Montana

Last month I joined a group of good friends on a little trip to Montana.

My friend Carrie has a family cabin just outside of West Yellowstone that she invited us to.

It was beautiful!  The cabin was set right on the lake.

Here's a view from the screened porch down to the lake.

The inside was so fun.  There were several vintage pieces that we were loving.  We even listened to Diana Ross, The Eagles, and John Denver all from a record player.  It was awesome.  At nights we sat in this cozy room with the fireplace crackling and watched movies, read, talked, and ate way too many muddy buddies.

We spent the first day driving around Yellowstone National Park.  We saw several breathtaking waterfalls.

We even saw a Grizzly Bear on the side of the road.

It was fun to see how diverse this park is.  From lush and green to scenes that looked like 

they came right out of Lord of the Rings. 

It made me appreciate the beauty of this earth all the more, and feel more gratitude for God's great gifts.

We saw this huge elk too.  But no Buffalo....weird.

Back at the cabin we saw Pelicans and several Bald Eagles.

There we also lots of little critters.  Here's Carrie hand feeding a little guy that looks
like a chipmunk but she called them something different.  She said when she was little they used to

catch them and bring them into the cabin for pets.

We spent a day on the lake.  Shawn made the best mango salsa that we ate the whole time. YUM!

Carrie was the life of the party.  She is the funnest person. She has endless energy and made sure we were entertained the whole time.  Sheila has been my biking partner on many occasions and I just love her mellow easy-going personality. I got to know Shawn a lot better on this trip.  She is great and fun to talk to. 

Love these ladies!

We loved the tube, but to Carrie, it's no fun unless the ride ends like....

THIS!  (I still have a few bruises from her crazy driving.)

We took the mountain bikes out a few times, 

always keeping our eyes peeled for bears of course!

 

This was an awesome trip.  

I got to spend time with some great friends, getting to know them better and loving them all the more.  Enjoyed beautiful Montana and got plenty of R&R.