The Great Outdoors!

Luke recently took a week off of work, and we really made the most of it! We drove to Glacier National Park, Montana, for three days and stayed in this cute, little cabin just outside the park. This was camping in style! We cooked outside, but inside we had two beds, a heater, and a refrigerator. We had clean, beautiful, (flushing!) bathrooms in a building just a few trees away.





Here is Abby playing with a friendly chipmunk on our hike to Avalanche Lake. The most exciting wildlife we saw in Glacier was a black bear, but we weren't able to get a picture of it. (It had gone out of sight by the time we stopped the car and got out.)




Here we are on a hike to McDonald Falls. Abby and Katie spent quite a bit of time bundled up in the backpacks, but they were troopers! The trails we hiked were lush and beautiful.


Here are Katie and Daddy at Avalanche Lake, and Katie with Mama on the trail.

After the Glacier trip, we came home for a day and a half, frantically tried to reorganize everything, then left on a second trip to the Cascade Mountains here in Washington. We met Luke's Grandpa Al and his Uncle Paul in the town of Leavenworth, about 3 1/2 hours from here, then headed out of town a few miles to the Icicle River to set up camp for three days. We did a lot of hiking and had a great time! The nights were cold, especially the last one, but we bundled up and managed to stay warm. Below is a view of the beautiful Cascades in their autumn colors.









Abby snoozing on Daddy's back.

























Katie and Great-Grandpa hanging out at Lake Stuart. At 82 years-old, Great-Grandpa put us all to shame with his hiking skills!

The whole group at Lake Stuart: Grandpa Al, Katie, Luke, Carrie, Abby, and Uncle Paul.

Abby playing in the red tent, where she and Daddy stayed; the four of us enjoying a lunch break on the Lake Stuart hike.


The six of us enjoying the Autumn Leaf Festival in Leavenworth on our way home. We didn't know the festival was going to be that day, but it was fun! There was a great parade that we watched as we ate lunch. Leavenworth is a really cute town, designed to look like a Bavarian village---complete with real mountain goats to pet!


These were great trips! I must say, though, I've had a whole new appreciation this week for my warm bed, hot showers, a microwave, etc. I think I would have been a really hearty pioneer . . . for about a week.