Western Travels, Day 2

Waking up with a view of a sunlit mountain side = Priceless.  Not having a real busy day planned = Relaxing.  Sleeping in and still getting to have a big breakfast in the main lodge = Fulfilling.

The only thing we knew was on a schedule today was our horse drawn sleigh ride that would be later in the afternoon.  So, today we thought we'd drive up to Big Mountain, walk around and take lots of pictures.



After riding the ski lift to the top, we walked around the chalet and looked back down over Whitefish.  At the bottom of the picture you see some thick snow covered trees.  They are called "Snow Ghosts."  (I'll explain in another picture.)

 

Cathy and Kathy.  In the background is Glacier National Park.  We didn't have a chance to visit that. 

 

Here is a close up of the "snow ghosts". ( on this link, click the word older on the top right of the picture.  you'll see more photos from skiers.)   These are simply evergreen trees that are coated with rime ice and snow.  They bend under the weight of it all and at the same time, are protected from the cold temperatures.  They take on the looks of dinosaurs and other various animals;  they are so neat to see all up and down the mountain side. 

 

Another view from the deck of the chalet looking towards Glacier National Park.  Also, you can see some of the smaller snow ghosts. 



Here is just a small section of the different lodges, condos, shops and bar and grill places to visit while on Big Mountain.  Check out the layers of snow on the roof tops.  Some melting had already occurred so it had been deeper!

                       

The ski lift that we rode to the top of the mountain.  Each lift chair held four people at once.  Awesome views of the rest of the world from here too!


It would have been so neat to just ride up and down the mountain looking at everything.  We did have a few people point out the fact that we didn't have skis.  We actually had purchased foot traffic passes in order to go to the top.  We did seem a little out of place without the skis though! 

After spending a few hours at Big Mountain, we drove back to Whitefish and went into town to look around the shops, have some lunch and shop a bit.  This little part of Whitefish is so quaint.  People are so friendly and everyone we saw had a dog in tow with them!  Our first stop was a beer brewery called Great Northern Brewing Company.  We tried one called Wild Huckleberry Wheat.  Yes, huckleberries really do exist.  They are very prominent in Montana.  The moose and bears love them!  The fruit beer was a light lager blended with huckleberry juice.  Not bitter or overly sweet, just refreshing.  Along with that, we ate some chips and salsa.


Our refreshments....ahhhh!  All very good! 

Black Star Beer is this brewery's original. 



 Our walk down the sidewalk took us into a little souvenir shop.  We had all wanted to pick up some things for our friends that were "pet sitting" for us.  But I also wanted a few things for myself.  We were having fun trying to figure out just what to get that would be "purr-fect" for each recipient.  We took a mental note of a few other places; a pizza joint, a wine bar, another bar and grill that served steak, chicken and seafood better known as "Latitude 48*".  We thought that maybe on Sunday, we'd be interested in eating at one of them.
Soon we had to get back to our lodge and get ready for our sleigh ride.  We'd be driving west from Whitefish about 10-15 minutes, to a ranch.  Our winter boots, gloves and cameras were a must.  Though the temperature was in the upper 30's, we didn't know for sure how long we'd be out on the sleigh, if there were blankets for warmth, etc.  So we were going to be prepared.
We made our way to the Bar W Guest Ranch which was nestled between two smaller mountains.  It was so beautiful to see the horses, the huge lodge that was an option for us for the weekend, and the sleigh hooked up to a team of horses.  There was already another car parked near the sleigh and we saw two adults and two small girls that had also come out for the ride.  We were directed by the very friendly rancher to go inside and fill out paperwork and then head back outside to the sleigh.  The familiar scent of the thawing pastures and manure at first made me wrinkle my nose.  But after being in that outdoor fresh air long enough, I didn't even notice it!   


On the sleigh with a view from behind. (pardon the pun) The horses are named Tina and Lulu.  Not sure which is which though. 



Once we got far enough away from the barns, I looked back and saw a nice open pasture for the horses to run.  The main lodge itself is not in the picture but sits off to the right side.  Sadly, I didn't remember to get a picture of that.  Hopefully Cathy did!



Some other horses that were boarding at this ranch.

