Raible Designs

The Summer of Travel (2025 Edition)

Matt Raible — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 16:23:41 -0600

This summer was filled with beautiful views and remote work from the mountains to the sea. We were only home three weekends between Father's Day and the last day of summer! From living in Fraser for a month to rafting Utah's remote canyons, Montana family time to music festivals, we packed it all in.

Fraser Living in June

I kicked off the summer by moving up to Fraser for the entire month of June. I brought the zoo (two dogs and a cat) with me. The Fraser River Trail became my daily escape, with gorgeous views and warning signs about a local moose. We got a new singletrack trail too, which made the mountain biking even better. Those Fraser sunsets never get old.

Father's Day Golf and Family Time

Father's Day weekend brought the fam together for a hike and some gorgeous golf at Pole Creek. The kids got me a "Best Dad Ever" t-shirt that made me a little emotional. Pole Creek really does have the best views with Byers Peak in the background.

Ruby Horsethief Canyon

Rafting season began with a trip to Ruby Horsethief Canyon on the Colorado River. The first day was beautiful with stunning red rock canyons and perfect conditions. The second day? The worst day of rafting ever. The winds were so strong we and many others had to stop for an hour or more. It took us 8 hours to go 8 miles. Next time, I'll bring a motor.

Blues From The Top

Blues From The Top in Winter Park brought the music and the wildflowers. Daisy was in her element—literally in the daisies. Trish's Dad visited, and we enjoyed hanging out all weekend listening to blues at elevation. The stage setup with the mountain backdrop is hard to beat.

Montana for the 4th of July

We loaded up our suburban and drove to Montana for the entire month of July. My parents' place was home base, and we had 15 people celebrating the 4th together. Abbie and Gracie even marched in the Condon parade!

We explored Holland Lake with views of the Mission and Swan Mountains, hit up Glacier Park from the north, and generally soaked up The Last Best Place.

Pirates at the Pumphouse

The annual Pirates at the Pumphouse rafting trip on the Colorado River is always a highlight. Chris's pirate ship never disappoints, and Captain Mama Tried was in full effect. Great friends, epic river, unforgettable times.

Rhythms on the Rio and BusCamp

Stout the Syncro made it to Del Norte for Rhythms on the Rio and BusCamp. This year they added a community lounge, which we immediately put to good use. The VW scene came out in force, and the music was stellar. Ed, Karen, Bridget, and the Professor joined us for the weekend. Nothing beats good community, excellent music, and tasty beer along the Rio Grande.

Parker Brewfest

I volunteered at the Parker Brewfest with Erich and Ryan for A Bit Twisted in early August. Nothing like serving great beer to happy people all day. Cheers!

Cape Cod and Maine

Next up: the East Coast. We headed to Cape Cod where Trish was in her happy place on the water. We celebrated Joe's birthday at New Seabury, spent happy hours on the Spit, and then moved on to Little Sebago Lake in Maine. Completely different vibe from Colorado, but that's exactly why we love it. Have water? We'd like to visit!

Desolation Canyon

This was the big one: a five-day raft trip through Desolation Canyon on the Green River in Utah. We had a wet start but the new motor on the boys' boat was smooth as silk. The weather turned beautiful on day two and stayed that way. We found old homesteads in the middle of nowhere, the Swifties serenaded us, Starlink even worked on the river (of course it did), and the breakfast crew kept us well-fed. Dawn, Erik, Chris, and the whole gang made it unforgettable. This is the kind of trip that reminds you what really matters.

Billy Idol at Red Rocks

We returned from rafting and went straight to Red Rocks the next night for Billy Idol. Trish and Jen are huge fans, and Red Rocks always delivers.

Las Vegas - Jack Turns 21!

We headed to Vegas to celebrate Jack's 21st birthday in style. We gifted him five laps in a Lamborghini at Dream Racing on the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Trish got behind the wheel of a sweet 911, and watching Jack drive that Lambo around the track was pure joy. Vegas Birthday Crew for the win!

Smalltown for the Cause - Salida

The Professor and Laura joined us for Smalltown for the Cause in Salida. We stayed at a very convenient Airbnb a 1/2 block from the venue. The bluegrass was excellent!

Fall in Fraser

As summer wound down, we made it back to Fraser to catch the fall colors. The leaves were peaking in Winter Park with a fresh dusting of snow on the mountain. The mountain sunsets kept delivering right through October.

Jack even got a job working Broncos games for ESPN. We spotted him on TV within the first few minutes of the broadcast!

Looking back, I'm exhausted just thinking about it all. But that's the thing about summer, you have to make the most of it while it lasts. We certainly did. Our rigs got plenty of miles, the dogs got plenty of adventures, and we made memories that'll last a lifetime.

I hope you get a chance to enjoy fall, football, and the Halloween season! 🎃

You can see the full photo album about our Summer of Travel on Flickr.

Summer 2023: Colorado, Montana, and Cape Cod

Matt Raible — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 23:45:21 -0600

I've been remiss in writing about my month-long summer vacation. Mostly because life moves pretty fast with Jack heading off to college, things getting busy at work, and lots of wonderful weekends along the way. I'm finally looking around and sitting down to write this post at the end of October. Now is better than never!

This year, I took a month off from mid-June to mid-August. How did I take so much time off? Okta has a magnificent unlimited vacation policy.

In 24 hours, I'll be starting my summer vacation. @okta has an unlimited vacation policy, and I'm taking full advantage with a month off! 😃

What will I do?

⛳️ Golf, raft, and bike
🛶 Live down by the river in a van
⛰️ Shoot the breeze in Montana
🌊 Tour Cape Cod#LifeAtOkta
— Matt Raible (@mraible) July 13, 2023

The adventure started with a birthday golf tournament that Saturday to celebrate my 49th.

We had a nice family dinner at Sushi Den on Sunday.

For the two weeks after that, I went on bike rides and worked on a 10-year anniversary present for Trish: a book about our wedding and honeymoon. I wrote about these events in previous blog posts.

Matrimony in Montana

Because of these posts and pictures, writing the text wasn't difficult, but finding high-res images was. In the end, I succeeded by getting Trish's credentials to her website and finding the photos in her archives.

I wrote the book using Blurb and you can buy a hardcover version of The Good Life, Volume II. I'm proud to say I finished the rough draft just hours before she arrived home from a trip the evening before our anniversary.

The weekend before our anniversary, I went on a father-son rafting trip with Jack and friends.

We made it home in time to show Hefe at the Colorado Bug-In at Bandimere on July 23rd. We ended up winning runner-up in our class! There were lots of magnificent VWs at this event, so I encourage you to checkout my summer vacation album.

We celebrated our anniversary by rafting on the Upper Colorado River with the Pirates of the Pumphouse.

I visited Montana the next week and had fun with my fabulous family and their wonderful homestead.

Our last adventure was to Cape Cod to spend a week with Trish's family. We marveled at the sunsets, went on many boat rides, and appreciated each other's company.

These photos are just a sampling of the 100+ that I polished and published. I think photos are a great way to tell a story, so I added captions to all of them in my Summer 2023 Album.

Summer 2022: Family Adventures in Alaska, Montana, and Colorado

Matt Raible — Mon, 1 Aug 2022 23:00:00 -0600

For the third year in a row, I took a long summer vacation thanks to Okta's unlimited vacation policy.

In 24 hours, I’ll be starting my summer vacation. @okta has an unlimited vacation policy and I’m taking full advantage with a month off! 😃

What will I do?

🏔 A week in Alaska
🤠 A RV trip to Montana
🛶 A week-long rafting trip
🤘 Def Leppard / Mötley Crüe concert#LifeAtOkta
— Matt Raible (@mraible) June 16, 2022

We started by traveling to Alaska with my sister and parents. My parents are celebrating 50 years of marriage this year and chose Anchorage as the celebratory destination.

The week we were in Alaska happened to coincide with the Colorado Avalance hockey team being in the Stanley Cup. We watched the games and cheered together, loudly.

We returned home to Colorado and watched the Avs win the whole kit and kaboodle. That was a fun day as was the Avs Parade in downtown Denver.

The next day, I played one of my best golf games ever and Trish rejoiced in renting a badass RV for a week in Montana.

We were super excited to get on the road the next morning. Our enthusiasm was dampened quickly when we found the RV didn't have any hookups for trailer lights. Since we planned to take our rafts with us, this quickly upset the flow of the morning. In a rush to get on the road, I decided we should take Trish's Tesla X as the tow vehicle. A full charge lasted us a mere 75 miles, so we pivoted to towing with the RV and using the Tesla as a tailing car to make up for no trailer lights.

On the 4th of July, it rained quite a bit so we were happy with our RV porch for the fireworks.

Trish enjoyed her remote office in the RV that week; Abbie opted for an office on the porch.

The water was higher than normal in Montana this year, so we got to enjoy some swift days on the river. We floated the Blackfoot one day and the Middle Fork of the Flathead (near Glacier Park) the next.

