Many thanks

7 June, 2008, Mercer Island, Washington
Gratitude. That's what we've felt for most of this trip of ours. For the two congregations--St. Paul's and Emmanuel--whose generosity with vacation time and some cash, made it possible for us to take a month to make our way. A month to pack, and say goodbye, and journey cross country and to begin to say hello. For the family and friends we visited along the way who wished us well and told us how much they loved us and who said they'd come to visit. For the beauty of God's creation that we saw every step of the way. For the generosity of spirit we encountered in the little towns and cities and wide open places when we asked a question or ordered food or a stopped for a cup of coffee. Generally speaking, people are nice. For the people of Emmanuel Church who got our house and yard ready and left lots of food and flowers and other necessities like coffee and sponges and paper plates. For the new friends who came to the house on Friday to help unload the truck (which they really had to do as the helpers were very late), and put new shelf paper down, and locate and move a working washing machine and set up our beds and break bread with food they brought! We find ourselves in a very good place, to be sure.

And finally (and this is Hunt speaking), I'm constantly in awe of Lisa and Will. Of their wit and wisdom, of their kindness and their support of me. And for their willingness to step out on a limb in faith and thanksgiving.

Now, I hear Lisa (for the second time), speaking in slightly elevated tone of voice, that the boxes are not going to unpack themselves.

If you're reading this, you're one of the people who made this adventure possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Limp in, Leap out

That's the slogan for the town of Hot Springs, Montana. We were driving between Bigfork and Coeur d'Alene, Idaho (our last stop before getting to Mercer Island) and we were just too curious not to see what was happening in Hot Springs. As if following a yonder star, we landed in the parking lot of the Symes Hotel. We paid our fee and soon enough we were all 3 soaking in the hot mineral water, getting used to smelling like rotten eggs and taking the cure as it were.
The whole town was like the set of a David Lynch film and I was a little worried that the Symes was a stand-in for the Hotel California "You can check-out anytime you like, But you can never leave!" First it was the ethereal and weather-wearied man riding a horse through the middle of town, pulling a mule, another horse and two dogs tied to ropes/leashes. No one else was in sight. Then we encountered

• an emotionless woman who took our money for our day pass to the hot springs pool,
• an ex-pat New Yorker woman hanging out by the pool, who told us she kept moving from places where other people ended up,
• two locals (a middle-aged woman and a 20-something guy talking about getting to Alaska to work the deadliest catch) soaking in the pool with us,
• the 30-something rock-climber looking guy in the lobby writing in his journal,
• the future soccer moms with their toddler children in tow,
  
• and the hipster with dreadlocks walking across the parking lot as we were leaving.

I found the above photo on someone else's blog. Sounds like he had a really bad time there. Look at photos 11, 12 and 13. We actually felt really good when we got out of the water, but kinda glad we left before the sun went down.

We'll spend the morning checking out Coeur d'Alene and then off to our new island home.

Will's 9th Birthday

June 2, 1999, Crawford Long Hospital, Atlanta, Ga. "It's a Will." That's what I said to family and friends waiting outside the labor and delivery area at about 5:50pm. Tonight, nine years later, the three of us sat down for pizza about that same time, but in Whitefish, Montana, a long way from Peachtree Street, that's for sure.

We spent today in Glacier National Park. Our picnic plans didn't work out exactly as we'd planned as it started raining as soon as we arrived. The three of us huddled up in the very back of the Honda and made the best of it. After the rain stopped, we went for a long afternoon hike up to Avalanche Lake. (Will says that was the best part of the day, except for the pizza.) Amazing views of the creek and snow-covered mountains, just beginning to melt. We saw some mountain goats across the way and a deer walked right behind Will (see photo above.) Because they were still clearing snow and repairing roads, we couldn't drive the length of Going to the Sun Highway. One day we'll make it back, maybe even going to the that connects to it. On Tuesday we leave for Idaho and then Mercer Island.

Big Sky Country

We spent Thursday night in West Yellowstone (a little like the Rocky Mountain version of Gatlinburg, Tenn. without the wax museum and proximity to Dollywood) and headed out Friday morning toward Flathead Lake and Bigfork, Montana. Another amazing drive through several mountain ranges and river valleys. The Madison River Valley area around Ennis was particularly beautiful. Stopped in Butte for lunch, then stopped at a great gourmet grocery and health food store in Missoula. We stocked up and headed toward the place we'd rented above the lake. Spent Saturday exploring the town and roads and trails in the area. We spent most of the afternoon with a picnic lunch on Swan Lake, not too far from town. We bought some lake trout for supper and brought it back to the house and enjoyed it on the deck, watching the sun go down over the Flathead Lake (see photo above.)

