2012 229:366 We.Are.Family

Donna, Al, Larry, Jack, Jeff and I spent the day at Mount St. Helen's touring around the mountain. That was very interesting to see the before and after. Sharon was not able to join us, as she had a prior committment, but she did spend the afternoon cooking up a fabulous meal. Patti and Jim joined us for the evening. It was great to see them. It's been years which is way too long. Here is a group shot of everyone. Back row: Robyn, Jeff, Donna, Sharon and Patti. Front row: Jack, Al, Larry and Jim.

2012 228:366 Jeff, Uncle Larry and Uncle Jack

My Uncle Larry and Aunt Sharon live right along the Cowlitz River near Castle Rock, WA.  Jeff and I spent a few days there visiting with them and Uncle Jack. Aunt Donna and Uncle Al also live nearby and invited us over for dinner, so we ended up at their house for the evening. We stopped at Multnomah Falls in the morning on the way to Castle Rock and hiked around there for a while. Then the guys spent a little bit of time on the river in the afternoon. I also got to go for a boat ride later in the day before we left for Donna and Al's.

2012 227:366 Working Vacation

Some of Jeff's friends gave him a cartoon that basically showed this picture with the caption that read "It's a working vacation. I'm a wind farmer." We couldn't resist. This photo was taken in Couer d'Alene, ID. What a beautiful lake! When we left Couer d'Alene, we headed up north to Sandpoint and Schweitzer Mountain to see those areas of Idaho. We ended up at The Dalles for the night, along the Columbia river.

2012 226:366 White Water Rafting

This is not Jeff and I in the raft, because obviously I could not take this photo if I was in the raft, but, this is the river where went white water rafting earlier in the day. This is along the salmon river, leaving from Riggins, ID. Jeff and I both agreed that this was the best white water rafting trip that we had been on, as there were class III and a couple of class IV rapids. Jeff almost fell out of the raft on one of the rapids when he went to put his paddle in the water and lost his balance because all he found was air. It was quite hilarious.

2012 225:366 Fishing along the Lochsa River

We left Hamilton and headed over the Lolo pass. We just took our time and stopped when we wanted to explore the area. The DeVoto Memorial Trail was one of our stops where Jeff picked up some walking sticks from the red cedar trees. We also stopped at the Lochsa Lodge and had some lunch. Jeff fished along the river as we headed towards Granger, ID, which is where we spent the night. It's a beautiful river, but all of the fish must have been scared away from the helicopters that were loading up water from the river to fight the fires. That was very interesting to see.

2012 224:366 Sunset in Hamilton, MT

We started out on our three week vacation today and spend most of the day driving, since we have been through Montana many times already. We ended up in Hamilton, MT, which is on the western edge of the state. There are many fires in Idaho right now, and it has been very smoky and hazy all day. There is a big fire south of here by Salmon, ID, so we have decided to head north tomorrow and try to avoid that area for now. 

2012 223:366 Peanut Butter & Banana

Peanut butter and bananas are my favorite topping for toast! Oh yeah!