Camping in an old Fire Lookout

I read about the West Fork Butte fire lookout online last winter, and had been curious to see it since.  It is a retired fire look-out cabin, with windows giving you a 360 view of the beautiful forest around Lolo.   (Although there were storm shutters up on half of it while we were there.  It had snowed the night before.)         We were able to get reservations for last night... and here it is:

The drive up the mountain side was a little scary, with your typical sheer mountain drop-off on one side, but once we got to the ridge it wasn't too bad.   The cabin had some neat furnishings.

An old propane stove, and old cabinets, a fire box, and a wood stove to keep warm.

Four comfy bunks, and a card table with chairs completed the stylish arrangements.

The view from the top of the mountain was beautiful.  Nothing but forested mountains for as far as you could see.

It was a little tricky climbing over the shale rocks everytime we wanted to get in or out of the cabin, but it made it memorable.

Rock Throwing was the evening main activity.  The kids would hurl rocks down, to smash onto other rocks, and echo for miles.

Even Syliva got into the action...showing us her run-and-throw technique - which I soon put a stop to because I was afraid the momentum would carry her right over the edge along with her rock.

The boys got tired of little rocks, and started hurling  giant slabs.  Perhaps all this noise is what kept us from seeing much wildlife.

The clouds and the view were amazing.  It would be neat to watch the sky in all types of weather.  I'd love to see a good snow storm from the inside view of the cabin.

The evening ended with some games of Magic, around a lantern, with a nice cross breeze blowing throw a couple open windows.

On the way out, I took this picture of a clump of bear grass.  It was everywhere.  I don't think I've ever been anywhere where it was so prolific.

All in all, it was a memorable adventure. The cabin and the view was very cool. Trying to jog down the rocky pile 100 yards to the outhouse was less cool... but still very memorable. 

I'd like to see some other look-outs.  It definately was the most quiet campsite we've had in a long time.  Apparently they are popular with bikers in the west.  I can see why... although I wouldn't want to make that ride up the mountain on a bike.

Sean Flies in to Missoula!!

It is always more fun with the party dad around.  So, when Sean flew in to visit, we were all very happy.  First stop was the Saturday morning farmers market, where we shared our favorite street pirogues with him.

 Syliva was excited to find lots of strawberries in Grandpa's berry patch.

 She was very proud that her basket got more than mine.  (Although I think Grandpa helped her fill it!)

 Grandma Liz is becoming famous for her superb waffles.  Tasty, and speedy.  Three cheers for her new waffle maker:  "Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!"

 We have had some afternoon fun hanging out at the LDS institute.  It is tough to believe I graduated from there almost 20 years ago.  Asher's tennis playing skills seem to translate over to the ping-pong table.  He was fierce.

 I had a good time playing a fierce game of pool with Sean.  He claims her became a pool shark at the McMullin family reunions in Canada.  Mattias was thrilled to have a piano to practice on.

  We also got to watch the first time 80 mph winds came off the mountains, and tore though the neighborhood.  It knocked down a section of Brad's fence, and one of his apricot trees in the back yard.  Luckily they had the McMullin branch clean-up crew from Wisconsin to help clean the yard.

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 The up side of the storm was that the power went out, and it was kind of dark and chilly.  Mattias lit a fire in the fireplace and made us hot chocolate, while we played cards. It was cozy.

 Another day found us again in the Rattlesnake.   Sylvia seems to think everything is funny.

 The best part of this Rattlesnake outing was the swarm of butterflies by the creek.  Syliva loved trying to catch one on her finger.  They seemed to like Sean's blue pants best.

Coastal Adventures

The joke in the family is that when I look at places on Google Maps, they all look so close, that I invariably ask "Why not visit there, and there, and there?" After all, New York is just a jaunt from Wisconsin.. and Nova Scotia is not far from there... and Greenland is just a little ways off shore. - You get the idea. Noel seems to find the most amusement in my view of global geography.

 At any rate... that is how we ended up at the Oregon coast. What is another 1,400 miles after crossing the country in same distance the week before? I also wanted to spend my 40th birthday doing something other than laundry. - Thus a trek to the coast was born.

 Below is Asher's face when we first pulled into our campground on the coast. The first site of the ocean is pretty spectacular. His voice kept going up with aniticipation..."Oh! Oh! Oh!" as his fingers drummed against his chin.

 

 We headed down to the beach.. where everyone promptly got totally soaked.

We spent hours chasing in and out of the waves.. 

