My Summer Vacation in Montana
My favorite time of year is summertime. My favorite place to spend it is in Montana, often called "The Last Best Place" by natives. This year was no different and I spent the last two weeks at my family's cabin celebrating the 4th of July. Shortly after returning from our Father's Day Camping Trip, my parents packed up Abbie and Jack and headed on a 3-day road trip through Wyoming and Montana, camping and sight-seeing along the way. I followed them a few days later and made the 950-mile drive in just over 14 hours. With scenes like the one below, the trip was very enjoyable, despite it being so long.
The first week I was there, I worked remotely. It's always fun to tell people The Cabin has no electricity or running water, but it does have DSL. To be fair, it does have electricity, but it's not "on the grid" electricity - it's my Dad's concoction of generators, batteries and inverters. While I worked most of the week, I did manage to get a nice mountain bike ride in along the Foothills Trail to Holland Lake.
My real vacation began on the 4th of July weekend and we did it up right with the Swan Valley Parade and lots of big fireworks I picked up in Wyoming. The kids dressed up as Woody and Jesse (from Toy Story) and walked in the parade all by themselves (first time w/o me). They were especially excited when their pictures appeared in the local paper the following week.
Last week was spent hiking to Glacier Lake in the rain, golfing in Seeley Lake and Columbia Falls and hanging out with my good friend Owen Conley and his family.
The kids and I drove home last Sunday and it only took us 15 minutes longer than it did for me solo. I think they're quickly becoming road-tripping professionals. 
My favorite part of this year's trip to The Cabin was seeing it as a home again. My Mom retired in April and my parents moved back to Montana shortly after. Seeing how happy they are there is truly magical. I especially enjoy the thought of visiting them and all the wonderful folks in the Swan Valley many, many times in the future.
To see all the pictures I took on this trip, check out the slideshow below.
P.S. An interesting note about all the pictures I took - they're all from my iPhone 4. I forgot my camera's battery at home and it seemed like a good experiment.