Scott's, Amanda's, and Josh's Visit

Scott, Amanda, and Josh came to Montana June 24-July 1.  This is the first time that our family has actually met Amanda, Scott's wife, and Scott hasn't been to Montana for about five years himself.  The last time I saw Josh was about seven years ago when Dad and I went to Louisiana on a road trip to see Kevin graduate from Army Basic Training.  They arrived on Sunday, June 24, which was Scott's and Amanda's wedding anniversary.  They've been married for three years now.

That Sunday, they recuperated from their long drive from Alabama.  They stayed at my house here in Gardiner while they were in Montana.  The next day we went to Livingston to see Dad and Bonnie.  Since Dad and Bonnie had just moved, Scott and I were able to show Amanda and Josh the house that we grew up in, now empty.

Honestly, I'm not going to miss that house, and I'm very happy that Dad and Bonnie have this new house.  They've needed a better place to live for awhile.

Tuesday June 26, Scott, Amanda, and Josh went to Bozeman to see Colleen, a family friend.  Together they hiked to Palisade Falls, a short and scenic hike in the Bozeman area.  The video below actually was uploaded to YouTube about three years ago.  I like this plunging falls with the basalt cliffs surrounding it.  It is so characteristic of Montanan beauty.

While they were having fun, I had to get some bookkeeping done on Betty's estate.  I'm still doing a little work on it, even after coming back from Angola, but I got some important stuff finished before the Angola trip, which was an important deadline.

That evening, Scott, Amanda, Josh, Chris, Edie (Chris' girlfriend), Dad, Bonnie, and I met at Montana's Rib & Chop House for a delicious meal.  I had planked salmon, served on a burning plank:

On Wednesday, Josh, Amanda, Scott, and I rafted the Yellowstone River from Gardiner to Corwin Springs, a distance of about eight miles.  This is always a nice treat for our family to do about once a year.  Montana Whitewater did a great job on this guided tour, as do all the companies in the Gardiner area.

Amanda on the bottom right; Josh and I in the top center, and Scott just to the left of Josh

Jean arrived after we were finished with our excursion, so we went to Royal Teton Ranch to sign papers and what-not to go see Forbe's Cabin.  Scott and I went to Forbe's cabin during our childhood when our dad was the caretaker of the property.  I had been in contact with the Ranch during the past week to try to make arrangements, and everything looked good until that day.  At the last minute, Steve, the man in charge of these arrangements, denied it because he was afraid that the catalytic converter in our car would start a wildfire at the beginning of a very dangerous wildfire season and said we didn't give them enough time for these arrangements.  No he didn't check my car, and yes, he was just making an excuse.  He didn't care that other people at the ranch had told me something different.  The place is a vacation rental.  After that fiasco, I can't recommend this vacation rental to anyone under the current management situation.

We didn't let this outcome ruin our day.  We went to Yellowstone National Park for the rest of the afternoon.  After looking a little bit near the Rescue Creek Trail area we then went to Mammoth.  We drove to Undine Falls and Petrified Tree before heading back to Gardiner.  Before we went home though, we explored the Travertine Quarry just above town.  Travertine is virtually unheard of in Alabama, so this was a neat trip for them.

Jean, Josh, Scott, and Amanda try to take a piece of travertine for a collection.

June 28 we all went to Yellowstone Park again.  This time we saw a bit of the North loop.  We saw Swan Lake Flat, Sheepeater Cliff, and Steamboat Geyser in Norris before we went to Canyon.  There, we had a good lunch at their cafeteria before we walked around the waterfalls and the canyon area.  Amanda was feeling a bit sleepy because she took some Dramamine for her motion sickness she was having that day.  Josh went down Uncle Tom's Trail with me, a hike with a 328-step staircase.  Before we went home, we watched the elk graze and the calves drink from their mothers at Mammoth's helipad.  We were tired buy happy that evening.

Scott and Amanda at the brink of Lower Falls

Me and Josh at the bottom of Uncle Tom's Trail in front of Lower Falls (I should take my glasses off more often!)

Sadly, Jean had to go back to work on Friday, June 29, but we took pictures before she left:

That afternoon, Amanda, Josh, Scott, and I headed back to Yellowstone National Park.  We saw Tower Falls, Dunraven Pass, Sulphur Caldron and the Mud Volcano Area, Fishing Bridge, and Yellowstone Lake before getting to Old Faithful.  Everyone got to see Old Faithful erupt, and then we walked around the geyser basin.  We saw that Castle Geyser was due to erupt very shortly, so we decided to stay and wait for it.  We were very glad that we waited.  It erupted for a good 20-30 minutes once it got going, and it was quite an impressive sight.

Amanda got to see Old Faithful go off during sunset and then we got back on the road.  We stopped a short time to see Sapphire Pool in Biscuit Basin.  The sunset was absolutely gorgeous on it:

Saturday, June 30, Scott, Amanda, Josh, and I went to Livingston at Dad's and Bonnie's barbecue.  This was their last time to see Dad and Bonnie before they went back to Alabama, so this was a special time too.

Everything comes to an end, and this was no exception.  Everyone had to leave the next day, and I had only one full day before I had to go to Angola!