Land of the Shining Mountains

Nothing like blogging about our family vacation nearly two months after the fact!

It may not be timely but we sure had a phenomenal trip.

We went with our close friends, the Borup's to Montana.

We visited the old farm where Byron grew up...

 We spent time with his mom, Grandma Kay

and some dear friends, the Morgan's.

 We strolled the quaint streets of Byron's hometown, Big Fork.

 And then headed up into Glacier Park for a couple of days.

 We all had fun taking family pics with the stunning scenery

behind us in every picture.

The Borup's were so much fun to be with 

and get this, they still are our friends after spending that 

many days with us in our camp trailer!!!

 We hiked up about half way to where Byron was chased

by a grizzly bear years ago.  If you haven't

heard his crazy story, you should.  That bear had him

and for some reason, let him go.

 We also oohed and awed over

some of the sites.  It was so pretty, it

almost looked fake.

 We walked the shores of the lake in the rain.

But that didn't stop us from spending a good half hour

seeing who could skip rocks the farthest.

 This boy.

He loved, loved being outside

and got a good work out nearly every day.

 We love visiting Glacier in the fall...

 Even though several of the hotels and lodges are closed,

it is as if we have the whole park nearly to ourselves.

 And there is a picture perfect picture to take

nearly everywhere you turn.

 Outside the park, we visited White Fish Lake...

gorgeous.

 Swan Lake...

gorgeous.

 And Holland Lake.

Yep, that's right.

Holland has her own personal lake.

Or at least she thinks so.

 And yes...

gorgeous.

We love Montana.

In fact, I think, Byron would move back in a minute.

Uh, not gonna happen.

I'd be the first white cross on the side of the road...

Too cold.

Gorgeous but too cold.

A Tribute

As you by now know, Byron's father passed away just a few weeks shy of his 92nd birthday. This picture was taken hours before he was admitted into the hospital (and three days before he died). I doubt Reese and Kean will have any memory of him-- except for pictures. But I'm glad Holland and Greer got to spend a little time with their Grandfather before he left this earth. He looks pretty old and feeble in this picture-- but he was at this point. He could hardly get up and needed a lot of help to even make it to the bathroom. I helped Byron's family write up the obituary and it gives more insight into the man and his life than I could ever try to replicate. So if you are interested, here's a link:
http://www.dailyinterlake.com/app/obituaries/obitshow.php?8770
The family held a graveside service last Saturday. It was a beautiful but cold day and quite a number of people came out for the memorial. Byron (in the white shirt) was one of the pall bearers, along with his brother, Craig, Craig's three sons and Fred's neighbor and good friend, Alvin.
Fred served in WWII and survived five major campaigns (he had quite the stories to tell). He received a military funeral, complete with the 21 gun salute (Reese jumped after every single shot) and the flag draped coffin. I don't know about you, but military funerals are always so stirring. In all, there were about 12 uniformed soldiers (present and former) at attention, holding flags or shooting the guns.

Soldiers presented Byron's mother, Kay with the folded flag and a small pouch containing three of the 21 bullets fired during the memorial.

Our very dear friend, Steve (on the left) was the Bishop of the family's church when Byron was a child. He conducted the service and gave a wonderful talk about Fred and his life. The lady in the middle (Sue) went to high school with Byron. She sang Abide With Me, and also happens to be married to the funeral director (the guy on the right).

This is Byron's mom, Kay.

A very bundled up Kean fell asleep halfway through the service and even slept soundly through the 21 gun salute!