Our last night gave us a beautiful sunset before we endured the 21-hour drive home. Normally, it's around 16 hours. Charging the Tesla every few hours really slowed things down; we didn't get home until 4:15am. Jack was a real trooper and drove the many hours through Wyoming all by himself.

We were home for two days, just enough time to pack up for a week-long rafting trip down the Green River, starting at Gates of Lodore in Dinosaur National Monument. This time we took Stout the Syncro as our tow vehicle. He got a new engine a few weeks prior and successfully got us all the way across Colorado.

Five nights of camping on the river gives one a good perspective of the world. We were super proud of Jack for rowing through a class 4 rapid and Abbie for rowing through a class 3. I lost an oar at the top of the class 4, and we recovered it a few days later when a fellow rafter responded to our post on Mountain Buzz.

For the grand finale, we attended The Stadium Tour with Mötley Crüe, Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett at Coors Field. We had a blast singing along and hanging out with our friends from Montana, Owen and Dana.

I thought the concert was my vacation's grand finale, but what happened that weekend is something I dreamed of since I first started restoring Hefe. He won Best of Show at the Colorado Bug-In! Not only that, but he won Best Interior and Best in Class too!!

I'm back from summer vacation today and feeling fantastic! #HefeTheBus won Best of Show, Best Interior, and his class at the Colorado Bug-In yesterday!!

Winning Best of Show at the Bug-In was a bucket list item for me when I bought him way back in 2004. So proud! 🥳 #vwbus pic.twitter.com/Vm4p1KQNcl
— Matt Raible (@mraible) July 25, 2022

These photos are just a sampling of the 100+ that I polished and published. I think photos are a great way to tell a story, so I added captions to all of them in my Summer 2022 Album. I've also embedded it below.

Summer 2021: Family Fun in Washington, Montana, and Cape Cod

Matt Raible — Sun, 5 Sep 2021 18:15:14 -0600

July is one of my favorite months. It starts off with a national celebration, always has nice weather, and my birthday is smack dab in the middle of it. I have a habit of taking summer vacation for the month and this year was no exception.

We kicked things off with a journey to Chelan, Washington for the 4th of July. My sister-in-law, Mya, helps run Tildio Winery and we figured it was about time we did some wine tasting there. My parents joined us and we had a blast!

From there, we returned to Colorado and I journeyed to golf with my buddy Cletus in Nebraska. We played 36 holes in 24 hours and enjoyed each other's company thoroughly. I polished up Hefe for a birthday cruise on the 16th.

The 2nd half of July was spent in Montana and Cape Cod. In Montana, we witnessed KeAnna and Cole's wedding and celebrated with old and new friends.

In Cape Cod, we had lots of smiles and water time with Trish's fabulous family.

These photos are just a sampling of the 150+ that I polished and published. I think photos are a great way to tell a story, so I added captions to all of them in my Summer 2021 Album. I've also embedded it below.

You might notice the album doesn't end with Cape Cod photos. That's because August was full of adventures too! I had to return to Montana to get our van, raft, and dogs. My dad joined me for the return road trip and his brother, Jimmy, joined us for a week at the ranch.

Then, I spent a week at the Summer Tech Forum in Crested Butte, complete with a 24-hour trip to Boulder to help Abbie move into CU. After a weekend in Telluride, I returned home, worked on my SpringOne presentation, and got ready for Jack's 17th birthday party.

The party was a success, Abbie joined a sorority today, and we're looking forward to a colorful fall. I love this time of year with the colors, cooler air, and football season. Go Broncos!

July 2020: Rafting, Riding, and Relaxing

Matt Raible — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 14:05:37 -0600

As an American, have you ever wanted to take a month off like the European's do? I'm guessing you have! For the majority of my career, I've been an independent consultant, with unlimited vacation. Vacation as a consultant means you're not getting paid — so it's not exactly unlimited.

A few years ago, I doubled-down and went full-time. The company was called Stormpath and it quickly morphed into Okta. Okta has an unlimited vacation policy. I felt it was my duty to try to make my kick-ass full-time job as cool as my independent consulting gig. Therefore, I asked my boss to take July 2020 off. I requested this vacation in October 2019. He approved! Randall, you're the best!!

If you'd like to read about our April-June 2020 adventures, see 2019-2020 Ski Season, Quarantining for COVID, and a Graduation.

My month-off adventures started with a family raft trip through Desolation Canyon in Utah. We floated down the Green River with 20 members of our rafting family and had a wonderful adventure.

When we first got a raft, I read that Desolation Canyon is an excellent family adventure. We proved that to be true in September 2014 with a number of friends. On July 2nd, 2020, we embarked upon another spectacular rafting adventure with many of the same folks.

We spent five days on the Green River: motoring, floating, and loving the weather. The first day involved strapping the rafts together and firing up motors to get through the flat parts. I brought a boombox for my boat, so we listened to motoring a few times. Days 2-4 were fun with rapids, but it was pretty mellow for the most part.

We always dress up one night on the river. This trip's theme for costume night was disco!

Trish and I had a couple of goals for this trip. We brought two rafts, each with 2-3 coolers. I wanted to have ice on the last day. She wanted to have ice cold water on the last day. I'm happy to say we both accomplished our goals and I'm happy to reveal our secrets. I lined all three of my coolers with dry ice. Trish put a large water-to-ice bag in her cooler and forgot about it. It was solid ice when we started our trip, and ice-cold, delicious water when we ended. She discovered at the very end of our trip (post take-out) and it was the most delicious water ever. She shared it with everyone and we rejoiced with laughter and joy. It was soooo good and the timing was perfect!

July in Montana - 2020 Edition

We took out of the Green on July 7 and I headed for Montana in my Syncro Westy with a raft in tow. I like to name my vehicles. They're also known as Stout and Bam Bam. I had a new toy with me too, a Trek Rail 7 electric mountain bike. I bought it the night before we left Denver.

My eBike is one of my most satisfying and joyous purchases, ever. I cruised all the Swan Valley trails I grew up riding my BMX bike on — with a huge grin on my face. As I cruised up the hills on Rumble Creek road with the wind in my ears, I had tears of joy. I hooted and hollered like it was a powder day as I sailed through the trails along the Guest Ranch road and through Holland Lake campgrounds.

It was, and still is, a magical experience. ✨

Some call electric bikes cheating. I feel like a kid again and can't wait to go riding every day. Call it what you will, but I'm having a blast! I'll write up a full review on the bike in another blog post. Below are some photos from my riding adventures.

When I wasn't riding, I went rafting. My Dad, Daisy, and I spent a gorgeous day fishing on the Blackfoot river.

We did it again with my Mom and long-time family friends, Mike and Mai.

I had huckleberry pancakes for my birthday, watched the dogs frolic in the creek, and golfed in Bigfork with my awesome parents.

I took my buddy Owen and his family rafting near Glacier Park, on the middle fork of of the Flathead.

My Dad brewed an American Pale Ale beer for my birthday and treated me to a private tasting.

My sister, Kalin, and Mya visited for a week. Trish and the kids road-tripped up as well. We golfed, played on the rivers, and enjoyed the heck out of each other's company.

"What about the wildlife?", you might ask. We saw bears on the rivers of Utah and Montana. We saw bald eagles majestically flying along the river banks of the flathead. Spotting deer was a daily occurrence. Being surrounded by nature and its animals was magnificent.

I invited my Dad to join me for the road trip back to Colorado. He obliged and we drove through Yellowstone Park and by the Tetons in Wyoming.

A couple days later, there was a car show in our back yard and Hefe made an appearance. He didn't win anything because we forgot to register. That's OK, he looked really good!

This marks the third time I've taken a month off in my career. I've always ended up in Montana. I wrote about My Summer Vacation in Montana in 2009 and Matrimony in Montana in 2013. It's simply one of my favorite places on earth. I really appreciate that I can always go back home, ride the trails I did as a kid, and bask in the glow of my parent's retirement paradise.

See all 193 photos on Flickr →

Now I'm back in action, the kids are back in school, and live sports are on TV again. Life is pretty good and I'm pumped to hit all the front range mountain bike trails. I hope you've had a chance to relax and recharge this summer like I did. 😊

Life Update: Thanksgiving in Montana, RWX2018, Devoxx4Kids, DJUG, and Trish's Birthday

Matt Raible — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 09:20:02 -0700

For the first time in many years, we flew to Montana for the holidays. We typically drive, and it takes around 14 hours. It was quite nice to take off and land in just a couple of hours.

I thought it'd be fun to take some pictures of the cabin I grew up in. It's just a guest cabin now, but it still seems very cozy.

My parents have been remodeling the sauna lately, which was built in 1916. My Finnish ancestors built the sauna before the cabin back in the day!

We had a wonderful time with friends and family at Thanksgiving dinner...

...and while burning slash piles on Black Friday. #OptOutside

Our friends, Mike and Mai, have a real working phone booth, so Abbie had fun checking it out. The light from a kerosene lamp reminded me of growing up without electricity.

