{"id":2763,"date":"2014-07-10T22:20:05","date_gmt":"2014-07-11T03:20:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2763"},"modified":"2014-07-10T22:20:05","modified_gmt":"2014-07-11T03:20:05","slug":"big-sky-vacation-day-7-are-you-kidding-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/?p=2763","title":{"rendered":"Big Sky Vacation Day 7: Are you kidding me?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thanks to Joe for being today’s photographer. \u00a0Great job on the pics, Joe!<\/p>\n

Today was a split day.\u00a0 The adults were taking off to do a hike while I was staying behind with the boys.\u00a0 Rich wanted to do a pretty good hike for length and height.\u00a0 He picked the Scenic Point trail that we had gone partially up on the first day in the park.\u00a0 Since there was no way I could do a hike like that, I was the logical person to stay and handle the rowdy rounders.<\/p>\n

Alex and Joe got moving to go do 9 holes of golf before the hike.\u00a0 I thought they were going out at 7:00 so I peeked in on them.\u00a0 Turns out, the shack didn\u2019t open until 8:00.\u00a0 Sorry for the early alarm.\u00a0 They got up and went out for coffee and some supplies that we needed.<\/p>\n

After getting breakfast, the adults loaded up and headed for the trail.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the boys and I settled in for some quiet time at the house.<\/p>\n

Back at the ranch<\/b><\/p>\n

Zane and Owen settled in pretty quickly after their Mom and Dad took off. \u00a0We watched some cartoons and played with toys.\u00a0 I was working on the blog to get updated and doing some laundry around the house.\u00a0 Before you know it, it was lunch time.\u00a0 We had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.\u00a0 Chocolate milk was the treat for lunch.<\/p>\n

After cleaning up, the boys went down for a nap.\u00a0 Well, kind of.\u00a0 I had them lying in bed quietly for an hour or a little more.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think either one of them fell asleep.\u00a0 At one point, I heard a noise and went in to find Zane standing up in the pack and play with Owen.<\/p>\n

A very stern expression was enough to send him crawling out and for his own bed.\u00a0 I think he was a little upset with me for overreacting.\u00a0 He had his chin stuck way out there with attitude.\u00a0 The rest of nap time went quietly.\u00a0 However, I could hear Owen singing very softly to himself.<\/p>\n

I worked on my blog and getting pictures posted so I could actually publish it today.\u00a0 I wanted to be able to keep up with our activities and not get too far behind.\u00a0 I got the text written with most of the pictures inserted.\u00a0 Then it was time to let the rascals up from enforced quiet time.<\/p>\n

I got out the sheets that I brought and made a tent in the kitchen with the chairs.\u00a0 The boys gather up their toys and hung out there for a while.\u00a0 They were talking and giggling a lot.\u00a0 We came out and hung around talking and playing for a while.\u00a0 It was a really great afternoon.<\/p>\n

Then about 2:00, I grabbed hands and we walked up to town for ice cream.\u00a0 This was just a couple of blocks from the house.\u00a0 We got into the store and made our way to the counter.\u00a0 Since the girl serving was busy, I sent the boys to sit down.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the toys were hanging right there.\u00a0 I totally lost them to the toys. \u00a0Zane kept asking for a specific toy and I just answered with no.\u00a0 He informed me that his Mom would buy it.\u00a0 That was fine with me.<\/p>\n

We got our chocolate ice cream and sat down to eat.\u00a0 The boys were pretty good at talking my ears off.\u00a0 Even the 2 year old has a lot to say.\u00a0 Owen is still learning, but he does pretty well.\u00a0 I\u2019m learning to understand him.<\/p>\n

We left the store and headed to the playground.\u00a0 There wasn\u2019t much that they could do since the equipment is for grade school kids.\u00a0 The equipment was hot from sitting in the sun.\u00a0 Zane did the slide, but said it was not a repeat performance.<\/p>\n

We walked back to the house the long way.\u00a0 Wendy, the owner, was getting ready to leave.\u00a0 We stopped to talk to her again.\u00a0 The boys had lots of questions and she was very patient and answered them.\u00a0 The biggest question was about the skulls at the back of the house.\u00a0 Turned out to be a horse skull.\u00a0 Zane was duly impressed with the answer.<\/p>\n

