To Glacier

We left at 10am for the Park.  I have not car-camped for a while and forgot how much you can pack.  We brought four chairs, a picnic hamper with all dishes we would need, a cooler, 3 fishing poles, tackle box, clothes, day pack, two burner stove with fuel, and more.  

We stopped in Shelby to pick up last minute groceries, and then arrived in East Glacier around 2pm.  We stayed in a small campground called Cut Bank, which is advertised as "primitive."  It has a pump with non-potable water and pit toliets, but it seemed pretty nice to me.  We set up tents, put together some lunch and walked up a the trial that left from the campground.  We walked about a mile then turned back.  We ate a dinner of red beans and rice with some hot beer sausage we got from my Dad.  We then had smores and hotdogs over a fire.  We picked out a trail for the next day, the Triple Divide Peak.  We had thoughts of sumiting the peak so we set our alarms for 7am to get an early start.  

Tour of the Montana Prairie

We woke up early and saw that it had rained the night before.  We were still good to go hiking, and I was excited that there would be less dust in the air.  We drove 12 miles to my uncles place and we loaded up a pickup for the breaks.  

Dad, Paul, Dylan, Marie, Ryan, Rachael and myself piled in and took off for the breaks.  we also brought Mason, my uncle's dog.  The breaks are a set of coulees carved by rivers and streams in the past.  As you drive across the prairie you would not know they were there until you get right to them.  

We parked and started walking.  Our only destination was a petrified tree my uncle had found the fall prior while he was deer hunting.  We took off in the wind and walked through typical Montana prairie: sage brush, grass, cactus, flowers, and yucca.  We finally found a ridge and hiked down to find some sandstone cliffs.  Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals about the white cliffs of the Missouri River and we were climbing around similar formations all day.  

We ate lunch after admiring rock formations, ant hills, and wild flowers.  My uncle thought he was on the correct ridge to see the petrified log, but we could not find it.  I found a small piece of petrified wood, but no luck.  We then took off down a steep slope toward the next ridge.  

We all made it to that set of sandstone, but again could not find the log.  Marie and my Dad decided to slowly take their time and walk up the ridge toward the pickup while the rest of us scrambled down and up to the next batch of sandstone.  

As we approached, there was a cliff in front that my uncle was going to go around, but I guessed we could go up it.  We all made it, even the dog with a little assistance.  We saw a bat resting on the cliff as well as some holes in the rock big enough for a mountain lion den.  On top of that formation, we finally found the log.  

We then all walked back, met up with Dad and Marie and headed to find some teepee rings.  We drove a ways to another part of the breaks and got out.  Here there are stone circles the Native Americans used to hold down the edges of their teepees in the wind and weather.  They would roll away the stones and leave them until the next season when they would return. There are not many left in the prairie near us, but these neat.  

We then drove to the last place on the tour.  It is a cut in the side of a hill, where sea shells and sharks teeth fossils are left from the age when Montana was covered by a great sea.  I found 12 shark teeth and nobody went away empty handed.  It was this cut that sparked some of the geology and paleontology interest and helped decide my major in college.  

We then drove back to Paul's house, and Jerri had made a delicious lasagna dinner for us.  When we return home, I gathered camping gear and we all discussed our trip to Glacier Park the next day.  

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R & R

Ryan and Rachael, two friends from grad school, were wed July 14* in Boise, ID.  They then went and spent some time with his family in Cheyenne, and on their trip back to Oregon, they decided to meet up with Marie and I.  

Ryan and Rachael showed up to the farm around 2:30 on Wednesday.   I gave them the tour, and we sat down to catch up on our trips.  We started the farming game and we played right up until dinner was ready.  Rachael won this time, and after dinner we chatted then went in a watched the Notebook. I hadn't seen it, and it was ok, but did not meet all the hype.  The next day we were going to day the tour of our farm and a hike in breaks.  

That night there was tons of lightening and we all sat outside and watched it.  We went to bed with thunder still booming in the distance.

Round Butte

On the 22nd my uncle Paul, aunt Jerri, Mom, Dad, cousin Dylan, Marie and I hiked up Round Butte.  It is a fixture on my families skyline, but I have never hiked it.  I have hiked the larger square butte (creative names I'll admit) many times, but never hiked the smaller, mostly because it is entirely on private land.  My uncle Paul attained permission, we packed up the dogs  and  took off at 8am.  

We arrived at the base of the butte at around 9:30 and began hiking.  The first stop, was the tomb of Ole Osnes who had once owned the land.  He was buried in 1937 within a granite tomb.  