The Rich Web Experience 2019

After traveling to Montana, I had a week at home before the Rich Web Experience. I gave a new talk on Bootiful Development with Spring Boot and Vue. It was conference-driven development at its best. Because I was giving the talk, I had to base if off a blog post. I even thought it'd be cool if the blog post was published the same day as my talk. It all worked out in the end, but I had an in-anger encounter with Vue and TypeScript for a couple days there. Then it all magically worked and I became very happy. I published blog posts about Spring Boot 2.1, Bootiful Vue, and Angular 7:

I gave other talks at #RWX2019 on Bootiful Angular and JHipster + Microservices. The venue was marvelous.

As usual, I really enjoyed talking to developers about the open source frameworks I love. I published all of my presentations from RWX 2019 on Speaker Deck.

Devoxx4Kids Denver

While attending CodeOne this year, I had a chat with Stephen Chin about Devoxx4Kids Denver. I mentioned we'd love to have a hands-on Raspberry Pi class like the one I attended at a remote ski resort in Sweden. His response was music to my ears: "If you want, I can come out and teach the workshop. Or better yet, my daughter can." I was flabbergasted and jumped at the opportunity. "Yes!", I said.

Cassandra and Steve showed up in Denver a couple months later and taught a Devoxx4Kids Denver Workshop.

The kids loved it and they left us some equipment we can use to teach a future class. I'm currently discussing possibilities with the principals of my kids' schools. I hope that both Abbie and Jack can teach classes at their respective schools in 2019.

Denver JUG (DJUG)

The week after RWX, I was back in Denver and celebrated a great year with the Denver Java Community at the Denver JUG Holiday Party. Combining lightning talks with a holiday party turned out to be fun and we'll likely do it again next year.

Happy Birthday, Trish!

My lovely wife's birthday was just a few days ago. We both believe you shouldn't work on your birthday, so we took the day off and headed for the hills. We experienced a gorgeous Colorado day, smooth/fast runs, and smiles from ear-to-ear.

We had a fabulous day, and Trish got a birthday nap on the way home in Stout the Syncro. There's nothing like having a comfy bed in the back of your van.

What's Next?

Vacation! I'm on vacation at the end of this week and plan to relax a lot during the following two weeks. The first week, we'll be in Pennsylvania with Trish's fabulous family. Then we're back in town for a couple days. It'll be a turning point in our lives if Abbie passes her driving test (for her real license) on December 27. After that, we're heading back to the hills for a week of skiing, smiling, and good times.

I hope y'all have a fun holiday break. I'll see ya next year!

For more photos, see my Flickr album Life Update, December 2018.

Driving, Rafting, Hiking, and Enjoying Life in Montana

Matt Raible — Sat, 29 Jul 2017 16:00:00 -0600

I wanted to spend our summer vacation driving our VWs up the California coast, on a mammoth 3500-mile road trip over two weeks. However, when a landslide happened near Big Sur, I knew it was probably best to move this road trip from my yearly goals to my bucket list. Instead, we opted to drive to Montana and spend a couple of weeks vacationing in my childhood playground.

Our journey began with a bit of work involved. Trish's company was sponsoring a family movie night event in Sandy, Utah. We found out that my company was sponsoring as well, so we decided to take the scenic route to Montana. We left Denver at 9 pm on Thursday, June 29, and arrived in Grand Junction, CO at 2 am. Trish needed to be in Sandy for a lunch meeting, so we woke up promptly at 6 am and got back on the road.

The event in Sandy was super-fun. We enjoyed talking to customers, handing out swag, and watching the Despicable Me 3 premiere with everyone.

We high-tailed it to Montana after that, spending two days driving along scenic I-15 through Utah, Idaho, and Montana. We arrived at the Raible Homestead on Sunday afternoon.

The next two weeks were spent rafting, hiking, hanging out with friends, driving a lot, and relaxing with good books. Rafting the Middle Fork of the Flathead was a highlight for me, especially watching Abbie do all the rapids by herself in a duckie.

We also hiked up to Lower Rumble Lake. The trail goes straight up the mountain, with no switchbacks. It can be a grueling hike. My Mom, Abbie, Jack, our two border collies (Sagan and Jake), and I made up the trail crew. About halfway up, I thought, "this isn't as hard as I remember." By the time we got to the top (90 minutes later), it was just as challenging as I remembered. It was probably 30 years since I was last at Rumble Lake; it's still as majestic as ever.

Our final event in Montana was the Bob Marshall Music Festival. We attended the first annual event last year and had a great time. This year was even better, especially since we had one of the bands camped right next to us. Trish and I loved the late night campfire sessions listening to the local pickers.

Trish and the kids flew back to avoid the long drive home. I took the slow, scenic route home with Stout the Syncro, living the #vanlife for a couple days. Waking up with a view of the Tetons was awe-inspiring, as was the view driving through the Flaming Gorge Recreation area. I used an AT&T Unite Explore MiFi device for connectivity, or worked at coffee shops along the way.

More photos on Flickr → Summer Vacation in Montana 2017

I arrived home around midnight on Wednesday, July 19. Total miles: 3450. Issues with Stout the Syncro: none.

Epilogue: On my journey home, I wrote and polished presentations for ÜberConf. I delivered those presentations that Friday and uploaded them to Speaker Deck. You can view them using the following links:

Two weeks later, and I'm writing this from the back of our van on another Raible Road Trip. This time, we're heading to central Idaho for a week-long rafting trip with family and friends. Another couple thousand miles, many more unforgettable memories. There's something special about traveling the country in a VW Van.

Life Update: The Bus Project, New Gigs, New House and More

Matt Raible — Wed, 8 Jul 2015 22:14:56 -0600

I've written a few Life Update blog posts in the past and it seems appropriate to write another one today. A lot has happened since I wrote about our trip to Syncro Solstice 2015 in Moab. First of all, let's talk about the most exciting one: The Bus Project.

The Bus Project
The last time I wrote about The Bus, it'd just arrived at Sewfine to have the interior installed. From the get-go, I knew this was going to be a good experience. I've been talking with the owners (Carol and Mike) for years about the project. Seeing the knowledge they had about VWs and knowing it was in good hands brought a sense of calmness over me. They estimated it'd take 4-8 weeks to finish and it ended up taking 12. I'm proud to say it left Sewfine yesterday with a completed interior.

The Bus Interior on Flickr →

In mid-May, we took The Bus to its first show: VWs on the Green in Littleton. Sewfine had completed the driver's seat and ragtop. I got license plates and insurance and was planning on driving it to the show. However, Mike pointed out that the engine compartment wasn't sealed and the engine might get really hot on the 10-mile drive (because it's an air-cooled engine). I agreed to trailer it instead and rented a car hauler from U-Haul.

While driving it onto the trailer, and onto the grass at the show, I discovered several issues that needed fixed before I'd consider it road-worthy. First of all, the shifting was very sloppy and it was hard to find first gear. Third gear was easy to find and I ended up using that a few times, much to the chagrin of the clutch. I also found the air-bag suspension to extremely stiff. So stiff it seemed dangerous to drive over 20mph. Then there was the oil leak that left a trail behind us.

The good news is the guys who painted it have agreed to try and fix these issues and it's back in their good hands today. I don't know when it'll be done, but I've given up on trying to establish deadlines; especially since the largest VW show in Colorado is this weekend and it won't be done by then.

Below are some photos we took at the VWs on the Green Show.

For more pictures, see Trish's VWs on the Green 2015 album on Flickr. I also published mine.

New Gigs
I started a new gig in March, slinging code for a fashion-industry startup in downtown Denver. The team is comprised of guys I've known for years and I've had a really great time. The project is led by James Goodwill, who I worked with at Virtuas, Overstock and Time Warner cable with. It's good to be working with him again. My good friend, The 'Fesser, just joined our team last week too! I'm writing JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS and we're using AngularJS and Bootstrap as our UI frameworks. There's also opportunities to do Python and iOS development. James and another friend/co-worker, Wes Matlock, recently published Beginning Swift Games Development for iOS.

Trish started a new gig with Tuliva this week and now has an office a block from mine (at Thrive Ballpark). Thrive's new space is awesome and I love that they have coffee, beer and kambucha on tap! I've been riding my bike to work (6 miles each way) most of the year. My client has an office five blocks from mine, so I tend to spend half my time there.

The JHipster Mini-Book
I wrote about my progress on the JHipster book at the end of June. Now that it's July, I'm working on Apache Camel and Java Web Security presentations for UberConf.

Selling our House
Last month, we found a house we loved near our kids' schools. It was on an acre of land in a prime part of DTC (near Cherry Creek High School). To make an offer, we had to put our house on the market. Unfortunately, our offer wasn't accepted, but now we're on the market and hope to move south soon. It's been an interesting experience polishing up our house and keeping it clean, especially in the midst of the torrential rain we've had lately.

Summer Vacations
Last week, we drove our Syncro to my parent's house in Montana. Trish took a gorgeous photo of the sunset in Wyoming on the way up.