We got up this morning to attend St. Patrick's Church. Met lots of kind, hospitable Episcopalians. It turns out that lots of people from the Atlanta area end up in this valley. The joke is that there's a 4-lane road between Atlanta and Flathead Lake. Not sure the folks realized Atlanta has over 5 million people because I was asked a couple of times if I knew so-and-so.

A day in the parks

We left the little desert town of Dubois, Wyoming and quickly ended up surrounded by lots of tall pine trees, full rivers and snow. Lots of snow. At one crossing of the Continental Divide, Will (with sandals on), stood in snow that was almost to the top of the "Continental Divide" sign. We realized today how many different climates (micro climates?) we drove in and out of these last 2 days.

Grand Teton and Yellowstone parks far exceeded our expectations. I'm not sure exactly what we were expecting, but we passed it by. Besides being blown away by how huge the landscape was, Lisa was amazed by the natural formations of the geysers and the colors of the rocks around the openings. It reminded her of paintings. Will's favorite was the geysers, the deep snow, all the waterfalls, frozen lakes and the wildlife. (I told him to tell me one thing!) Hunt was in awe of the Tetons and Old Faithful. For some reason, (maybe it's good PR from Yellowstone), I've always wanted to see Old Faithful. Will and I took a walk around the Upper Geyser Basin where Old Faithful is and all of a sudden, Plume Geyser did its thing. I'll also never forget walking around West Thumb Geyser basin along the shore of Yellowstone Lake. Witches brews of hot sulfuric acid and steam, while Lisa, Will and I shivered in freezing drizzle. We were dressed for Atlanta (or at least Denver) in May, not Yellowstone! Of course, we could have spent several more days at those two parks, but we had a road to catch, so off we went. More to come about where we are this weekend--Bigfork, Montana, on the banks of Flathead Lake.

Uncharted Territory

Most of the places we'd been so far on this journey, except southern Missouri and Kansas, are places we'd been before. Lisa even knew Kansas from a Florida to Colorado trip she made when in college. After we left Denver and Boulder, though, we were in places we'd never been before. Heading out of Fort Collins, we were mostly off the interstate and on US 287. Lots of little towns in Wyoming. Yesterday was one of our longer driving days (about 7 hours) and it was incredibly beautiful. It really is wide open and big sky and all those things the state tourism board wants you to remember. During our time in Austin, the Texas Hill Country was our first real experience with wide open space like this, but since Texas hills aren't snow-capped Rockies, it's very different. Driving on 287 through the Wind River Valley, we saw stunning views of rock formations, mountains, rivers, streams and wide valleys. The thing we didn't see were people. It was if we had the road to ourselves. It's on the way to the Tetons and Yellowstone, so I'm sure it's busier later in the summer, but not now. Stopped for a picnic on a trout stream between Laramie and Rawlins and coffee in Lander. Our reservations for Wednesday night were at Two Pines Lodge & Cabins in Dubois. I'm sitting in the lobby of the lodge right now. Today we're planning to spend some time (not enough, I'm sure) in Yellowstone, then headed north to Montana.

Rocky Mountain Fever

(Lisa Here) We made it to Denver late Saturday Night. Half my family (Dad and his wife Jacque plus my brother Richard and his wife Angie and my nephew and niece Garrett and Tegan) live there. I lived in Denver for 1 year back in 1984. Jacque and Dad had an amazing salmon meal waiting for us. We stayed up late catching up on news and enjoyed getting settled for a few days in Denver. The next day we headed up to Mt. Falcon with my brother's family for a fun hike up to the top. We found a great view of Denver and Red Rocks. I later found that I had a unwanted visitor on my leg who decided to ride back to town with me. My first tick ever, but luckily I was in good hands with two nurses in the family. We enjoyed Memorial Day weekend just hanging with family, sitting outside on the patio and listening to my Dad's funny stories about being a rookie MP in NYC during the Korean War and before he shipped out to Japan. Lots of laughs.

On Tuesday we headed to visit our good friends Stacy, Chris and Billie Blue Hay who used to live across the way from us in Atlanta. Will and Billie were fast buddies at the age of 9months. We have not seen each other for a long while. We started our day off with a hike and talked about mountain lions and black bears throughout the hike. If we walked in a pack we figured, we would be in less danger. Ha! We then hung out in their hospitable home, laughed and ate great grilled vegetables, tofu, and rice. They are planning a trip to Portland and we hope Seattle this July. After an excellent breakfast of migas (Chris and Stacy are native Texans) and fresh fruit we got ready to head to Wyoming. Stacy then offered to cut Hunt's locks so we stayed a while longer then, took this funny picture out front of their house.