We then began the hike through Montana prarie to the base.  The grass was dry and poked through socks.  The worst part was the cheat grass.  It is a pain and has little sharp seeds that stick to anything.  Marie and I stopped often to pull them out of our shoes, socks, and pants.  

We got to the top and found a survey marker on the highest point.  We ate lunch and rested for a while.  Paul, Dylan and I wandered to find mountain goats and then head down.  We found a pair on the far other side of the butte.  Just as we headed down we ran into the others on their way down.  

We did not plan super well for the dogs.  Paul had his dog Mason pack his own water, but our new dog, Molly, did not have any.  Dad and I sacrificed some of our water for her.  On the way down, we did find a stock tank that the dogs were able to drink from, and Mason went for a swim to cool down.  

The hike was great, although I did sunburn my neck.  That night Marie, Dylan and I played the Farming Game.  Dylan whooped up on us.    

Montana

I slept well and Marie did too.  We woke up after Fargo at around 5 am, and went into the observation car to watch the sunrise.  I have not seen one for.....a long time.   I then went back to sleep and woke up at 8.  We decided we should eat in the dining car once on our train trip, so we went and ate breakfast.  We were seated with a man from Michigan headed to Vancouver to see his daughter and a man whose family is from Manitoba, and they were going to Seattle to see a Mariners game.  Marie and I both had french toast, and enjoyed our visit as we passed through North Dakota farm land.  It made me nostalgic for home.  

We arrived in Havre at around 3pm and when we stepped off the train it seemed hot and dry.  My uncle Paul picked us up and we stopped at Artic Circle for some food before heading home.  We arrived at the farm around 5 pm and we sat up and talked with my parents and my cousin Dylan.    

Aquatennial!

We woke up to a delicious breakfast of eggs, toast, fruit, coffee cake, fried potatoes, coffee, and freshly squeezed orange juice.  As we sat outside enjoying the weather and digesting our food, we decided we wanted to try and see the milk carton boat races and sand castle competition at the Aquatennial.  We packed a cooler and took off for the lakes.  When Marie and I heard "Milk-Carton Boat Races" we both thought they were boats made from a single milk carton that raced down a creek or something.  I figured watching the contest could give me a quick idea for a class project.  Instead the boats need to carry a human and be propelled by humans.  It was quite entertaining.  We only saw the last heat, but I was happy.  We then strolled through the sand castle building competition and saw some very creative entries.  My favorite was two swimmers cutting through waves.  

We then drove to a sculpture garden.  The art was mostly modern art, and was interesting to walk through quickly.  There was also an exhibit about housing and technology for third world countries.

  

We then played mini-golf on a course where each hole was designed by a different artist.  There were holes that had a pinball machine powered by a bicycle, plastic bottles swinging from ropes, and many other elaborate holes.  It was short but a lot of fun.  

We then went to find food, and found ourselves in the same place as the night before.  There was a live band called the Minnesota Barking Ducks.  They put out some great blues and set a good mood for dinner.  Afterwards we made our way back to Elizabeth and Bill's to relax and pack before boarding the train that night.  On our drive, our hosts pointed out local landmarks, as well as buildings that my uncle had worked on.  

We boarded the train for Havre, MT at 11pm and I fell asleep promptly after.  

Chicago annd Minneapolis

Grandma dropped Marie and I off at the bus stop at around 9 am. Marie and I arrived in Chicago around 11 am. We found a free shuttle and found our way from Union Station around town. We were looking for a pizza place. We had New York style pizza, why not look for Chicago style?

On the shuttle we spotted a pizza place and ate there.

We rode back to Union Station and boarded the train for Minneapolis St. Paul. The route took us through Milwaukee WI and I got to see the Miller Brewing Plant out of my window. I have a friend that has recently (last month) moved and began working there.

As we approached Minneapolis, we were behind schedule, so I called my aunt to warn her. As I got off the phone, the conductor called to tell us that we would still be on schedule. I called back to tell her we would make it on time. As we approached, we had to stop because of freight traffic (BNSF owns the rail, Amtrak just runs on it) and we were late anyway.

My aunt Elizabeth and her husband Bill decided it was still early enough to grab a drink. We stopped at Tuggs, with a great view of the skyline, and sat outside and had a few drinks. Marie and I got to bed around 2 am.

Last day in Rockford

I finished looking at photo albums my last full day in Rockford.  I took pictures of pictures to help me remember everything and wrote down notes.  I started a family tree online, and read accounts of my grandfather's dating and traveling.   

Julie and Grandma agreed to take us around town, and help us pick up a few things before we left.  We stopped and bought a blanket (trains are cold, despite the heat outside) and snacks for our last legs of the journey.  We then travelled to a peace memorial, which had flags representing all of the nations and languages that are represented in Rockford, Il.  It had quotes and a nice flower garden around the outside.  