A beautiful Wyoming sunset on our way to Montana in our Syncro Westy. Photo by the amazing Trish McGinity.
Posted by Matt Raible on Thursday, July 2, 2015

We had an amazing week with my parents, my sister and her wife, Mya, and many old friends. My uncle was in town for the first few days, so we played golf, hiked in Glacier Park, and spent quality time together. The kids had a great time throwing water balloons from the Syncro in the Swan Valley Parade and we admired the beauty of the Swan Valley Museum. We fished, swam, boated, picked huckleberries and played guitar on the front porch.

We drove back to Denver on the 5th of July in 16 hours. We stopped for an hour in Billings, and had good enough timing to watch the USA Women's soccer team win it all! Driving through the dark rain and fog in Wyoming wasn't fun, but we arrived safe and sound at 3am. We were very impressed with the Syncro's performance.

We have a raft trip scheduled next week, with the same friends from last year. This time, we're rafting the Green instead of the Yampa, starting at the Gates of Lodore. I love rafting and it's really fun to take my family on multi-day trips with epic people. I feel very fortunate. When the bus is done, I just might melt into a puddle of glee.

The House

Matt Raible — Sun, 16 Nov 2014 09:09:20 -0700

A few months after starting this blog, I wrote about The Cabin. I grew up in a cabin in the backwoods of Montana, with no electricity and no running water. I lived there for 16 years before moving to Oregon for my last two years of high school. As you can imagine, this makes for a good story now that I'm a programmer by trade.

Since I'm between clients right now, I decided to head back to the cabin to see my parents for a bit. My Dad retired in 2009 and my Mom in 2010. They started building their retirement home just up the hill from the cabin in 2004. My parents moved in two years ago and completed enough of it to show it off at a big party before Trish and my wedding last year.

The House is a majestic building, hand-built and beautifully crafted. Both the interior and exterior are amazing, with gorgeous trim and a wonderful attention to detail. The porch is possibly the best in the world, high and mighty with a great view of the cabin and garden below.

The interior is similar to the cabin I grew up in, but much more spacious. There's a wood cook stove, a heat stove on every floor and two indoor bathrooms. It was super nice to avoid walking to the outhouse in the sub-zero temperatures during my stay.

The main floor, pictured above, is warm and cozy this time of year. The upstairs, where the bedrooms are, is quite roomy and beautifully decorated. It's full of light and has a nice lanai deck facing west.

The power and water systems supplying the house are all on-demand. The Kohler generator fires up when the batteries need charging and the water pump turns on when the washing machine or dishwasher run. There's an on-demand water heater as well. Solar panel charge the batteries when the sun is shining. A good charge will power lights, internet and the TV for around 24 hours. The generator, and the backup generator, are all powered by propane.

My favorite thing about The House is everything from my childhood is still nearby. The sauna that was built in 1917, the cabin that was built the following year. There's the log barn my Dad built one winter when he couldn't find work and the Toyota Land Cruiser that we'd rooster tail down the snowy back road to get us home in the dead of winter.

More photos on Flickr →

My parents built a whole new house and it still feels like home. On today, their 42nd anniversary, I'd like to say Well Done! You created a wonderful paradise in the mountains of Montana. I'm extremely proud of you.

Matrimony in Montana

Matt Raible — Mon, 2 Sep 2013 13:01:53 -0600

On July 27, 2013, in the late afternoon, Trish McGinity and I were married at the Holland Lake Lodge, in the town I grew up in. The Lodge was a favorite childhood place and getting married there, to the awesomest woman ever, was a glorious experience. There were several planned activities (e.g. horseback riding, rafting, golfing) the week before our wedding day, and many of our friends and family joined the fun. While we couldn't capture every smile, giggle, or loving moment, this is an endeavor to document our matrimony month, our wedding week, and the day we sealed the deal.

We started our month in Montana on Sunday, June 30th. We're officially calling it Raible Road Trip #18. We packed up our pets, raft and golf clubs and left Denver around happy hour.

We stopped for the night in Billings, Montana and arrived at the cabin the next afternoon. For the past 5 years, my parents have been building their retirement cabin, also known as The House. The House is a modern log home, still restricted in size by the length of the logs. However, it's 3 stories tall and has running water, toilets and a dishwasher. It's a really incredible piece of work and the most beautiful log cabin I've ever seen.

Last summer, Trish and I were the first ones to sleep in The House (because the upstairs floor had just been finished). This summer, they were finishing up a gorgeous covered porch and putting the final touches on their guest room. They'd also spruced up The Cabin and The Bedroom (a separate cabin originally built as a sauna) into clean and comfy guest accommodations. We spent the first hour after our arrival admiring all their hard work. Then we proceeded to unload our truck and moved in for the month.

The next two weeks were spent working on The House, rafting, fishing and having a rousing good time. On our first river trip on The Blackfoot (Russell Gates to Roundup), we saw bald eagles, caught Rainbow Trout and giggled with glee as we pounded through the Class III rapids. Hauling our raft up a 100ft super-steep takeout at the end was a challenging, yet memorable experience.

The 2nd week in July, Trish took a business trip to Boston and I tried to get my parents to act retired. We did a nice float trip along the Swan River (Piper Creek to Fatty Creek Bridge), but caught no fish. We took my parents' good friends, Mike and Mai, on the Blackfoot through Box Canyon. One of the most memorable scenes in Norman Maclean's excellent book, A River Runs Through It, takes place here (the movie was filmed on the Gallatin River) [source]. We started at River Junction in the mid-afternoon and and finished 6 hours later and 7 fish richer at Russell Gates. This is when I realized how terrible I am at estimating river trip durations in Montana. It's a good thing it's light until 10pm because we got off the river 10 minutes before dark. This wouldn't be the first time.

In mid-July, Trish returned from Boston. Abbie and Jack flew in from Denver and we celebrated my birthday with golf at Eagle Bend, in Bigfork. We taught them how to ride motorcycles (a.k.a. dirt bikes) and did another Swan River float trip near Ferndale. This time, we had 25 people in various floating devices and were lucky enough to see a moose and her two calves on the river banks.

That weekend, the kids and I went camping with my good friend Owen and his family. Trish stayed at The Cabin to relax and get ready for The Wedding Week. We camped at Hungry Horse Reservoir and quite the adventure getting there. After one of Owen's boat trailer's hubs blew up, we made a trip to town to get replacement parts. 3 hours later, when trying to fix the hub with new parts, we discovered it was the wrong size. Meanwhile, Owen's wife, Dana, had drove our kids (all 6 of them, plus a friend) to Hungry Horse to get a camping spot. To fix our "boat stuck on a trailer in the middle of Salmon Prairie Road problem", we used a floor jack to jack it up and push it to the side of the road. Next, we borrowed Dana's Grandma's pontoon boat and tried to find everyone else before dark.

The Budweiser was cold, the air was chilly, and the pontoon's engine was full-throttle as we drove 27 miles (43 km) across the lake as the sun set. We arrived 10 minutes before dark, much to Dana's relief.

A just-graduated-from-college crew arrived at midnight and camped right next to us. They proceeded to crank their music, run chainsaws and disturb the whole campground until 3am. We thought we could return the favor in the early morn, but they were up and on their boat by 7.

We spent the rest of the weekend fishing, boating, picking wild huckleberries, and marveling at our neighbors' stamina. I felt deep gratitude when Owen's whole family gave me all their huckleberries to serve as dessert at our Rehearsal Dinner.

That Sunday, July 21st, the kids and I return to The Cabin just in time to meet Trish's parents. Our first out-of-town wedding guests had arrived.

The Wedding Week

The wedding week festivities began with Trish, the kids and I all moving into the "Moose Roost" cabin at Holland Lake. Our view of the lake and the Swan Range was spectacular.

Trish's sister, Claire, arrived on Monday, as did her good friend Joanna. Abbie and Jack got to meet the new mouse-hunters at The Lodge, Up and Over. That evening, after even more family arrived, we all went to dinner at the Hungry Bear.

On Tuesday, Trish took a crew hiking to Holland Falls, followed by horseback riding with Swan Mountain Outfitters.

Meanwhile, I took my sister, Aunt Mary, cousins and Jack on a trip down the Blackfoot. Our 6-hour float turned into an 8-hour long haul because of low water and lots of rocks. Nevertheless, we caught a trout, saw a bald eagle, shared lots of laughs and arrived back for dinner around 11pm. We had great timing since Trish said she'd start worrying about us 3 minutes before we pulled up. We had our first late-night campfire by the lake to welcome late-arriving friends.

Wednesday brought us a beautiful day of rafting on the Middle Fork of the Flathead near Glacier Park. We had 35 people spread out over 3 rafts and 3 kayaks, guided by Montana Raft Company. A glorious time was had by all!

That evening, we rushed back to the Swan Valley for dinner at my parent's place. As usual, our rafting trip took longer than expected and we had a caravan of cars driving up our front road around 8pm. My Mom (and friends) prepared a delicious bouquet of culinary options and many folks got to see The Raible Homestead for the first time. We continued our campfire-by-the-lake until 2am, with a full moon.

