Nickelback at the Gorge

Now to the concert info, due to the crazy ag sprinkler back up, we missed Saving Abel, a bit bummed, I was still excited to be at the Gorge in lovely 83 degree weather listening to Papa Roach. We wound our way throughout the grassy area, finally settling on something close the the fence towards one of the corners. Electing not to stand in line for either concert gear or beer, we ended up mostly doing some awesome people watching...and listening to good music. Papa Roach finished up and Hinder came on, they were great and definitely a highlight for a few adoring fans around us. As darkness settled in, and the moon and stars shone overhead (who said it was supposed to rain??) Sparks ignited and Nicelback came on stage, it was an awesome show! So glad we got to go, thanks honey for a great way to end the summer and start the schedule manic school year!

Nickelback at the Gorge

Michael, being the absolute wonderful man that he is, bought tickets for he and I to go see Nickelback at the Gorge. I had never been to the Gorge for a concert, but it was something I had wanted to do for some time. It was absolutely the best way to spend last Saturday night! We checked into our hotel in Moses Lake about 5pm, then headed to the Gorge. About 7 miles out traffic started to back up pretty badly, but we figured that 5 mph was better than 0. Three or so miles in, we found the reason for the back-up, one of those giant ag sprinklers on a corn field was spraying water over the roadway, apparently it takes several deputies to help people through this type of catastrophe. We finally made it to the Gorge, found parking, packed our unopened water bottles and headed towards the gate, only to find out that "the band" had requested no water bottles, period! Trudge back to the car, be grateful that Michael brought his Camelpack, and dump our new water bottles into that. Honestly though, I didn't drink much, not after my first visit to the port-o-pottees!

The Teton's

My favorite mountains, the Grand Teton's in Grand Teton National Park, just south of Yellowstone, on the way to Jackson Hole, Wyoming. This year, there was more road construction, the road was torn up, literally, the asphalt was gone and in it's place was lovely DUSTY rut's of hard packed dirt for about 10 miles. The Teton's were beautiful though, wish we would have gone a bit earlier in the day.

This crazy yellow headed bird was following us around the parking lot, we were the only car in the lot....I think he wanted food, but the sign firmly said "DO NOT FEED THE WILDLIFE"...poor little guy.

Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. It was SO HOT in the park this year, one day it was 95 degrees as we entered the park. The animals were mostly in hiding during the day, too hot for them! The sky was really blue though, all of our pictures from Mammoth Hot Springs turned out really neat.

Glacier National Park, we headed into the park from the St Mary, Montana entrance, then drove the "Going to the Sun" highway from East to West. There were several spots of road construction, our "Recovery" dollars at work.

This was the little aspen grove next to our cabin at the St Mary's KOA just a mile outside of Glacier National Park.

Honeymoon - phase 2

We drove forever, all the way to Mt Rushmore and Deadwood, SD in the Black Hills.

We stopped off in Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP, Teton's NP, and on the way back from the Black Hills and Mt Rushmore we checked out Devil's Tower National Monument in Wyoming.

This trip was SO COOL! Mt Rushmore was exceptional, we arrived late in the day (not planned, but ended up being perfect) so we stayed for the lighting ceremony. My gosh, this was an awesome experience.

Unfortunately, my camera had some problems to I only have pictures up until day 3 of the trip. :(

Here is the link to Michael's photo's though - they are way better!

http://www.michaelswhite.com

Lida

Our dog Lida is sweet, but a total scaredy dog!

Her favorite food is peanut butter, and her new dog bones, occassionally she eats other things...

She ate her bed not long ago, so we had to buy her a new one, she seems to be enjoying it.

HONEYMOON - #1

Our first, and most immediate, Honeymoon trip was to the Oregon Coast. We stopped at Michael's Grannies house and Safeway - then headed off to the coast. We drove straight to Manzanita and snuggled into our cute hotel room with the GREAT ocean view.

We drove down to Newport one day, stopping in Tillamook (although not at the cheese factory) and at a couple of spots along the coast.

Michael takes the most amazing photograph's - he see's things that I only gloss over in my quest for adventure. He always capture's things that I don't even "see" while we are on vacation, I always love reviewing his photo's to see what I missed.

Newport was cute as usual, but it was very windy and a slight bit cold out. We had a late lunch/early dinner at the Rogue Brewery. The food was most excellent!

Susan and I

Susan and I became friends long ago when our son's ended up in the principal's office together...something about that just bond's you together as single mother's!

Our "Big" Family

The whole clan

Our "Little" Family

Our "little" Family

We got married!

Michael and I were married on Saturday, June 27th.

120 some people showed up, it was beautiful sunny weather. We had salmon, chicken, and so many wonderful potluck side dishes.

I can't thank everyone who helped enough times - thank you!