We came in and settled into a movie and hanging around the house.\u00a0 Around 5:00, the adults straggled home looking weary and dirty.\u00a0 Sounded like they had a great day, too.<\/p>\n

Way on high<\/b><\/p>\n

The adults packed up the car and took off for Two Medicine where they were hiking the Scenic Point trail.\u00a0 The trail started out pretty well.\u00a0 They got to the point where we made it on the first day.\u00a0 From there, it gradually got steeper and steeper.\u00a0 As they made their way, they were pretty sure they had made 3 miles.\u00a0 Then someone on the trail informed them they had 2 more miles to go.\u00a0 Darn, had it only been a mile!<\/p>\n

The trail goes through alpine, subalpine and some really rough terrain on the way.\u00a0 It contains a lot of switchbacks that get you slower up the mountain one level at a time.\u00a0 A saddle, or split in the mountain, was tough, but the last few feet were the worst.\u00a0 Rich made it just beyond the saddle before the altitude got the better of him.\u00a0 He waited as the others continued to the top.<\/p>\n

The top was at about 7,522 feet.\u00a0 That\u2019s actually quite high for going it without oxygen.\u00a0 Rich experienced dizziness, which is not good on a trail that narrow and high up.\u00a0 Alex was calling him the trail Sherpa.\u00a0 I think it was the hat.\u00a0 As Sean said, it wasn\u2019t the first 3 miles, but the last 2,500 feet that killed you.<\/p>\n

Up near top, Alex was trying to look over the edge.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think he knew exactly how close that Kelli came to collecting the insurance.\u00a0 The pictures tell it all.\u00a0 I think when the 50 to 60 mile an hour gust came through, he had second thoughts about that ledge.<\/p>\n

The views from the top were wonderful.\u00a0 You could see all around at the mountain tops and down into the valleys.\u00a0 The pictures of Two Medicine Lakes were beautiful.\u00a0 Alex even got a shot of the store and marina where we had been the first day.<\/p>\n

The group got back down the mountain about 4:15 and returned in dirty and tired triumph at the house around 5:00.\u00a0 We got some dinner and settled in for the night.\u00a0 Needless to say, the sleepless nap meant the boys went to sleep in good time.\u00a0 So did a few of the adults.<\/p>\n

\"6<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Barren<\/a>
Barren on the way up<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Trail<\/a>
Trail goes up and over.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Interesting<\/a>
Interesting tree on the trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich,<\/a>
Rich, Alex, and Sean on a switchback.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Sure<\/a>
Sure sign of a rock slide<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View of the valley from lower on the trail<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joe<\/a>
Joe leaves behind a legend.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Zerah<\/a>
Zerah left her mark.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View down into one of the valleys<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"More<\/a>
More views from on high<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Stacked<\/a>
Stacked cairn for fellow hikers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>
Alex on the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Still<\/a>
Still more of the lake from another height<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/a>
Alex and Zerah on the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex and Rich on the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ground<\/a>
Ground squirrel up at the heights<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ice<\/a>
Ice and snow up here too.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Up<\/a>
Up level with the mountain tops.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Beautiful<\/a>
Beautiful view for up there.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Zerah<\/a>
Zerah and Joe on the trail.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich on the trail. Or is that trail sherpa.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"View<\/a>
View of the store and marina at Two Medicine Lake.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Alex<\/a>
Alex hanging over the edge.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Zerah<\/a>
Zerah up at the very top.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Joe<\/a>
Joe with an attitude problem.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Father<\/a>
Father and son experience.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich made it back down.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Rich<\/a>
Rich had an opinion on what that sign said.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Thanks to Joe for being today’s photographer. \u00a0Great job on the pics, Joe! Today was a split day.\u00a0 The adults were taking off to do a hike while I was staying behind with the boys.\u00a0 Rich wanted to do a pretty good hike for length and height.\u00a0 He picked the Scenic Point trail that we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2763"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2763"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2763\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2891,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2763\/revisions\/2891"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2763"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2763"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zurekbrau.com\/blogs\/richsblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2763"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}