On Thursday, we held a golf tournament at the Double Arrow Golf Course. Since most folks had joined us for rafting the day before, the turnout was low. However, we still managed to have a great time and I really enjoyed golfing with my Dad and his brother, Jimmy. We had a great time eating Pitchfork Fondue at the Hungry Bear Steakhouse that evening.

Friday was a Lake Day, where we rented WaveRunners and spent the day playing in the water.

The Rehearsal Dinner was late that afternoon, followed by another after-party at the lakeside campfire. The picture below of Trish and Chris (our wedding officiant) is one of my favorites.

The late-night campfires created some of our fondest memories, mostly because we were hanging out with our best friends in the world. Those people that took time out of their lives to celebrate with us will always hold a special place in our hearts.

The Wedding

On the wedding day, we slept in to rejuvenate our bodies. I got to start the day with a massage while Trish headed to The Gordon Ranch (where her family was staying) to get ready. Cindy Koder, an amazing woman and hairstylist, went to work with all the girls' hair. I slipped in for a trim in the early afternoon, then headed back to the lodge to get ready.

Chris Caldes was our wedding officiant and did a fabulous job of creating the ceremony and adding her own spin on things. For the wedding party, I had Jack as my Best Son, my buddy Clint (from the time I almost slept in a snow cave) as my Best Man, Trish's brother Matt, and my soon-to-be nephews, Michael and Jamie. Trish had Abbie as her Maid of Honor, her sister Claire as her Best Woman, my sister Kalin and her nieces, Morgan, Shira and Julia. We had our awesome friends, Jen Hussey and Jason Barton, do readings that brought many smiles and tears.

The picture below of Trish and her Dad is one we will always cherish. In particular, we like how Christian (the owner of Holland Lake Lodge), is in the background making sure everything is OK. Christian and Karen (the wedding coordinator at The Lodge) were amazing in creating the perfect wedding experience for us. Trish likes to call them Angel #1 and Angel #2.

Chris began the ceremony with "Mawwage", immediately bringing a round of laughter and smiles from everyone. She spoke beautiful words about us and our story, and then our mother's lit kerosene lamps (like I grew up with at the cabin) in memory of our grandparents and Trish's Aunt Ellen Thomas. For our vows, I had a surprise in store for Trish. She read hers first, with heartfelt words and a very touching portion where she made promises to Abbie and Jack.

My surprise was that I'd written Trish a book. I based it off all the blog posts about our travels since we met and assembled it into a hard-cover book using Blurb. I composed it while she was in Boston in early July, completing it in under a week, with lots of late nights involved. It resulted in a splendid 162-page book, appropriately titled "The Good Life, Volume I". I started my vows with words from the last page of the book, and finished with words I'd written earlier in the day.

One of the fun moments during the ceremony was when Chris asked me if I took Trish as my lawfully-wedded wife. I croaked out a barely-audible "Yes", followed by a loud, could-be-heard-across-the-lake "YES!". Trish reciprocated with an equally loud affirmation and we were pronounced husband and wife shortly after.

We rowed away in our raft as our first married journey. It was smooth, blissful and fun - very similar to how we'd like our marriage to be.

The reception after the ceremony was a blast. Abbie brought down the house with her Maid of Honor speech, saying that Trish was "loyal, smart, pretty, funny ... oh wait, that's me". The DJ provided a great selection of music, we got almost everyone on the dance floor and Trish and I got to show off the moves we'd learned in preparation. Every time we peruse through the reception pictures, it brings a wide smile to our faces.

We ended our wedding day with lots of congratulations/goodbyes, yet another lakeside campfire, and friends like no other. It was truly a memorable day and I couldn't be happier to be married to the lovely Trish McGinity.

As you can imagine, there's lots of pictures from this event. My photos are all contained in a Matrimony in Montana collection, while Trish's are in My Amazing Wedding. Our wedding day photos were taken by Carrie Ann Photography.

Summer Vacation 2012 in Montana and Maui

Matt Raible — Wed, 1 Aug 2012 09:30:27 -0600

I started writing about my summer vacations in Montana as soon as this blog gave me an opportunity: July 2003. In July 2004, I didn't travel to the cabin for the 4th, but I did in 2005. Then, 5 years ago, I started writing longer blog posts about our trips. 2008 was Raible Road Trip #12. In 2009, I spent a whole month in Montana. In 2010, I visited after my parents moved there full-time. Last year, I took Trish for the first time.

I don't know what Raible Road Trip number this year's trip was, but I'm going to go ahead and assume #17. This year wasn't exactly a vacation for me. It was what I like to call a workation. I tried to take the whole month off, but my current client needed my services. As a compromise, they agreed to let me work 20 hours per week during July. While I didn't get a chance to fully unplug, I did enjoy the reduced workload and time to spend with friends and family. And the views from The Cabin and Sugar Beach weren't bad either.

Below is our trip itinerary in condensed form, complete with photos from my incredibly talented fiancé.

We embarked on our drive to Montana on June 30th, stopped for fireworks in Wyoming and spent the night in Yellowstone park. Arrived at the cabin, got to sleep in the new house for the first time, built a cabin float, drove it in the parade, went boating at Holland Lake, played golf. Journeyed to West Glacier to celebrate Dr. Barton's PhD at his sister's house. Rafted the Middlefork of the Flathead all weekend. Played some more golf and went waterskiing.



→ Trish's Montana Summer 2012 Album

On July 14th, we flew to Maui and continued to explore. Our good friend's parents have a timeshare on Sugar Beach and got us a screaming deal on lodging. We had beachfront accommodations with a pool, hot tub and sauna. We played golf on my birthday (July 16th). Visited the Old Lahaina Luau, Maui Aquarium and Coconut Festival at Grand Wailea. Drove to the summit of Haleakala. Sipped cold handcrafted ales while watched the kids boogie board. Embarked on a sunset cruise, hiked in Iao Valley, did some horseback riding along the beach, sea kayaked and snorkeled with sea turtles. Savored Shawn's excellent cooking. Flew back to Missoula (Montana), slept for 6 hours and drove 12.5 hours back to Denver on July 27th.



→ Trish's Maui Summer 2012 Album

Mahalo Montana and Maui. Thank you to our awesome friends: Mom, Dad, Owen, Jason, Ryan and Shawn. It was an incredible adventure.

Father's Day Weekend at The Oregon Coast

Matt Raible — Mon, 2 Jul 2012 09:44:00 -0600

For the 5-year anniversary of our Father's Day Camping Trip, we decided to mix things up a bit. My parents were in Oregon for a friend's wedding, so we decided to fly to meet them there instead of flying them to Colorado. My sister hopped on "Buttercup" (her Harley) and drove to meet us from Washington. We also invited our good friends Clint and Autumn (who you might remember from Costa Rica) and had a great time staying at Gearhart Cottages.

We didn't feel too bad about skipping camping since Trish held a "Boot Camp" with the kids and their friends at Stillwater Campground the week before. You might remember Stillwater from last year's Father's Day trip.

Trish's Uncle John drove out to the coast to meet us and we did a really fun hike along Indian Beach to Ecola State Park. It was a real treat! It was also really fun to meet Clint and Autumn's 9 month old Brodie. As usual, Trish snapped some incredible photos.

That was two weeks ago. We returned to Colorado, had some fun at ÜberConf, rocked out at a Def Leppard concert then enjoyed a few Rockies games before hopping in the car and heading to Montana. We spent the night at Roosevelt Lodge Cabins in Yellowstone and saw a plethora of buffalo, a couple bears and even a beaver while driving through.

This morning, we woke up at the cabin I was born in.

We'll be working on my parent's retirement cabin, getting a float ready for the Swan Valley Parade and having a good ol' time with great friends for the next two weeks. After that, we're taking the kids to Hawaii for the first time.

Here's to summer vacations. I hope yours is spent with great people in beautiful places too.

4th of July Adventures in Montana

Matt Raible — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:24:54 -0600

Montana is one of my favorite places on earth, especially the The Cabin. Like last year and the year before, I spent a couple weeks at the cabin for this year's 4th of July. Last year was interesting because I met Trish two days before my vacation. This year, she joined me for the 2nd week, along with her Dad. It was also the "90s Reunion" for the Seeley Swan High School, which I attended my freshman and sophomore year.

My parents have lived at the cabin for a little over a year now, having retired there last year. It now looks like it did when we were kids. That is, it feels like home rather than just a cabin in the woods. Their retirement cabin is coming along nicely and the finished bathroom with a toilet + shower provides a nice break from the outhouse and sauna. It was interesting to see all the logging being done on The Homestead. My parents hired someone to clean things up and it looks great so far. They're not clear-cutting, just thinning the forest to reduce fire danger and give more resources to the big trees.

