Late Summer in Montana

 8/28

Darby, Sue, Elisha, and I went to Sandpoint to hang out at city beach and eat burritos. I also ran across the long bridge and back. Boy did it feel good to jump in the lake after that!

8/29

Elisha and I hiked up to Little Ibex lake after spending the night in the car by the trailhead. Very beautiful with snowy mountains and huge granite slabs and blocks. We saw snakes, lizards, and frogs. Herpalicious. But oh the huckleberries! So. Many. So. Big. Also lots of thimbleberries and some raspberries and blackberries

We attended a potluck for Darby's graduation. Elisha was feeling a bit sick in her throat

9/1 

Elisha got a covid test. Negative. Wasn't painful. Just a little swab in the nose

9/2

Hiked back up to Little Ibex Lake to specifically pick those amazing huckleberry patches. It's 6.5 miles in. By far the longest Elisha had ever gone to pick berries. In the end we came away with a total of 27 pounds! (in the bucket, not to mention what was in the bellies). Our 2 other huckleberry picking drive-to events had yielded only 13 pounds total.

9/5-9/7

Went to the Franks' (Jim and Julie) for a labor day bash with Conrad, Whitney, Candice, Tom, Hannah, Bill, and Clair. Did both waterskiing (slalom) and wake boarding. As per usual with Jim and Julie, beer, wine, and cocktails flowed readily. Especially good were the mango daiquiris. The food was also amazing. Raw oysters on the 1/2 shell, smoked pulled pork tacos, huge steaks, pancakes, bacon and eggs, and a fresh fruit platter (mangos, peaches, papaya, apples, and grapes.

9/7

There was a crazy windstorm during the early hours of the morning. It more or less destroyed Same Owens camp where I was parked, but luckily no trees fell on Elisha's car. There were tons of trees down, including trees that had fallen on top of camper trailers and RVs. I had to wait until they could clear the road of the downed trees before I could drive back to Heron. Power would be out in Heron for the next 2 days, which of course did not make poor Grandpa Don happy. But it's kind of nice to sometimes be kicked back to a time of no power

9/9

I had a doctor's appointment in Libby for my yearly physical. We hiked up to the lower 2 of the snowshoe lakes. The trail was a bit changed b/c of private property, so it was a bit longer than the map indicated. The trail also went by the big mine (no longer working), and the trail partly followed and old mine pipeline.

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