Included with our sleigh ride was a chili supper served inside the main lodge.  We all gathered around one of several large tables and there was a friendly staff inside that had been cooking and had the table all set for us to eat.  (the pictures of the lodge from the link show exactly what we saw when we went inside for our meal....it was gorgeous!)  We enjoyed the chili along with corn bread, lettuce salad and dressing and a peach cobbler for dessert.  Beverages included a choice of pink lemonade, water and coffee.  A very delicious meal to end our afternoon.  We sat and visited for a long time with the ranchers that gave us the sleigh ride;  one of them is the manager and the other is one of the main workers.  They gave us advice on establishments to stop at later on while in Whitefish for the evening.  Along with them was the other couple with the two girls.  We were surprised to learn that even though they live in Montana, the lady was from a small town near Bismarck.  And her husband had just recently been to the Willison area for work as a cabinet maker!  (if I remember correctly.) 

It was early evening before we headed back to our lodge to shower up and change for an evening out on the town of Whitefish.  We made our way back into town and found a parking place from which we could walk to everything.  Our first stop was the Latitude 48*.  Downstairs was a small bar called The Red Room. 
We ordered and discovered that they made their drinks very strong.  But apparently, people love it there, which was obvious by how packed it was.
From there we walked across the street and down to Crush, a wine bar.  It's so new that I couldn't find a decent web site for a link.  I only got a picture of our wine that we were drinking so nothing to see there. 
We stayed for a couple of drinks each and decided to call it a night.  We had a big day ahead of us on Sunday! 
                                    

Western Travels, Day 1

Today I was leaving on a jet plane (does John Denver come to mind?) to head west.  No...not to pan for gold or anything like that.  But, to play in the snow of the mountains!  My sister Cathy and her friend Kathy had mentioned to me a month ago that they thought it would be fun to go to Montana to ride snowmobile and wondered if I would like to join them.  The destination they had in mind was Whitefish, MT.  I was fully on board with that.  So the plan was in motion.  I had to make sure that I could get the necessary days off.  They also had to verify their own time free from work.
We chose the second weekend in March.....the 11th-14th.  They would drive and I'd fly to Spokane, WA where they'd pick me up at the airport.  Perfect.  Southwest Airlines flys to Spokane and I'd go for free, but on standby status.  There has to be a seat open in order for me to get on a flight. 
The drive from there to Whitefish was about 4-5 hours.  My original plan was to fly through Denver for my connection to Spokane.  My whole morning was going according to plan.  I hadn't forgotten to pack anything and I'd gotten to the airport on time to check one bag and made it to the gate with time to relax a while before boarding my flight.  I knew it would be full and I'd probably have to ride in back with the flight attendants.  But it was fine with me as it meant I was still going on that flight!  We were all boarded up and just waiting for the door to close for push back off the gate.  It seemed to be taking a while.  Soon I saw a fellow ramp agent pop his head inside the aircraft and motioned for me to get off the plane.  I should have guessed that the morning had been going just a little too smoothly.  Long story short, because of the baseball team that was flying on the same flight I was going on, they had lots....and I mean lots, of checked baggage.  Thus, there was a weight issue.  My getting off the plane was part of the solution.  (you really need to understand the entire weight/balance concept in order to get all this...) There was a lot of fuel on board as well.  But, there was still one more airplane at another gate scheduled to go to another city a little bit later.  The final plan was to do an aircraft swap.  Move all the bags (about 180 of them) and all the people over to the next gate and put everyone and their stuff on that other plane.  That works but the problem for me was that I only had thirty-five minutes of connection time in Denver.  With all this happening, I didn't stand a chance on making that connection.  I had to find an alternate solution to get to Spokane.  I texted Cathy to let her know I'd be in Spokane four hours later than I originally hoped for; instead of an arrival of 10AM, I was now scheduled in at 2:40PM.  And, now I was flying through Las Vegas.  So, I went to Las Vegas.  The other flight from there to Spokane was pretty full but I was told that it too, had a weight issue.  There was another flight going through Boise leaving in just a few minutes.  It had a few seats left and it was wide open from Boise to Spokane.  Are you with me so far?  So, I jumped on it and I was finally on my way!  Pfwew!!  I didn't even have a chance to let Cathy know the latest developments in all my flight changes.  They were scheduled in only five minutes apart anyway. 
Cathy and Kathy were waiting for me when I finally got through security.  I told them that we would have a good time!!!  It had already been a long day for me. 
We left the airport and found a Starbucks for a coffee and got back on the interstate to head east towards Whitefish.  Along the way, we had all sorts of things to talk about.  When we were getting closer to the mountains, we got the cameras out to take pictures while we rode.  I had been through here in the past but it had been years before.  I think the last time was about 17 years ago.  The scenery was beautiful.  The roads were good but it was obvious just how much snow had been falling previous to our visit.  It was piled up so high along the road that the road signs were partially obscured.



