorable bungalow where we would be staying for 5 nights and had our luggage delivered to the room. The bed and room were adorned with hibiscus flowers, had A/C, TV, wifi, and a bathroom with a private outdoor shower.  we had just split. We then had our first dinner of many, which is in a covered area and opens up to the pool and view of the ocean and stars.

We ate a delicious lunch and headed out kayaking towards the neighboring island. The water was so clear you could see the coral reefs, fish swimming, blue starfish, and as far down as you could imagine. Since it was Friday they have a greeting ceremony where we were able to try Kava, a traditional root drink with an alcohol type affect, and sat with band while they played mellow music. After that the staff performed a dance and then all the people staying at the resort joined in, even Tony and I. Maybe that was due to the Kava and Pina Colodas

                Each day while we were in Fiji we either went on a snorkeling trip, kayaking, paddle boarding, or just sat on the beach and read. We were even able to hike around the mountain and get a good view of the reefs on the other side. The only thing we were disappointed about was our trip to a local island village and another trip to a mountain hike were cancelled due to weather. Most of the days were kind of windy, but we only had one day of rain and it was simply beautiful everywhere you looked. It was so relaxing that we could almost not handle it and by our departure day we were getting a little ancey to finish up our trip. I am not sure the island life would be for me, considering I would start getting motion sick after even snorkeling for more than half an hour. The meals were all phenomenal and had good variety and since the resort had only opened in July there were really only about 40 people staying there and really just felt like you had the place to yourself.

                So our peaceful island vacation came to an end, we boarded our boat and spent the next hour on a choppy ride back to the mainland. From there we made our way through the airport, checked our bags again with much more ease, and set in NadI’s dismal waiting area. Our flight was leaving at 10pm and the kids in the airport were as tired as the parents, leading to many an irritated family. The 4 year old near us yelled to his father, “I need to go toilet!” with a quick response of “not now!” from the father, lead to a response I have never heard from a child regarding the bathroom, “but I’m desperate, I’m desperate!!”

                We spent the next 10 hours flying across the Pacific Ocean, trying to sleep among the coughing and hacking of the people around us, always a comforting thing when flying from a third world country. After we landed in LA about 2pm local time, we got our bags, went through customs, and were screened through security for the 5^th time that month. The difference was that every time we go through security either Tony or I hold both passports and tickets, but this time we got yelled at for it, welcome to LA. We leisurely found our gate, and I got my welcoming American snack of Cheetos and we took in the overwhelming senses of the hugeness that surrounded us. Another 3 hours flight and we arrived in Austin at 10pm Wed. August 28^th and our long, wild trip came to an end over pancakes at Kerby Lane Café.  But not for long, since we were leaving for Florida in 3 short days.