Tours, Missions, Hikes, and Bison

(Sorry for the lame title; I'm still feeling a little worn out by all this vacationing.)

Anyhow, after Seeley Lake we spent a few days in Helena, doing things like catching up with old friends and (finally!) getting Emily on the Tour Train.




Mom and Joe are aboard!


Alas, here's what I saw while we waited to start the tour:

Nothing against Exodus, mind you; I just don't think it belongs on the grounds of the state capitol.


Fortunately, there were some great sites to see, including historic mansions, the cathedral, and even some great things on the train itself:

Did I ever mention that The Jayhawks Won the National Championship?



We also spent some time with Chet and his family; good people. Alas, I'm terrible with names (unless they're written on an class roster, of course), so I cannot remember the name of his niece . . .

Cute though, no?



And we spent some time way up at Marisa and Ryan's, where, among other things, we got to see Maraya enjoying her trampoline.




Marisa and Emily having a 3am (?) Redbull toast


I had some great shots of Ryan, but I'm dumb and accidentally deleted them . . . oh if only I had that Apple Time Capsule . . . some day (sigh).

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Next, we drove up toward Bigfork, with a brief stop on the way in St Ignatius to see the Mission there. Was the site of one of the first hospitals in Montana (right?), founded by the Sisters of Providence.

Here's some video:



And here's some of the church:




Then we got to stay in a hotel! And with a great view!

Thanks, Mountain Lake Lodge; and thanks Rhonda!


We had a fun and tasty dinner at the Tamarack Brewing Company, and then the next day it was off to Glacier for a 9-mile hike to Snyder Lake and back.




At the lake



At the lake (photo courtesy of my dad)



On the way back down. Lots of water on the trail this time of year.


That evening, we were treated to some great food followed by the Bigfork Summer Playhouse's production of Footloose. Definitely worth a look if you're in the area.


Finally (!), on our way home we stopped at the National Bison Range.



They also have a small museum, which we breezed through.



A little video? Sure:


Noble creatures. And you can buy them as meat just outside of the refuge, so that's really win-win.

Seeley Lake Photo and Video Diary

I lack time and Internet resources, so photos will have to wait, but in the meantime please enjoy these videos from our trip to Seeley Lake, MT, and environs.

S'mores:




Hiking to Morrell Falls. complete with water on the lens:













[One hour later, waiting for Mimi to shower:]
Okay, here are some photos. Please enjoy:

Fruits, Bones, and Habits

Now that's just a hothouse tomato, and so it didn't taste as good as it looked. But my, doesn't it look good?



And we got some salad greens. And onions. And a salmon that we bought from the woman who'd caught it the day before--how cool is that? Delicious.

The wine? Oh, that's a sparkling rosé wine made just down the road at Chateau Ste. Michelle.



Speaking of food, I happened to eat at Quinn's a good deal lately. Fun place. They certainly make an effort to be a bit different, and to present ways to revel in the joys of being a carnivore.

One day I had the marrow bones for dinner. Yes, I said marrow bones. Oxtails are also great.



They also have quite a beer list. Here's a shot of the 750ml bottle of Meantime's India Pale Ale that Emily and I shared. Note the brandy snifter: apparently a $20 bottle of beer involves special glasses . . .



But what will Dave get?

That's right: Dave was here. Came to do some work or something, but was awesome enough to join us for dinner, a visit to Linda's Tavern (have I mentioned that Linda's is just super cool? Okay.), some disc golf the next day, and some tasty seafood at Etta's.

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And now for something completely different:

Emily's been modeling this habit at work, where they're making a video about it so that they can preserve not only the outfits but also the proper wearing . . .

I could look at these pictures for hours. Hopefully we'll get a copy of the video, reader!

A Mass of Graduates

Okay, I'm still grading, so I can't write up the posts that Dave I's visit, my multiple dinners at Quinn's, or the farmers market deserve, so I'm just doing a quick post on SU's Commencement.

(And actually, there's more I'll need to say about that too, especially since the Sisters that Emily works with were honored . . .)