Driving East and nearing the mountains.      



We arrived in Whitefish at roughly 9PM and made our way to Hidden Moose Lodge; a little bed and breakfast just on the northern edge of town.  The sight of it all lit up with holiday lights and tucked into the side of the mountain was breathtaking.  We were very impressed and excited to see more of it.



The main lodge of two buildings.

The temperature was pretty mild as well.  If I remember correctly, it was in the thirties.  But wow, was there snow piled up all around us.  We went inside and found a lady and got checked in.  She sent some wine with us that had been served during happy hour and told us to finish it up.  Okay!!!
Once inside our suite, we were "ooohing" and "aahhhhing" at every little detail that we noticed.  It was decorated in outdoorsy type material such as denim and leather and had different moose items scattered about all over the place.


We were upgraded to a room with a King bed and a pullout due to Brazilian guests that didn't speak English and didn't know that the room was reserved by US!!  So this is the room with a King bed. 

We stayed up for awhile and marveled at our surroundings, discussing our plans for the next day.  The only thing on our agenda for Saturday was our sleigh ride in the late afternoon.  We would have plenty of time to explore before that.  With that, we went to bed pretty late.  It was going to be a fun weekend!  

Western Iowa Wine Trail

If you've never been much of a wine connoisseur , then you may not be overly impressed with this post.  But you may enjoy hearing of my travels on this trail. 
Nebraska's neighboring state to the east, Iowa, was the destination.  Not only one town but several.  As it turned out we traveled to 5 little towns.  My friends had the idea early in February to combine the celebration of my birthday along with my friend Lisa's, which is March 12TH, and be part of the Mardi Gras Wine Trail.  Because we both enjoy wine and incidentally, have similar taste in wine, the other girls knew we would both enjoy this adventure.  The weekend of the wine trail was March 5TH and 6TH...coinciding with Mardi Gras.  So early on Saturday morning Trisa picked me up at my house and from there we went to pick up Tina.  We went back to Trisa's house and waited for Lisa to come by and get all of us.  She drives a large enough vehicle to hold all of us comfortably.  From there, we drove to Tammy's and then to Dee's.  After packing in our birthday gifts and munchies and water, we all climbed in and hit the road for our day of sampling. 


The car load.  Tammy is looking at the map to see where we should begin.



Tina and I in the back seat. 

Our first destination was Glenwood, IA where we found King's Crossing Vineyard.  We purchased our "wine passports", (needed for the entire trail and used to enter for door prizes), sampled some of the food that was prepared and began our journey of wine sampling.  Each winery has an allotted number of samples that any one person may try.  Then if you decide you like any or all of them, you can make your purchases.  We actually saw another car load of girls that we knew and ended up caravanning with them throughout the course of our trail.  

Me and Lisa...the birthday girls at King's Crossing.

 Then it was back to our vehicle and on the road to Treynor, IA and Prairie Crossing Vineyard.  This was a quaint little country winery.  The setup inside was very nicely done.  It had a nice bar with room for many people at one time and they had many selections of gifts for purchase scattered throughout the room.  One wall had many bottles of their wine lined up from floor to ceiling.  The atmosphere was fun too with all the other customers that were already there when we arrived.  Apparently, they had been there awhile! 

Once everyone was ready to go, we took some pictures and once again, piled into Lisa's car.  Trisa was our designated driver as she wasn't drinking.  Our next stop was going to be just to the east of Carson, IA, which is home to Whispering Hills Winery.  We discovered that it was a little busier than our first stop.  It had a very nice bar that was much bigger and had room for more people as well.  Once again, we sampled some of their food and tried out some of their products. 