There were several highlights of the trip, but one of my favorites was our Float in the Swan Valley Parade. Abbie came up with the idea (Happy Birthday America) and we decorated an old trailer with streamers, balloons and a birthday cake to celebrate. Abbie made up a song and sang it throughout the entire parade (with a portable microphone and amp). We all got dunked afterwards, drank some cheap beer and had lots of fun fiddlin' and swinging. The fireworks that night were epic and Trish and I were amazed late night when we smiled on a crowded campfire with many of my parents' old friends.

The next day, we woke up, recovered a bit and then headed for Glacier National Park. We spent the afternoon at Big Sky Waterpark and had a great night's rest at Glacier Mountain Lodge. Trish woke up early the next morning for some sunrise shots at Lake McDonald and we enjoyed a short hike to Avalanche Lake that afternoon. Unfortunately, Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed due to snow so we were unable to drive to the top. 2011 is the latest they've ever opened.

The rest of our vacation was spent doing early morning airport runs, riding the 4-wheeler, golfing and hanging out with old friends. For the trip home, we took the scenic route, driving through Yellowstone and Grand Teton. We stopped along the way to spend the night at Jackson Lake Lodge, shortly after marveling at a Grizzly Bear and her two cubs along the highway. Trish snapped some some magnificent sunset and sunrise photos and we packed up the car for the final journey home. After being gone for 3 weeks, I've never seen the kids happier to cross the Colorado State Line.

As far as vacation destinations go, Montana is one of my favorites. This year was special because I had the pleasure of sharing it with Trish. She's always wanted to photograph Glacier National Park and the Grand Tetons and we were lucky enough to visit both. I also got to share a lot of smiles and memories with old classmates and friends. I experienced the joy of seeing my parents back home, living as Montanans once again and loving every minute of it. I smiled proudly as Abbie thought up the "Happy Birthday America" float and then sang on it the whole way through the parade. I simply loved spending so much time with my family in such a beautiful place.

Finally, I'd like to share a picture montage that Trish put together of the trip. Below that are some of her best shots from our adventures. As always, you can find see my latest photos on Flickr.

The Basement Sauna Project

Matt Raible — Thu, 12 May 2011 09:35:00 -0600

I grew up in a cabin in the backwoods of Montana. We had no electricity and no running water. We used an outhouse to do our business and bathed in a sauna. The Cabin was built by my great-grandpa Matti Hill, who had come to America by way of Finland and a Russian navy ship. Matti and his wife Ann received 120 acres from the Homesteading Act of 1862, and built a cabin and sauna on the property in 1917 and 1918, respectively.

When my sister and I started going to school, we started getting teased by the other kids because we smelled like goats. Since we had a whole bunch of goats, and they did smell, there's a good chance the kids were right. My sister and I told my parents, and they bumped the saunas up from once a week to twice a week.

I have many fond memories of the sauna in Montana. It has a huge 55-gallon stove; made from an oil barrel. A tub of water sits on the top of the stove and throughout my childhood, I developed the ability to make the water sing with a blazing fire. I've always loved that sauna, as well as most saunas. My parents built one in their basement in Oregon, but that went away last year when they my Mom retired and they moved back to Montana.

I've always wanted to build a sauna in my own basement. When my parents visited for a few weeks this past February, I finally began the project. The prep work, installing a drain and getting 220-volt electricity installed, in the basement was the hardest part. Not from a "doing it" perspective, but from a "stomaching the cost" perspective.

By the time my parents left at the end of February, the main infrastructure was completed. The framing was done, the stove was installed and the insulation was mostly finished.

Over the next couple months, I spent a few hours here and there finishing the cedar walls, building benches and trimming to make it look good. We hired someone to do the tile work and build a custom cedar door. One of my favorite things we did was have a custom piece of glass made with the Montana Sauna's picture sandblasted in it.

I can't take credit for how good it looks in the end. That praise goes to Trish and her tile design, as well as her decorating of the dressing room. My favorite thing is the shower in the sauna. It's great for rinsing off after sweating the day's stresses away. When it gets up to 112°C (233°F), stress goes away pretty fast.

I'd like to thank my parents for raising me with a sauna and my Finnish ancestors for inventing the idea. I think Jack summed it up best when I asked him, "Isn't it great having a sauna in our basement?" His reply: "No Dad, it's not great ... it's AWESOME!". Well said son.

More Pictures » Flickr Set or Facebook Album.

My Summer Vacation in Montana

Matt Raible — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:12:02 -0600

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.

Celebrating My Mom's Retirement

Matt Raible — Fri, 7 May 2010 00:18:24 -0600

A couple of weeks ago, after attending Abbie's Talent Show, the kids and I packed up and headed to Oregon for a weekend. This weekend marked a special weekend for my parents. When we arrived, my Mom had a week left of work before she retired from the Bureau of Land Management. You might've read about my Mom in the past. And you might know that my Dad retired last year.

My Mom has always enjoyed her career and I like to think I get a lot of enthusiasm for my own career from her. She taught me to love what you do for a living. When we lived at The Cabin, she had the drive and ambition to go back to school to get her degree in Forestry. Upon graduation, she got a job with the BLM and we moved to Oregon. My parents have lived there since 1990.

The weekend we spent in Oregon was somewhat magical. My parent's house sold in March after being on the market for only two weeks. They had a week left before they packed up and moved back to The Cabin. This meant the outside was pristine (because they fixed it up for the new buyers) and the inside was mostly packed. It was a sunny 3 days that weekend (which is rare in Oregon) and we had a blast at the Oregon Garden Brewfest, enjoyed a sunny BBQ with old friends and shared many memories derived from their 20 years in Oregon.

It was a somewhat bittersweet experience, meeting with all their friends and talking about their move to Montana. Many expressed sadness that they were leaving, but that didn't stop my parents from grinning ear-to-ear. You could see the excitement of moving back home sparkle in their eyes.

They have a huge challenge ahead of them and it seems they couldn't be happier. They'll be working on The New Cabin many long days and expect it to take a year or two.

I think my Mom said it best in an email she sent my sister and I a few days ago:

It's 9:30 and we are at Quinn's Hot Springs. Your father is snoring, he didn't last long when his head hit the pillow. We got here about 3, had a glass of wine and then soaked in the pools for an hour. Had a good dinner (I had buffalo short ribs -- mmm delicious) . They have a network, so I'm using my ipod for email.

I was crying when I drove across the state line because it felt so good to be home!

We are having a very nice drive home!! We love you!!!

Congratulations on Retiring Mom! You deserve it more than anyone else I know.

Enhanced Version » My Mothers Day Card

My Hunting Season Adventure at The Cabin

Matt Raible — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:43:44 -0700

Last year, I decided Hunting Season in Montana would be a yearly tradition for me. It all started a couple years ago when I was talking to my Dad about his yearly hunting trip. He hunted a lot when we lived in Montana (early 70s - 1990) and continued this tradition when he moved to Oregon. I figured it'd be a good opportunity for some father/son bonding and asked him if I could join him one year. We soon realized we had the perfect Hunting Oasis at The Cabin and should make it a yearly tradition.

My Dad lived in Oregon for 20 years, hunted every fall with his buddy Wayne, and retired earlier this year. Shortly after retiring, he moved to Montana to start building his "retirement cabin" (with running water and indoor plumbing). My Mom, kids and I joined him in July and made some good progress on finishing the foundation.

This weekend, shortly after working all night, missing a flight, and discovering the New Belgium Hub at DIA, I arrived in Missoula for this year's hunting season. Because I arrived at midnight, we decided to spend the night at a hotel near the airport. The next morning, we woke up and drove 2 hours to the Swan Valley. We arrived at The Cabin, started the heat stove and began unloading the truck. After being there 15 minutes and starting to settle in, my Dad started to talk about where the deer usually roamed. He pointing down by the garden and mumbled "They usually come out of there..." As he was talking, I looked out our kitchen window and say a huge buck. My heart leapt into my throat.

I shouted "GO!" and my Dad quickly responded with "NO! It's yours!" I said "It's been 20 years, YOU go!" and off he went to grab his rifle. Seconds later we were out on the porch and he was trying to find the beautiful 4-point Whitetail buck in his scope. The buck quickly disappeared behind the woodshed and outhouse and didn't appear again until he was almost on the front road.

When the target walked across the road, I whispered loudly "Go, GO - get him!!"

Shortly after a shot was fired that dropped him from our view.

My Dad scrambled off the porch, trying to reload at the same time and jamming his rifle. "Get the other gun!" he yelled (because a deer is rarely done after the first shot) and I ran into the house to grab some bullets and the other rifle. By the time I made it back out to the front yard, another shot was fired. My Dad turned to me and said, "He's gone."

I thought, "WTF?!" I thought for sure he'd got him on the first shot. Turns out, "He's gone" also means "He's dead". The picture below illustrates my Dad's impressive accomplishment.

After that, we both walked back to The Cabin to put our rifles away and got ready to haul it back.

