"Turn at the Rotary"

I was blog stalking Domesticated Combat Boots, and she is currently in Boston. It made me reminisce of when we lived in Western Massachusetts, in fact we lived there when I started this little blog. Paul was stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, working with a reserve unit, as basically a guy who trains the Reserve Marines. We had lots of wild and crazy stories there, and lots of really good friends were made. But one funny memory that sticks out, was when we very first entered New England. 

sunset at cape cod 

It was beautiful a sunny day, and we were totally lost. This was before smart phones, and google maps. I had a list of directions printed out, and my trusty Rand McNally map in my lap as Paul drove. It was me and him, the Jeep and the U-Haul. Trucking along interstate 95. We were in New York City, and desperate to get to Massachusetts. Traffic was probably horrible and we were desperate for a short cut. The "Merritt Parkway" would get us off Interstate 95 and maybe even be a little faster! So we took our exit and ventured off our "Mapquested" path.

Somewhere around Greenwich, Ct we saw a sign on our little, beautiful, scenic highway that said something along the lines of no towing, or no trailers. This would explain people waving at us and giving us the finger, yelling from their cars, they were not welcoming us, We were not supposed to be there with our little U-haul. So we got off, unsure of where we were, and hoped for the best. We could not find our way back to the Interstate, and after, who knows how long (seriously, that was 10 years ago, I am surprised I remember this much) we stopped and asked for directions. 

somewhere in our neighborhood in Chicopee

I remember it was a mechanic, some older guy, gave us directions. "Go blah blah blah, to the rotary, and blah blah blah" 

So we drove off, and starting going over his directions, and looked at each other and said "So, What's a Rotary?" We pulled over again, and started making phone calls, I think we called everyone we could think of and no one knew. Again this was before smart phones, so we didn't have google at our fingertips. Finally I called my grandmother, thinking she has to know. Her best guess was an old pay phone, like a rotary phone. So we drove on, looking for an old pay phone. We never found one, but we did eventually find the Interstate. We arrived in Chicopee late that night and I think it was several days later when we saw a sign that said Rotary with a big arrow, this is how we learned that a rotary is a traffic circle, and not an ancient pay phone. 

Daiso Japan!

The day we went to CoCo Ichiban (well, both times, we've been twice now) we also made a trip to Daiso Japan, also known as "The 100 Yen store". In Japan Daiso is a chain of 100 Yen stores that is similar to dollar stores, but better quality, at least in my opinion. And lots of functional things, cleaning, makeup, storage, foodware, decor, notepads and stationary. Some of my best memories from Japan are going out with one of my best friends in Japan to get pedicures, have Sunabe Gyro, and then going to the 100 yen store. 

So of course I was thrilled to find out there was some located in California, and they were promptly added to my "to-do" list. The nearest one is a bit of a drive, it's about an hour north of here, but so worth it.  We make a day of it and also go to Coco Ichiban, and there is also a Japanese grocery almost right next door to this Daiso, so it all works out nicely. It's almost like being back in Okinawa for a couple of hours. 

Walking inside it's like being transported back to Japan, the store looks just like the ones in Japan, they carry all the fun things that I miss being able to get everyday. And just about everything is only $1.50! Some of the larger items are $3 to $5 but I don't think anything is more than $5. 

We had so much fun, and I am already planning my next trip! 

I wish I had taken  more pictures, but the store was very crowded both times (on the weekend) and I think it's a little weird for me to be walking around with my DSLR taking pictures inside a store. 

Glacier National Park Part 2

And Now I bring you part two of our trip. We start where we left off in my last post. We had just finished with Many Glacier and we were headed to St. Mary. Entering on the East side of the park in St.Mary is the Going to the Sun road which cuts directly across Glacier. Spectacular views. Spectacular!

(as always click on images to see larger image)

Logan Pass

This guy kills me. He looks so pissed I am taking his picture.
"What? You want me to pose again? shove it"

Goodbye Glacier, see you again someday. 

Glacier National Park (part 1)

For the first time since our Honeymoon in 2006 Paul and I went on a real overnight vacation. We've had lots of stay-cations and day-cations, we've road-tripped for work and to see family. But we've never had our own trip where the destination was our choice, family fun, no goals, no "just drive, so we can just get there". We decided we are long overdue. 

Another really nice thing about this trip was we didn't really have much phone service the whole time, so it really was just the two of us. 

I am going to break this up into a couple posts so we don't go into picture overload all at once. 

First Family Vacation

The first night we drove up to East Glacier. We stayed in a cute little motel (Mountain Pine Motel) that had a very retro feel, but it was very clean. Not a lot of amenities, our room had two beds an old TV, towels and bar soap (and of course I forgot shampoo) But considering we are right outside the park, for the price, I was very pleased. Most of our neighbors were hikers, after we arrived and they dwindled back in most of them sat outside and drank a beer while they took their hiking boots off and unloaded their gear from their cars.

If you ever go to Glacier I highly recommend Mountain Pine, It was clean, the grounds were beautiful, lots of grass and trees. I think they are pet friendly, I saw people with dogs, but we didn't bring our monsters.

The hotel manager (Cute little old man) gave us a really nice map and basically outlined our trip for us. I am so glad he did, because we had no intention on going to Two Medicine (blue arrow) or Many Glacier (pink arrow). 

Today I'll share with you those two places. 

Running Eagle Falls Trailhead

Two Medicine Lake

Drove down to the shore of Lower Two Medicine

On our way in Lower Two medicine was very calm and the Mountains reflected perfectly off the lake, so on our way out we decided to explore and drove down a washed out dirt road to try to get a picture. We got down and it wasn't calm anymore, but it was still beautiful. 

On our way back up the washed out dirt road though we almost didn't make it back to the main road. I was really upset because I thought we were about to ruin our vacation and it had just started, we had literally only been out of bed maybe 2 hours max. Lesson learned, don't take your Jeep, no matter how BA it is, off-roading, with crappy road tires. After about 10 minutes of trying we got up the hill and back onto the highway. 

rain coming in looking in to Lower Two Medicine from the main highway headed North.

obligatory selfie

lower two medicine panorama

Lower Two Medicine panorama 2

after we got back on our way a storm started to roll in, lots of rain and lightening on our drive from Two Medicine up to Many Glacier. 

Family Fun! 

Look at all those Glaciers! 

Once we got to the end of the road at Many glacier we noticed the clouds were parting and the sun was peeking through, it would be a good day, the rain would eventually stop and the sun would come out! 

Many Glacier view from the Swiftcurrent Lodge parking lot

Stay tuned for more Glacier National Park coming soon! 

Ringing Rocks

Once upon a time I picked up a silly book about oddities in Montana, Montana Curiosities: Quirky Characters, Roadside Oddities & Other Offbeat Stuff. Fun little book, with all kinds of silly, neat places to visit. One of the fun things that's really close to us is the Ringing Rocks outside Whitehall, Mt. It's only about a 20 minute drive down the freeway and then up a dirt road. So why not? 
What are ringing rocks? well they are some rocks with a weird geological feature. When you hammer on them they make more of a bell tone that rings, as opposed to just a "bonk" or a "tink" from the hammer.
So back in March, While Paul's mom was visiting us we made a family trip out there. It was pretty neat, the rocks certainly made different noises, I even took some videos, but the sound quality is very poor and you can't really hear the pings and pongs. 
There was also lots of rocks available for Paul to climb on. Because that's what boys do, right?  

Oh my gosh E was so tiny 6 months ago!