My friends and some of the other group of girls that we traveled with on the tour.
Left to right:  Tammy, Trisa, Dee, Lisa, Tine, Chris, Me, Jenine, Christina 


Pictures done and purchases in hand, back to the vehicle we went.  By now, it was about noon and even though we had some nibbles of food and crackers at the wineries, we needed sustenance!  So we drove back to Treynor, IA and stopped at a little cafe called The Rose.  They are so small that there isn't a web site for it.  It made me think of back home in ND where everyone knows everyone and they had delicious home-made food.  The other group of six girls stopped here as well and all twelve of us had a good lunch/dinner. 



Dee, Lisa, Tammy, Tina, Me and Trisa

Our journey continued on to Breezy Hills Vineyard and Winery in Minden, IA. This winery wasn't far off the interstate and was very easy to get to.  It was a popular place and had a lot more space inside for everyone to sit and sample both their food and wine.  We browsed the items for purchase, sampled many items and of course, I found one that I especially liked.  Tammy bought this one for me as part of my birthday gift.  Thanks girlie!

At each stop, we had our "passports" stamped by the respective wineries.  When we had made all the stops we were going to make, we would leave the passports with the last winery.  It would be included into a drawing for prizes.  I thinks it's safe to assume none of us didn't win anything as we haven't heard from any of the wineries!  Oh well....maybe next time. 

From there, we traveled on to Crescent, IA and Loess Hills Vineyard and Winery.  This little town is just off I-29 to the east and is easy to get to as well.  This was going to be our last stop of the tour.  We had been gone all day.  Some of the girls were getting pretty tired.  But, no one was tipsy as I thought may happen.  We had behaved and had eaten during the course of our day to prevent "hang over" issues. 
This winery had an awesome selection of wine and I found two flavors that I had to take home.  By this time, I had seven bottles of wine in the vehicle and Tammy had a few more than that.  We were obviously the biggest "winos" of the day!


The last stop of our tour. 

 

All of us at Loess Hills.   Back row: Tina, Tammy, Trisa and Dee.
Front: Me and Lisa

On our way back to Omaha, the idea of going to Dee's parents house was brought up.  They have an outdoor hot tub and what better way to end our day then by sitting in it to relax and enjoy our beautiful weather!  So we dropped off people at their homes.  Everyone (but Tammy...she stayed home with her family for a good night of family time and movies) got into their bathing suits and made their way over to Bob and Alvina's home.  By now, the temps were getting a bit chilly but it was still nice for early March. 
Bob wasn't home but Alvina joined us.  We sat there for over two hours!  Talk about pruned skin!  It was great to have more girl time and talks.  Alvina went inside early and made "finger food" for us to munch on after we got done in the hot tub.  We sat in the house and chatted more.  It had been an awesome day and wonderful to have a much needed friend day together.  We don't get to do this sort of thing very often and we felt it was much deserved. 
Thanks to all of my "besties" for a wonderful day of time together.  I had a blast and I think of them did too!  Love you girls!

Birthday Celebration

Wow....today has been a great day!  Even though I had to work my normal shift at the airport, on my birthday,  I still had plans afterwards to join my friends for some shopping and an evening meal out.  I met my friends at Trisa's house and we went to Kohl's for the first stop of our shopping extravaganza.  From there we drove to Shadow Lake Towne Center.  After eating an early evening meal at Wheatfield's,  we found a parking space centrally located to most of our favorite stores and hit the sidewalks.  We walked in and out of most of them.  Clothing was tried on and some purchased, shoes were tried out and most purchased, and accessories were picked out and of course, purchased.   Tammy and I were the last two standing that night.  We were out and about until most of the stores were closing up shop at 9 PM.  I hadn't done that for many months! 

My day started with many birthday greetings popping up on Face Book.  They continued alllll day long!  I think before it was all said and done, there had been over 50 people sending me good wishes.  I love how I've been able to reconnect with so many that I used to see and talk to regularly when I used to live in ND. 
It was so fun to read them all.  I also had a few phone calls and even some text messages from a couple people.  Technology has certainly changed.  There are so many forms of communication and they all worked for me that day. 

But the birthday celebrations aren't over today.  Next Saturday, on the 5Th of March, I'll be joining my best friends for a co-birthday celebration with Lisa.  She celebrates hers on March 12th.  So we are all getting together on the 5TH.  Stay tuned for all the fun details on that day! 

Thanks to everyone that sent greetings my way!  I love to hear from you any time. 