As I was returning down the road to the deer, I spotted a good-size mountain lion on top of the hill. I didn't see its face, but saw enough of it to realize I should be carrying a rifle with me. A short sprint back to The Cabin and before I knew it, I was back by the deer, guarding it from any predators.

For the next couple hours, I learned how to gut a deer and enjoyed my Dad's overdue success. Congratulations Pappy - it seems you belong in Montana after all.

P.S. Today is my parents' 37th Anniversary. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! You make marriage look both fun and easy. I hope you have fun cutting up all that meat!

My Summer Vacation in Montana

Matt Raible — Sat, 1 Aug 2009 11:38:40 -0600

As an adult, I've often reflected upon my childhood and one of my favorite times of the year: Summer Vacation. The feeling that fills your mind and body on that last hour of school before summer break is simply awesome. I don't know when I began longing for that feeling again, but I'm pleased to say I enjoyed it again this year. I took an entire month off from "working" and enjoyed a proper summer vacation at my family's cabin in Montana.

My plan to take a month off began formulating years ago when we'd drive to the cabin for the 4th and only spend a few days before driving back. The trip was never long enough.

I started talking about spending all of July at The Cabin a couple years ago, but never committed to it. My opportunity finally came last December when Julie asked me if she could take the kids to Florida for 3 weeks for Christmas. I quickly realized that, as a kid, 3 weeks in Florida was an awesome opportunity and agreed to give up my time with them. However, I also realized I could get some negotiating power from the agreement and said "only if I can take them to the cabin for 3 weeks next summer".

For regular readers, you know the rest of the story. My Dad flew to Denver for Father's Day Weekend, stayed the following week and then we embarked on our journey to Montana on Monday, June 29th. The first week was great and we had tons of fun during the rest of July. Here's a list of some highlights:

Running a 5K while Abbie and Jack ran the 1 mile "fun run" with my Mom. It was Abbie's first race and she got 1st place with a time of 11:05.
Hiking to Holland Falls.
Picking Huckleberries.
Greeting my sister after she rode her motorcycle for 13 hours in the rain.
Spending my birthday at Big Sky Waterslides, something I used to do every year for my birthday.
Golfing with my family in Columbia Falls.
Building a set of bunkbeds for the kids.
Rides on "Rocket" (4 wheeler) with the kids, especially when Jack would say "go as fast as Rocket can go".
Golfing with my good friend Owen in Seeley Lake.
Prepping and pouring the floor on the New Cabin.
Fishing with my Dad in "Joe's Jungle" and installing a new window in the cabin afterward.
Teaching Abbie and Jack how to shoot a gun (a .22 pistol) for the first time.
Getting my next gig.
Traveling to Idaho for Clint and Autumn's Wedding Reception (they got married last December in Costa Rica).
Seeing Abbie get all googly-eyed over an older boy in Idaho.
Staying up to watch the sunrise in Idaho.
Milling D Logs for the kids' Treehouse.
Making it from The Cabin to Denver in 13 hours with only one speeding ticket.

More than anything, it was great to spend so much time with my parents and children. The Cabin is a very special place to me and I'm proud I can take my city-slicker kids to let them experience the outdoors and live like I did growing up. In the city, they always have an adult nearby and are never left on their own for long. They wear helmets when they ride their bikes in the alley, even though they have training wheels on and couldn't fall over if they tried.

In Montana, the rules all change.

In Montana, the adults worked on the New Cabin and the kids were left to occupy themselves. Their imaginations ran wild and they played with each other for hours every day. They made me see and remember one of my favorite things about childhood - infinite possibilities. As I kid, I was a dreamer and used to think that anything was possible in the world (flying, teleporting, you name it). I'm happy to see that Abbie and Jack believe that anything is possible too.

A week ago, I returned to Denver after driving almost 4000 miles in 30 days. I feel refreshed after so much time off. I've got my goals and ambitions in line for the rest of the year and I'm looking forward to writing more, smiling more and doing great things for my new client. Over the next several months, I'll continue to work with GWT and even have plans to talk at The Rich Web Experience in December. When I travel for work, I'll be in Boston and Cupertino. Hopefully I'll see some of you along the way.

As usual, you can see all my pictures from the past few weeks in my Montana 2009: Weeks 2-4 set on Flickr.

Raible Road Trip #13 Trip Report

Matt Raible — Sun, 5 Jul 2009 13:30:17 -0600

Last Monday morning, my Dad, Abbie, Jack and I loaded up our rig and embarked upon Raible Road Trip #13. We rolled through Custer, South Dakota around 4:30 in the afternoon and arrived at Mount Rushmore just after 5. After gawking at Rushmore, we took a meandering route through 1-car tunnels and Custer State Park. We saw a plethora of bison, some antelope and lots of nice campsites.

On Tuesday, we woke up early and began the 9-hour drive to Fairmont Hot Springs. We pulled in right around 5 and had a blast in the pool and on the water slide. When we got there, we discovered that the pools were open 24 hours. Abbie and I were still up when my Dad and Jack fell asleep, so we snuck out and played in the pool by the fading light of the 10:00 sunset.

On Wednesday, we arrived at The Cabin around 5 after a brief stop in Missoula to get some clown costumes (for the parade) and have some of the best ice cream in the world (according to Jack). Abbie learned how to chop wood and Jack got to ride on all the tractors. My Mom arrived from Oregon later that night.

Thursday and Friday, we worked on The New Cabin and got ready for the Swan Valley 4th of July Parade. While camping in Custer, Abbie and I decided to be clowns for the parade and we were fortunate enough to find costumes in Missoula. My Mom had to drastically shrink Abbie's to fit, but her hard work paid off when Abbie won 1st Place among all the walkers. She was sooo cute as a little clown and I was a proud Dad for pulling off another fun parade.

After the parade, we ate some huckleberry ice cream and watched the O-Mok-See for a couple hours. Then we joined up with my friend Owen and his family and enjoyed an afternoon boating on Holland Lake. We closed the night watching fireworks and got to bed really late.

Since we've been here, we've seen a couple bears (while riding the 4-wheeler with each kid) and my Mom saw a mountain lion walk in front of the cabin this morning. The mosquitos are vicious, but the weather is beautiful. For more pictures from the last week, see my Montana 2009 - Week 1 set on Flickr.

Raible Road Trip #13

Matt Raible — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:46:04 -0600

Another year has passed and it's time for the annual trek to The Cabin for the 4th of July. Last year, we took the route through Yellowstone. This year, we're going to shake things up a bit and head through Mount Rushmore.

One of the highlights of this trip is sure to be Fairmont Hot Springs. We're staying their tomorrow night and I'm sure Abbie and Jack will love it.

After 3 weeks at The Cabin, we'll be heading to Clint and Autumn's wedding reception in Idaho. Having so much time off from work is sure to be strange, but I'm sure I'll get used to it.

Happy 4th everyone!

Congratulations on Retiring Dad!

Matt Raible — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:46:47 -0600

Today is a very special day in my Dad's life. Today is his last day of work. Within the next hour, Joseph Edward Raible, Jr. will officially become retired and subsequently one of the happiest people I know. My dad has always had an interesting relationship with work. I've never met someone who hated working for The Man more, yet had such a strong work ethic.

Growing up in Montana, my dad always had the shittiest jobs. When I was a toddler, he used to walk several miles to work, often during the cruel Montana winters. As I got older, I remember him working as a carpenter, logger, trail crew specialist, firefighter, radio technician and even a programmer. The reason his jobs were so shitty is because he told us they were. I don't think he made over $5/hour until I was in the second grade.

He was able to turn his career around in impressive fashion in the early 90s. He'd always been a "computer guy" at the cabin. He even went to Graduate School for his Masters in Computer Science. When we moved to Oregon, he volunteered at my mom's new office as a Network Administrator. After 6 months, they hired him and he quickly moved up the ranks. I believe his current title is something fancy like Director of Wireless Communications. Over the last 19 years, he's worked for the BLM and done amazing things like setup radio networks in Honduras and Tanzania. He's turned into quite the world traveler.

The thing I remember the most is his perseverance. One winter when he couldn't find work, he built a barn. From scratch, mostly by himself.

The other thing I remember well is how much he complained about work. It was never the actual work that he complained about, it was the "stupid fuckin' idiots" that he had to work with (or for). This is the reason that this is such a special day. I can't help but think a huge weight is being lifted from his shoulders and he's going to much happier. Then again, you know how these things go - he might actually miss having people around to complain about.

One thing's for sure, I'm super pumped and happy for the guy. He plans on moving back to Montana for the summer to work on the New Cabin and it's likely I'll get to spend a lot more time with him in the coming years.

Congratulations and cheers to you Dad. You did it. I'm extremely proud of you today.

Great Weekend in Montana

Matt Raible — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 23:45:01 -0600

After the Software Summit last week, I sped down I-70 towards Denver. I made it to DIA with no time to spare. I had to run from the train to the gate, where the lady told me she'd been calling my name for the last 5 minutes. The fact I made the flight was a nice beginning to a wonderful weekend with my Dad in Montana.

