Montana...Days one and two

Greetings from Hamilton, Montana!

Friday

We made it!!! We finally made it into Missoula (miz-ZOO-lah) Montana at 1:15 local time (3:15PM eastern). Compared to most airports, especially Hartsfield-Jackson in ATL, the Missoula airport is teeeeeeny tiny. It has one, count 'em, one landing strip and it is heated 24/7 to insure that all planes can come in and out throughout all seasons. People who have lived in Montana say that there are only two seasons here---Winter and July. (LOL) Papa and Deedee were at the airport when we landed and took us all (the four of us from the plane and the two of them) in their Cadillac, and all of our luggage, site-seeing. Can you imagine how cramped the car was? I'm sure we were low-riding.

I didn't find out until we were at least 45 minutes down the road that we weren't going straight to the condo, but were going on a mini-trek thru the Lolo Pass. It wasn't that I didn't want to go, it was that I was exhausted from the flights and being up since 3:00 that morning. I didn't want to be in one more place with tight seating arrangements. Anyway, after Lolo, we went back to the airport to pick up Brian's Aunt Cathy and Uncle Mike who flew in at 4:30. They got the rental car and then we went to dinner. THEN we went back to the condo and crashed. We all were out like lights.

Saturday

This morning we got up early for our skiing excursion. It was fantastic! We went to the Lost Trail Skiing Area. It was interesting to find out that 1/3 of the slopes at the resort were in Idaho and the rest were in Montana. So technically I skied in TWO states today! I actually did ski on both sides of the mountain. On the trail guide you'll see that on the left side of the mountain (on the green pathways) is "Drifter" and "Meadow Trail." And on the center of the mountain is "North Bowl" and "Lower Oreo." These are where I skied. The picture below is from the lodge looking up the second highest peak at the resort (7200 feet).

In all honesty, I actually I did happen to accidentally make my way onto the "Hideout" passage.(It's on the map a little left of center) If you'll notice it's a blue pathway. Um....that is for the people who actually know what they are doing. ( Kristy was supposed to stay on green, but somehow, she missed the green signs and went straight to onto a blue one when she was coming down from the lift.) I was lucky that I made it down because I ran into some way more serious slopes and "jumps" than I wanted. OH, and I went AROUND the jumps. At one very steep point of that trail, I actually got off the main drag and got stuck in the snow. So after trying for several minutes (unsuccessfully) to stand, I decided to take off my skis, pick them up, and walk down the mountain. It wasn't far. No more than a few hundred feet, but it was far enough to where I could get past some bad spots. I put my skis back on and went on my way. LOL! I laughed at myself the whole way down the mountain. I finally made it back onto the green slopes after I made it through Hideout. But it wasn't easy...

I am certain I will be sore tomorrow. I am also certain the Brian and his dad will be sore tomorrow. But was it fun, you ask? YOU BET IT WAS. Even though I had to give myself pep talks every few hundred feet and ate more snow than one human should and fell down over 25 times and was out-skied by 5-year-olds---It was fun! If you have never skied on a slope outside of the southeast, you must. It's unlike any snow you'll find in NC, GA, TN, or maybe even KY. It's God's country up here. There's no manufactured snow on these mountains. It's just perfect!

In Hamilton, it's not quite the same as up in the mountains. We are in a valley surrounded by mountains, but it's not as snowy and not as white as up above 5000 feet. So as we were driving up the mountain, we gradually start seeing the snow and the beautiful scenery. About halfway up we saw this beautiful stream that flows into the Bitterroot River. So we stopped and took some pictures. It was lovely... That old dead tree on the right is SO gorgeous, but the picture does it no justice. While this may look like just another muddy ole stream, when do you get it with blue skies, snowy banks, and a mountain range in the background? Wow...

There are more pictures to see, of course, but these three will have to do you until tomorrow or Monday. I hope you all are doing well and that the Lord has blessed you this weekend. We are attending the Hamilton church of Christ tomorrow for services where Brian will be speaking. The church is small here, but has much potential. If any of you happen to come to Missoula or Hamilton, please stop by and visit. Until then, please keep the church and Brian's family in your prayers as they do some mission work here.