Baptism

My good friends Chris and Dee Ederer had their baby boy baptised today.  Ian Christopher was welcomed into the church of God at St. Mary's of Bellevue, NE. 


One of many beautiful windows in the church.

                                     

Above the altar is this very huge cross....gorgeous.

A small group of family and close friends was in attendance to witness the blessed event.  He didn't really appreciate the water running down his perfectly shaped head.  After the Deacon finished the Christening, Ian had been fussing and when the word "Amen" had been said, Ian fussed again and the Deacon stated (directing his words towards Ian) that he was all done.  Ian then made a sound that sounded just like he himself said "Amen!"  Everyone laughed because they thought they heard the same thing!  It was very cute!

Ian's sponsors are Chris's brother Greg and Dee's sister-in-law Lori.  Here is Lori holding Ian during the Christening.  Greg is standing behind the Deacon. 

Afterwards we all went to Chris and Dee's house where we ate cake and ice cream.  Gifts were opened and we all went home.  He received many nice things such as crosses, picture frames and clothes. 



Another TSOT

TSOT.  Are you wondering just what that stands for?  Tastefully Simple On Tour.  Each year, prior to the spring and summer catalog coming out, regional conferences are held for consultants in different locations to introduce the new product line and also to jazz up our recruiting, selling and party strategies.  For the last two years, this conference has been held in Omaha.  This year the closest location to me was in Kansas City, MO.  Here are the last two posts from the prior two years.
The schedule for the conference had things kicking off at three in the afternoon this past Friday.  So Teri, my sponsor, and I left Omaha in her car around eleven.  We arrived at the Downtown Holiday Inn, across the street from where the conference was being held at the Marriott Downtown, right at two thirty.  After we checked in and left our belongings in our room, we walked over to register and got seated in time for everything to start.
We heard from a couple of consultant speakers, watched as several were recognized for having the top team sales either in their respective region or overall, and also cheered on those that were on a million dollar team.  Then....the most anticipated part of the entire conference:  unveiling's of the new products coming out in the spring/summer catalog for March!!!  Because this conference is happening simultaneously in many cities both last weekend and this weekend, they showed a video of employees from HQ (headquarters) as they introduced and showed many ways of using the products.  Very similar to what we do at home parties.  Some items have been brought back from last years' catalog because of being so popular.  The others were brand new.  It's going to be good!
Then at 6:30 PM, it was time for our dinner.  It featured some of the new products with a cash bar including some of our new drink buckets.  Wow....so yummy!  Then it was back to the other hotel where we were staying.  I was exhausted as I'd been up since 3 AM for work.  (I had left early in order to go to Kansas City) 
The next morning started out with breakfast at 7.  At 8 AM, there was a leader session of which I attended.  At 9, the doors opened and we welcomed the other consultants back in for general session.  Not long after getting started with some announcements, we were surprised to see Jill, the founder and CEO, come running in from a side door!  What a surprise!  She never tells which conference she will show up to.  We were all cheering and excited!  It's an honor to listen to her speak as she gets us revved up for the new season.  She's sincere in her pep talks and speaks from the heart; as she says, " I love you to the moon!"  It was so great and never gets old seeing her at these conferences.  I'm waiting for her book, Simply Shine,  to arrive this week and will be reading it from cover to cover.

There is always a theme to each conference.  This one was "Raise the Roof".  It's so inspiring to take home information that we've heard from either Jill or the guest consultant speakers as they share with us just what works for them in their own business. 
The rest of the morning was similar to the day before with more recognitions followed by lunch.  Again, we got to sample yet more of the new product line.  It's very difficult to stay awake after eating so much food!  We definitely don't go hungry at these meals!
We finished our day at 4:30 and left with some of the new items in hand.  They usually give us all a few of the new things to take home to make for friends and family. 
Teri and I had a good time reconnecting with people we've met at the other conferences.  We left KC at roughly 5PM that day.  Our drive to Omaha would seem long (even though it's only 3 hours total) only because we'd been sitting all day and still had full tummy's from all the food they gave us!

My Niece Abigail

I wanted to share more with you exactly what's been happening with my niece Abigail.  I've told you about the strange episode she dealt with about two weeks ago.  But here is the account given by my brother Kevin in his words. 
Please keep Abigail in your thoughts and prayers and hopefully this mystery will be solved and prevented from happening again. 
Love you sweet girl and you're always in my thoughts!