It's been awhile since I've been to The Cabin in the fall. The Tamarack's were dressed in yellow and the sun warmed the land the entire weekend. It was cold at night, but we had my Grandma's ol' wood cookstove to keep us warm.

Hunting was a blast.

I haven't done it since I was a kid and I have memories of boredom. This time was different. My Dad and I basically trounced around the woods at the ol' homestead (120 acres) for hours on end with guns in our hands. What's not to like about that? Anytime outside of hunting season, people would think you're crazy and you'd probably believe them! Besides hunting and target practice, I got to hear a lot of stories from my Dad, explore all 4 corners of our property, chop wood, haul water and create super-hot saunas.

On Sunday, my Dad spotted a doe on our front-road and got a shot off, but missed. 20 minutes later, I got a chance at the same deer when she poked her head out from behind a tree 30 feet away from me. Unfortunately, I had a .30-06 strapped to my shoulder and couldn't get in position fast enough. After she ran off, we hunted her for a couple hours. We saw her a few more times, but didn't have any success.

The best part is we still had a ton of fun. One thing's for sure: I'll be at The Cabin during hunting season from now on.

Raible Road Trip #12

Matt Raible — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 00:06:42 -0600

It's hard to believe it's been a little over a year and a half since Raible Road Trip #11. That's far too long ago and I'm pumped that tomorrow marks the beginning of Raible Road Trip #12.

My dad flew in last night and we've been scrambling for most of the day getting ready for our early morning departure tomorrow. I'll be waking up in about 4 hours, stuffing the (hopefully) still-sleeping kids in the car and we'll be off to Big Sky Country. We expect to be driving for 12 hours tomorrow. Our destination is Grant Village on Yellowstone Lake.

After a nice night on camping on the lake, we'll be driving through Yellowstone, checking out some gooey geysers and then driving through Montana to The Cabin. I'll be off the grid for a week and I couldn't be happier.

Happy 4th everyone!

Related: Raible Road Trip #10.

Seeley Lake Fire Update

Matt Raible — Sun, 12 Aug 2007 22:02:30 -0600

As reported last week, the town where I went to high school is on fire. Here's an update from my sister's friend, Aliselina Strong:

The Seeley Lake fire is the # 1 priority fire in the nation due to the number of residences threatened and the town itself. Spooky, eerie, yet beautiful too. This is taken from a dock in Seeley Lake, so you can see how close it is. Yesterday was a good day as the fire remained grounded and lines were reinforced, but predicted winds today and continuing and hot weather again as well will not help. It had cooled off into the high 80's for a couple days.

Seeley Lake on Fire

Matt Raible — Mon, 6 Aug 2007 12:00:56 -0600

Where's my Mom the "Burn Boss" when you need her? From the Missoulian:

Seeley Lake residents prepare to flee Jocko Lakes fire
In two weekend days, the Jocko Lakes fire exploded across 18,000 acres, destroying one home, damaging several others and threatening this small western Montana town.

In doing so, the wildfire earned itself designation Sunday as the No. 1 priority forest fire in the nation.

After Saturday?s firestorm and flurry of evacuations, Sunday brought minimal winds and gave fire crews a fighting chance to get a handle on the fire, which is just a mile west of Seeley Lake and a mile north of Placid Lake.

Seeley Lake is 25 miles from The Cabin. There's unlikely to be a threat the The Swan (where I grew up). However, Seeley Lake is pretty close to home as I went to high school there and we have a very good family friend living in "Dog Town". Must be exciting times right now.

This fire made me think of this awesome photo from a few years back.

The Cabin

Matt Raible — Wed, 16 Oct 2002 00:37:45 -0600

Since I'm up at 4 in the morning, getting ready to study, but in the mood for a little procrastination - I might as well add a little more to my childhood story. Kudos to Greg for the encouragement.

It all started in the early 1970s when my parents first met in Bozeman, Montana. My dad (Joe) had moved to Montana with a girl, planning on marrying her. When he met her mother, she didn't like him, and he called the whole thing off. My mom (Barbara) was born and raised in Billings, MT and was studying at Montana State for her nursing degree. To make a long story short (let's get to the good stuff) they hooked up and ended up wanting to leave Bozeman. My mom mentioned that her family had a cabin in the Swan Valley - about 5 hours northwest of Bozeman. So they packed up their belongings and their friends and headed for "The Cabin."

The cabin was built by my great-grandpa Matti Hill, who had come to America by way of Finland and a Russian navy ship. Matti and his wife Ann received 120 acres from the Homesteading Act of 1862, and built a cabin and sauna on the property in 1917 and 1918, respectively.

The Homestead Act declared that any citizen or intended citizen could claim 160 acres - one quarter square mile - of surveyed government land. Claimants must "improve" the plot with a dwelling and grow crops. After five years, if the original filer was still on the land, it was his property, free and clear.

So why did they only get 120 acres? Apparently, the government deemed 40 acres as prime real-estate and didn't want to give it up. Matti and Ann were successful in "improving" the land and lived there until the late 1930s. We have many pictures of my grandpa Ollie growing up there as a kid. I've always been proud to carry Matti's name, especially when my teachers would get angry and call me "Matthew" in grade school. I could retort with "that's not my name" and be 100% correct, it says "Matt" on my birth certificate.

After leaving Bozeman, my parents and their friends drove to the Swan Valley and began their expedition to find The Cabin. It took them 2 or 3 days to find it; roof caved in, windows broken out, tall weeds growing through the floor - no electricity, no running water, not even a driveway into the place. This was in the spring/summer of 1972. They lived there with their friends through the winter of '72 and had a sort of commune going. It wasn't a true commune though because that wasn't their purpose, just a bunch of friends living on the same plot of land. And a pretty big one (120 acres) at that - so who knows how much they even saw each other.

In the fall of 1972, my mother discovered that she was pregnant with my sister, Kalin. My mom told her father, Ollie, who gave my dad 50 bucks and recommended that he take her to the courthouse in Missoula and get married. On November 16th, 1972, my parents were married, witnessed by my mom's best friend (serving as bride's maid) and ex-boyfriend (serving as best man). Their honeymoon consisted of buying a bottle of champagne from the local liquor store and walking around around the block at the courthouse.

My sister was born on St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) of '73 in the southeast corner of the cabin, delivered by my father. My mom never had any pre-natal care, and didn't see herself in a mirror until she was seven months pregnant with my sister - that must've been a shock! Soon after my sister was born, my parents convinced their friends that it was time to leave - they needed to raise a family and no one was paying rent! I was born 16 months later in July of 1974. The picture on the left is a picture of the sauna on an average Montana winter. On the right is the cabin, nestled in for a long winter.

There was no electricity at the cabin, only kerosene lamps and wood stoves. We gathered our water from a stream that ran between the cabin and the sauna. Since my parents had flat wallets (jobs have never paid well in Montana) we raised a lot of animals and my mom grew a flourishing garden each year. Our livestock consisted of ducks, geese, chickens, rabbits, dogs, cats, horses, goats and pigs. I was in charge of feeding the ducks, geese, chickens, dogs and pigs - as well as chopping and hauling in wood for the cook stove and heat stove (I never realized how good I was at chopping wood until I introduced my city-fied college friends to the cabin). I used to hate feeding the pigs because they would always "slime" me with their snouts. But I was always friends with them, and apparently devastated when they were made into our dinner. Bears would visit us often, sometimes getting a pig, sometimes getting strung up after my mom shot them.

When Kalin and I were old enough, we started trekking to the bus stop each morning - a mile and a half walk. I remember waking up early in the cold Montana winters, and hiking over to the chicken coop with a flashlight. I'd gather up the frozen water dishes, thaw them out on the heat stove in the cabin, and deliver them to chickens right before we began our walk to the bus stop. Our walk to the bus stop only took 23 minutes and we were often joined by mom. My sister and mom will tell you that I talked like a broken record the entire duration of our walks. That was the greatest part about growing up in Montana without TV and little knowledge of the world - I believed anything was possible, and I dreamed out loud. A flying saucers that had chicken McNuggets in the glove box was one of my favorites.

So we lived, dreamed, worked and grew up at The Cabin until 1990. I was a sophomore in high school, Kalin a junior, when we moved to Salem, Oregon in June. The worst part is that we never knew how good we had it in Montana - we just knew what we didn't have. This goes for my parents as well. I can remember my dad always complaining about finding work and how crappy the jobs were. Now he can't wait to visit the cabin every year, and my parents hope to retire there someday.

The craziest part - in 1986, when my dad was pursuing his Masters of Computer Science at the University of Montana, we had a Commodore 64 hooked up to a 300 baud modem, connected to CompuServe. We had a small generator by then to run some lights and the computer. Even crazier - we still can't get electricity at the cabin (for under $50K), but we can get DSL installed! My dad worked for the phone company for a year or two in the 80s, so we've had a phone there for a while.

I thank my parents and my sister for an awesome childhood - where life was simple and dreams were boundless.