Sunday, July 20, 2014

Cottage on the Lake

God never made an ugly landscape. All that the sun shines on is beautiful, so long as it is wild. - John Muir

Montana seems to be one of the few places, or at least that we have seen that there is so much that is still wild. It is amazing how much beautiful land there is out there. They don't have very many cities in Montana and in-between you drive through hours of land, much of it public that people can not own privately. There were ranches here and there, but mostly a lot of nothingness. 

Part of the drive wasn't very mountainy and L is just getting so antsy in the car. She wants to talk the whole time! When we are listening to a story, she wants us to stop it after about 10 minutes so she can talk. She will sit there and talk to herself for an hour straight. Here is a picture of her entertaining herself while we are driving.


As we got closer to the cabin, the landscape got more and more mountainy and filled with trees. There was no cell service anywhere in Montana except within city limits. So, in the drive from Yellowstone to the cabin we had service in Big Sky, Missoula, the Flat Lake area then Kalispell. The drive was about 7 hours and only 4 towns! The cabin wasn't in town so there was no service. That was kind of nice. 

Here is the view of the cabin if you were on the lake. I didn't get a picture from the other side.


This is the inside, I'm standing in the kitchen looking straight out the windows. That is the lake you see out that window!



This was just before 10 pm. Craig and Joey went fishing when we put the kids to bed. You can see them off in the distance to the left of the tree on the right.


There were actually lots of fishing excursions.


This is the kind of stuff that was caught. The kids had fun doing it though.


Actually one morning Joey got up at 4:30 am to fish and caught a few rainbow trout. He kept one to show us and when we all woke up around 9:30, it had been part eaten by a turtle.



We were staying on a little spring fed lake in the Thompson Chain of Lakes. We were on Levon and it was connected to Crystal Lake (also spring fed) by a little channel. It truly was amazing how clear the lake is! Even with it being this clear, I lost a good flip flop in it. I was helping C untangle his line and I walked too far out. I sunk almost knee deep into muck. I went out and scoured the muck probably about 10 times in two days along with everyone else trying to find it. It was very sad.


The kids had so much fun playing Apples to Apples and Uno. I think they liked it almost as much as going in the water.


Almost!


L loved the kayak! She spent 3 hours on it one morning. She liked being on it by herself, but if someone else would get on she would hop right on with them. When I rode around, she would come ride in my lap and wouldn't let me paddle because she "could do it perfect."


Two doors down the owner of the cabin was leaving for the week and said we could barrow his canoe and kayak as long as we wanted. He was so friendly and trusting! He even drove us all around the different lakes and showed us which ones had the best fishing. It was a good thing I didn't try to fish where Craig and Joey did though. I heard the mosquitos were way worse over there. I can not even tell you how many bites I got from Utah all the way to the lake! Luckily we were in a spot where they weren't bad except for one day when the clouds came out.





We got some awesome fireworks in Wyoming! They were illegal in Jackson county and we had a great show to watch in Jackson Hole, so we waited for the cabin. Since it got dark so late we had to wait till 10 to set them off. But it was a perfect spot, right on the water.





It was really cool to be in a place that brought us back to when we were kids and the rules weren't so strict. People rode around without helmets, in the back of trucks and fireworks were aloud. I totally get rules and laws are for our own good. I see how they have saved many lives. But, there is also something to be said about personal responsibility. I want my kids to learn how to make decisions on their own... But in CA where it is so crowded and there are people everywhere, I see how it is hard to allow people to make stupid decisions. I do wish we could ride around in the back of a pick up in the desert like I used to as a kid though. In Montana there are still so few people that when someone makes a mistake, it doesn't affect as many people around them. It was just interesting to see the difference.

God truly made an amazing landscape here in Montana and it was wonderful to see so much of it still in the wild.

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