Anyway, here you go:

First there was the Baccalaureate Mass on Saturday at St James Cathedral





Then there was the giant, four-hour ceremony at Qwest Field (look--now I'm sitting where the Brazilian National Team was the other day! and you can see my seat for that game: top left)

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On a totally unrelated note, I really like this song lately, and I'm not sure why it took me like five years to realize how good it is . . .

Stars, "Elevator Love Letter"

Seven!

As you may recall, yesterday was the anniversary. Awesome.

And what did we do? Well, you may also remember that a restaurant here was called one of the best new restaurants in the country by the Times.

So we went to Tilth, up in Wallingford. Worked out especially well as Monday is their "homage to local producers" night.

Food was just great. And the menu was prix fixe, so that takes some pressure off the happy couple. And the wine pairings . . . mmm.



Menu's-eye view. Curious about what she saw? You can read the menu online if you'd like.


All right--back to work. Cheers.

Can I Just Take a Moment?

Seriously. This is an incredible, incredible moment in US history. Incredible.





And here are some slightly corny editorial cartoons that I saw in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

My Saturday: Search and Goal!

Emily, as you know, has been up in Alaska. Meanwhile, I've been at home with a [virtual] mountain of papers to grade (virtual? yes, they're submitted online--how 21st Century, no?). That plus the mind-boggling season finale of Lost to watch . . .

So what did I do Saturday? Well, first I joined some fellow KU alums on a scavenger hunt, and then I watched the soccer (or, more properly, futebol) match between the Brazilian National Team and the Canadian National Team.

First, our team (the "National Champions"--get it?) made a real effort in the Seattle Inner City Search Party, put together by the Seattle branch of Sierra Club Inner City Outings.


Interesting coincidence: the event was centered in our neighborhood, Capitol Hill.
(Speaking of Capitol Hill, there's a cool new website, capitolhillseattle.com, with some cool contributors, focused on this fabulous area. Just thought you should know.)

It was kind of cool that it was here, but I wouldn't have minded seeing a bit of some other areas. Plus it might have been nice not to have been the only person with hunches about where stuff was . . .

But we weren't just trying to find out what was happening at the Women's Century Club building (Answer: it's now the Harvard Exit theater, and it's one of the theaters involved in the Seattle International Film Festival); no, there were also activities. Like walking with buckets on your feet in Volunteer Park.

Kristin earned 400 points for our team (with Andrew and Wendy helping out)--nice work!



Another activity: spin around, run, then put on some fleece. Andrew was particularly good (?) at this one.

[Side comment: fleece. F**king fleece. If there's one thing I really, really dislike about Seattle it's that every other person is wearing fleece. Ugh.]



Lovely



But he recovered nicely, earning us another 400 points.



And I threw some fake coins outside of Seattle Central Community College, earning, um, some points (?).



Wendy enjoying a Manny's (my favorite local brew, mentioned in today's New York Times!) at the War Room as we waited for the scores.



And while we waited, Wendy bought a $5 raffle ticket and won a snowboard!



And then the scores were announced. But hey, Wendy won a snowboard!



Wow, this post is getting long, isn't it? Anyway . . .

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Then it was on to Qwest Field for me,
to watch the Brazil vs. Canada game.

Photo of Diego, by ROD MAR / THE SEATTLE TIMES
For details on the game, see their coverage.



View of downtown from the stadium



As you read if you followed that link, I wasn't the only one there: 47,000 fans turned out! Pretty cool. And some of them had drums, which they played during the entire match. Awesome. You can hear them in this odd YouTube video of the team coming back from half-time.


My view wasn't great, but the weather was perfect and the game was pretty fun.


What's that? Highlights, but with Spanish (not Portuguese, but Spanish) commentary?
Sure:

That Robinho sure was impressive . . .


Quite a day. But I'd better get my notes ready for tomorrow: Mimi will be landing in a few hours, and I'm heading out to the airport to meet her . . .

Cheers, reader.