Me, Wade, Grandma and mom for Christmas Eve dinner at my place
Christmas morning
This year’s pickle….I won!
Christmas day game of hockey!
Dad played goalie…without skates.
Dad defending the glove goal…mom in the background chatting on the phone.
Cool new hat and jacket…yey Christmas!
Dad and Nanuq among the Christmas gifts.
Wade’s new bike jersey…
….and Nanuq’s new Christmas bone.
Very happy dog
Nanuq in his Christmas PJ’s….’tis the season.
Now, if we could only get some more snow. Until the powder dumps and ski season comes I have only pictures of Nanuq to fill my blog and entertainment.
Mom and Nanuq
It was a beautiful day up Hyalite…another 5 miles would have taken us to Hyalite Lake.
Nanuq and I took a quick wog (walk/jog) up to Sacajawea Peak today…we hustled down from the peak when I saw a storm rolling in.
It was my dad’s first day of official retirement and I had the day off, so why not take a hike? We grabbed my mom and headed to Storm Castle…I’ve been wanting to get up there all summer. It was a beautiful view down the Gallatin Canyon and surrounding mountains. Nanuq got a little hot under the sun with his heavy coat, but he made it.
Pretty view.
Mom and Dad at the top…Nanuq sucking down some water.
Nanuq enjoying the shade.
The top…the drop off just about made me nauseous…I don’t deal well with heights.
Looking down….
Nanuq and I took a wog (walk/jog) up to Lava Lake last week…it was a nice escape from the heat in Bozeman.
Rosanna, Kyle and I rallied up Chestnut Trail on a morning bike ride last week….it was quite the climb. My legs were already jello from my hike to Lava Lake the day before.
Kyle and Rosanna grinding up Chestnut.
Delphine and Thomas came through for a visit on their honey moon across Canada a couple of weeks ago…it was super cool to have them in town. They’re trucking coast to coast in the Prospector (their 1984 hippie van that they bought in Vancouver) which putts one mile, or kilometer, at a time with a pit stop in Montana. We spent a couple days camping around Wade and Cliff lake, since their one request was to fish. We took out my mom’s kayak and rented a canoe…they boys caught three Rainbow Trout!
Dav and Thomas fishing along Wade and Cliff Lake
Nanuq on the shore
Our camp site…Nanuq joined the dinner table.
Delphine…bronzing that Mediterranean skin on the lake.
Delphine and Thomas…what a cute Frenchie couple
Dav had the idea to transport each of us, one by one, back to the opposite shore in lieu of hiking back to the campsite, and Delphine was the guinea pig…..
…a little wobbly….
…and they’re down….
…burr….
…still burr….
…and still more burr…
Poor Delphine trying to dry off…
…the unfortunate duo….
Me (all skin covered in defense against the army of mosquitoes) and the Frenchies…the last photo before Dav sunk my camera among his fresh catch in a Kayak of water….oh, how I already miss my camera. Now I’m stuck with my phone camera…sad.
Nanuq and I took a hike to the “M” recently and it was a beautiful day….green in the valley, snow in the mountains, and wild flowers in bloom.
I officially got the position in the operating room….and I’m stoked! Unfortunately I can’t start until the end of summer, as they have to fill my position on the Medical Floor first…arg. I got the good news while I was on my bike trip in Napa, and I was welcomed home to a beautiful, congratulations floral arrangement from Dav…it was gorgeous! They were fresh from Lebellum flower shop….so cool! My partner in crime from the Medical Floor, Heather Ojala, got the other position in the OR, so we both get to start as soon as the Medical Floor will let us go….I can’t wait.
Labellum Flowers
For my mom’s 60th birthday (June 4th) and a belated gift for my 30th, my mom, good friend Rabia, and I spent the past week biking through Napa and Sonoma, CA. Rabia and I hadn’t taken a trip together since our trips to Florida when we were tweens, so it was a fun trip down travel-memory lane.
Road biking is a wonderful way to see the vinyards and taste the wine of Napa and Sonoma. We joined a tour via Backroads, which offered plush beds, really good food, and luxury off-time when not pedaling….it was awesome! Did I mention the spa time?…yeah, that was pretty amazing too. We typically biked 30-some miles each day, stopping at wineries to taste wines or grab lattes at cute coffee shops in the Russian River Valley. Some in the Backroads group opted for the 70- to 80-mile options, but I’m pretty content with our scenic choice.
First day of riding outside of the Etude Winery…we had overcast skies for the first two days.
My mom and Rabia triumphing Sonoma Mountain Road…our burliest mountain of the trip.
Lavender was in plenty everywhere…I bought way too many lavender bath products. It smells sooo good!
We rode the coastline for about 10 miles after spending the night at the Bodega Bay Lodge in Bodega Bay. It felt good to see the ocean…I even touched the sand. From the coast we cut in along the Russian River Valley…beautiful.
After biking up the coast, along the River, and through a valley, we rode through the Redwoods before stopping for lunch…all that in one morning. This was a really big tree, which made a great shot for Mom and me…it made me feel small after all the gourmet eating.
Coffee pit stop…it was hard to get back up. The sun made it a lot easier to keep cruising.
Rabia tasting wine at the Arista Winery…following a lunch in the Redwoods. The grounds were covered in lushes lavender and a Japanese garden. It made sipping wine that much more enticing….I recommend the Zinfandel.
Just a few more miles ’til our stay at the Madrona Manor.
Mom and me at the Madrona Manor…ready for dinner and wine. The dinner was hosted by Eric Kent wineries who gave an informative tasting that gave us some great insight and eduction on wine making in the valley. I loved his Russian River Valley Pinot Noir and his art-inspired labels.
Keep on truck’n.
Vinyards on the way to the Robert Young Winery…last stop before the spa. Robert Young offered a great tour of his cellar and was very kind.
Oak barrel outside of the Grey Stone Cooking Institute in St. Helena, CA.
We started and ended in San Francisco…what a cool city. Hotel Monaco took very good care of us…I dropped for an entire extra night after getting strangely sick to my stomach and puking throughout most of the extra day I had put aside for some city time. It’s always a little embarrassing when you find yourself vomiting into a clear plastic bag along the sidewalk on Market St. in San Fran. I’m not sure if it was a 24-hr bug or food, but it was a miserable day…major bummer. After three $19.00 hotel movies, some room service, and good company, I survived and felt great the next morning….I’ll deal with the Am Ex bill later.
Farmer’s Market at the Ferry Building Saturday morning….deep breathing through the nausea while the girls browsed.
After recovering from the whole stomach thing, we had a few hours to catch a great brunch with Rabia’s friend Haley the next day before catching our flight. I did manage to squeeze in a killer sale at Anthropology and some H&M speed shopping as well.
It was a beautiful last day in the city.