At low tide, we walked to the far end of the beach (Cape Lookout, Oregon)  and climbed up on some rocks to watch the waves.  The boys developed a rating system, and spent an hour judgeing the height of the various waves by how close to use they splashed spray.

Sylvia relied on Asher to protect her from the ocean.  She decided after the trip that she prefered swimming in a swimming pool.

We had a great time beachcombing.  Sylvia found a creek flowing onto the beach that was perfect for washing all our sand dollars in.

The beach in this area is over 2 miles long... and we walked most of it - back and forth.  We had a good time looking for sand dollars, and trying to avoid "sneaker waves".

This picture was taken by some people also out enjoying the sunset.  It was a good way to end my 40th birthday.  I think though, that for my 50th... I'd like to spend it above the Arctic Circle in Sweden.  - We'd better start saving.

Since the tide pools along our campground beach were less than impressive, we got up early the next morning and went to Cape Kiwanda, about 30 miles south.  It had some spectacular rock formations, and great tide pools.  We got there at 7 am, in drizzling rain, but nobody cared.  It was amazing scenery.

The plants in the pools were almost as exciting for me to see as the animals.  I loved the lacey pink plants edging several of the pools.  We also were very surprised to pick up a pretty shell and have legs explode out and start wiggling.  Sylvia screamed and threw the shell in the air.  We are now familiar with hermit crabs.

Sylvia thought it was very exciting to discover a heart shaped tide-pool.  I'm sure God made it just for her.

This beach was really fun to explore on.  It had lots of rocks jutting out into the waves, so it was a bit like a maze to find your way around from one to the other.

On the last day, the sunshine cam out... and the kids decided to try a new game.  (Their old game had been to stand in the water for 3 hours, up to their waists, get totally numb from the cold, and not get knocked over or sucked out to sea.)   This new game was were the boys would form a blockade, and try to keep Sylvia safe from the waves.

It didn't always work as planned.  But, it was exciting to watch.

This wave coming in the picture below continued on, totally rolling everybody over on their backs, and scraping them along the sand.  Asher had the pressense of mind to grab Sylvia and keep her head above water as they were being tossed along like little pebbles.
    After that wave, Sylvia decided this was not a good game to play... and we moved back about 30 feet where only our toes got foamed.

The boys were a great help with cooking dinner and setting up and taking down tents - even in the pouring rain.  Sylvia relaxed the last night, and enjoyed drawing picutures of ocean rocks covered with fairies, mermaids, and characters from Avatar.

    The point of the trip was to show Sylvia the ocean... and have a good time. It was a success. Everyone was amazed by the beauty of the coast, and the power of the ocean waves   It is so big.  No pictures can ever really show how big the ocean is.   It was very memorable.. . and definitely worth the trip.

Fun in Missoula

Of course, all true Missoulians know that the first place you have to visit when you get into town is the Carousel. Hand carved and wicked fast, it entertains teenagers as well as children.

Sylvia got to ride her favorite horse... Pal.  They have been friends now for 5 years, since Sylvia first rode the carousel.

Mattias showed his talent at grabbing for the brass ring (a game the outisde riders can play), and won an extra ride.

Asher enjoyed himself, but of course had to look nonchalant about the whole deal.

Sylia had a great time leaping through the sprinkler in the back of Grandpa's yard. 

She later made a fortune, picking up pine cones from the back lawn.  Grandpa paid 5 cents per cone, and about had to take out a loan to pay up.

  The boys were hard at work this morning helping grandpa stain the back fence.  They were so sad when they ran out of things to stain. 

  Our favorite spot to to visit in the area is the Rattlesnake.  This years Who-Can-Stay-In-The-Water-Longest competition was won by Mattias.  Note the look of pain on Asher's face.  The river is high, and comes directly from the snow we can view on the mountains around the town.

  Sylvia was feeling artistic, and started writing with a stick dipped into water.

 Her signature did not last as long as Clark's did at Pompey's Pillar... but I was impressed.  I'm sure Clark's mom was proud of his writing as well.

Back at the ranch, we had some target practice against some fierce pinceones, a water bottle, and cardboard box.  Sylvia was getting the hang of it by the end.

Asher loved shooting the rifle, and was feeling very macho,

Mattias aimed in the general direction, and did a good job mowing the lawn around the targets.

Grandpa also joined in on the fun... but I must say that the writer of this blog was the only one to knock off two pinecones with one shot.  - A feat that will insure her fame for many pellet gun sessions in the future.  It will give her off-spring something to aspire to.