We then went to Rock Cut State Park and saw a lake and a few trails. The water was extremely high and had almost completely covered an island in the lake.  We got out and walked a little bit then returned home.  

That night I spent hours with Julie, Carl, Amy and Grandma, showing off pictures and telling the stories of our travels.  

July 17

The next day, Julie and I picked up Marie from the bus.  We took her home, ate lunch and then Marie decided to take a nap.   Grandma and I went back to the photo albums.  I was loving the history stuff.  I also got to photo albums that I was in!  

I spent the afternoon asking questions and learning to identify relatives from old pictures.My Grandfather was adopted, and his adopted parents both remarried.  I now know the three sets of great-grandparents for my one grandfather.   The picture is my grandparents.  

 Marie woke up and caught up on reading.   My cousin Emily came over and stayed for dinner with us.  It was nice to see more relatives.  It was my first trip to Illinois in 6 years.  

After dinner, Julie, Carl, Marie and I went for a walk at Midway Village.  We walked  along a bike path that took us to a Vietnam War Memorial.  There was a helicopter parked there and a nice stone memorial with all of the names of the soldiers from the area.  We continued to walk and share stories from our travels, as lightening bugs flew all around us.  

When we got home, I took out the guitar and played for Grandma, Carl, Julie, and Marie.  I played for an hour or more and played Marie and Julie to sleep.  

Rockford Illinois

I arrived in Rockford about noon the next day and was greeted by my aunt Julie and my grandmother. They drove me back to my grandmother's house and I ate some lunch.  

One of my goals on this trip was to find out more about my extended family on my dad's side.  After lunch Grandma brought out about nine photo albums and we sat and went through them together.  I took notes on names, stories, places, and dates.  I learned much about my family including the fact that nobody knows my great-grandparents anniversary.  It was a taboo subject because there was a child out of wedlock in Sweden, and they came to the US.  My cousin Amy came over for dinner and brought her sister's guitar for me to play.  My uncle Carl came in after work to eat.  It was fun to visit with them, but they had to get ready for work in the morning.  After they left, I sat with my grandmother at her table and sang songs on the guitar for an hour or so before we went to bed.  

Pittsburgh

We chose to do a trip to the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Raccoon Creek State Park and the city of Pittsburgh.  We made lunches and embarked on our journey.  

The university was a beautiful campus that has changed alot in the last 30 years.  From being 3 buildings to now a whole complex that appears like most collegiate campuses.  We strolled through the student union building, gym, and science building.  We also glanced in a chapel that was made of stone and was a small, modest, but beautiful building.  

It was then time to head to a park for lunch.  We drove into the state park and found a picnic table near the lake in the shade.  We sat and ate, played cards and laughed through

 conversation. 

We then drove into Pittsburgh.  I was amazed at the beautiful sky line.  Pittsburgh is located where the Ohio, Allegheny and (?) rivers meet.  The first thing we did when we arrived into town was located an incline and took it to the top of the hill.  The incline was like a gondola on tracks that connected the lower riverfront to the upper hills.  We took pictures from the top and then went down to find a restaurant.  We walked around Station Square, which is kind of a touristy market.   We did find a nice little restaurant with tables outside and a view of the

 rivers.  Marie wanted to walk to the other side of the river, since we were near a walking bridge.  We found a place called point park and sat at a beautiful fountain for a few hours.  We watched the sun go down 

and then walked back through downtown Pittsburgh.

  There was large glass building shaped like a castle that Katie wanted to see closer, and below the building we found a courtyard with fountains tables and art work.  We stayed for only a short while and walked back across the bridge.  

Katie and Marie took me to the Amtrak station then and dropped me off.  I was going to visit my grandmother and I would take a day with her, while Marie spent another day with her aunt.  I got on the train at midnight and tried to get some sleep on my way to Chicago.  

Monastery Life

Marie and I were both given breakfast amenities in our hermitages.  I made some eggs and toast and was very content with my relaxed breakfast.  I then walked up to the main house and met up with Katie and Marie.  We then went down to the monastery's creek and sat along the bank and talked for a few hours.  We decided to head back to the house for lunch, and it was around 1:30 when we got there.  We planned a trip to Pittsburgh the next day and Marie and I went back to our hermitages for a nap.  

We both woke up around 5pm and walked up for dinner.  All of the sisters and us ate a delicious dinner of cabbage rolls, potatoes, salad, and pie for dessert.  Marie and I talked about science teaching and thrilled our audience with some experiment ideas that they could do at the monastery.  After dinner, a few of us sat down and played pinochle and other card games.  

Marie and I headed back for another early relaxed night in our respected hermitages. 

Our first Amtrak

The morning of our departure, Bob and Kathy decided to take Marie and I out to Valley Forge to see where Washington's troops wintered. We drove out the nice country side and received a great commentary from our drivers again. We did stop briefly by the place which was taken over as Washington's headquarters and Marie and I walked through quickly. We then drove into Philly to catch our train. We hugged our goodbyes outside the station and Marie and I boarded to go to Pittsburgh.

We arrived in Pittsburgh that night and were met at the station by Marie's aunt Katie. Katie is the reverend mother at a Franciscan monastery in the Ohio hills near Stuebenville. She and about 20 other sisters live, work and pray in a beautiful field of grass surrounded by tress and a creek. Katie took us to our hermitages, where each Marie and I were to stay. Each of us had basically our own personal cabin equip with a stove, toaster, shower, fridge, etc. It was quick relaxing and gave Marie and I each a bit of personal time. I made myself some tea and toast and I read much of my book before I fell asleep.

Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Marie and I woke up to blueberry pancakes and fresh coffee. Bob and Kathy are doing a large remodeling of their house so the kitchen has been moved into a different space. This made the breakfast more difficult and a great treat. After breakfast, we all got ready to go into the downtown area. Bob and Kathy were looking at home furnishings and Marie and I were going to the Independence Park Area. We drove by the Art museum which house the steps made famous in the movie Rocky, but were in a hurry so we did not get out and run up them. We then drove toward Independence Hall with a great commentary of the buildings and city from Uncle Bob. As we arrived, Marie and I jumped out of the car at a red light and I almost left my cell phone. Luckily as the light turned Marie hustled back and grabbed it. 

We started at the visitor's center and found the line for timed tickets of Independence hall. We were put in the final tour group and 30 seconds after we recieved our tickets we were told there were no more for today. We walked around the Visitor's center for a while and then watched a movie entitled, "Independence" about the founding of our nation and the buildings we would see.

We took off to explore the park. The line to see the Liberty bell was wrapped around the corner of the building, and so we went to the end of the building, and the bell could be see through windows. 

We felt that the wait was unessecary, so we continued to look around. We found the only entrance that the Parks service now allows visitors into the Independence Hall grounds. The line for the hall was huge, but we found a few other buildings open. One housed copies of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation. While these are not the originals on display at Washington, they are copies that were used in the meeting of the Congress. There are editing marks from George Washington and others. The Declaration I saw is actually an older document than the one in DC. There is also the suspected ink pot in which they dipped their pens to sign the Declaration. 

Marie and I then walked into Congress Hall. This hall was the meeting place of the house and senate when Philly was the home to our nation. We went on a led tour and in the building was Washington's second inauguration, and John Adams had his inauguration there as well. This proved to be one of the few times power changed hands in any nation without a family, feud, war, or death that happened. Washington stood in the room as Adams gave his speech, as Jefferson stood as well gaining the title of vice president. 

We had a few hours before our scheduled tour of Independence Hall so we went to look at the American Society of Philosopher's museum. The museum highlighted five people, and their contribution to the wealth of knowledge to our nation. It was a quick visit but informational. We then headed to Benjamin Franklin's House. On our way we found the interpreter of Ben Franklin as hired by the city of Philadelphia.

The house was my favorite type of interpreting the past that I have seen. They erected metal frames where the home(s) would have been. They have bricks laid over the whole base of the house, but had windows downward to view a few relics. They found foundation and a pit used for the deposit of human waste. They also painted on the ground where the rooms would have been. I felt it invited many people at one to see the space that was torn down long ago. There is also a museum nearby with other artifacts. 

Marie and I also went to a post-office that has the unique postmark of Ben Franklin's signature. We mailed postcard to our parents from there.

Finally it was time to make our way back to Independence Hall. We stopped quickly in a military museum that was the original home to the department of defense. It then consisted of about 5 people. Now we have the pentagon...Oh well.

                

The Independence Hall was interesting and the Ranger that led the tour was very informative. We learned about the founding of our nation and more background about the time, then just what went on in the hall. I am not sure if any of the furniture was authentic, but it was fun anyway.

We then headed back out toward Bob and Kathy's house and were picked up at the train station one more time. My Uncle Robert works as a Philosophy Professor at Bryn Mawr and decided to give us a tour while dinner was cooking. The tour was fun and I even saw a bench that was in honor of one of my relatives on the grounds. We then picked up Kathy and viewed Haverford where she helps run the Chemistry labs. It was great to see more collegiate labs and compare them with what I work with at the high school.

We had a great dinner and conversation. We then watched the last part of Ted Koppel's China special on the Discovery Channel.