Relishing our Freedom

Pete and I took a road trip to the West Coast this last week. We realized and have been warned that road trips, sleep, the freedom to just pack a small bag and hit the road will soon be behind us. I have reassured Peter that we will still be doing plenty of traveling, sleeping and packing our bags even after the Babe comes; but we both know the bags will be MUCH bigger, the drive a bit shorter, and things a tad bit more complicated as we try to lug an infant or toddler on our adventures.

So, we took advantage of these last couple of weeks and the fact that we have great family and friends to stay with and went to Washington!

Pete and I - fishing the Rocky Ford
Happy boys!

We started by meeting Jimmy Wofford in Ephrata, USA to fish the "famous" Rocky Ford Creek. Not a real looker of a town, but apparently the home of one of the top 9 rated Spring Creeks in the U.S. We had a great time with Jim and caught few BIG fish, but we'd sure like to know who was doing this rating. The town was a bit lacking (we felt like it was full of meth zombies) and the scenery, well, there wasn't any. If you ignored the large fish hatchery and cinderblock homes surrounding the arid desert like creek it was alright. We are a bit spoiled with our spring creeks and pristine mountains here in Southwestern Montana.

We camped in our car one night while Jim slept next to us in his tent. After 50 mph winds all night and 20 something degrees, we found the Ephrata Inn and Hotel for $45/night and called it home the next day.

We fished for about 2 days - ate lots of good mexican (we found a restaurant that was good and not scary and just stuck with it) and enjoyed our time with Wofford (as usual) and headed further West to Seattle. Pete's cousins Kurt and Tara, Dan and Mary live there. We spent 2 nights with Kurt and Tara at their place in downtown Seattle and one night in Gig Harbor with the other Lustig brother. It just so happened that ANOTHER of the Lustig brothers, David and his girlfriend Tiffany (who live in Bozeman) were visiting as well, so we had a fun family reunion night in Gig Harbor where we prepared a fresh seafood feast and played The Big Taboo (Taboo with cool props and twists).

the cousins
Pete, Tara and Kurt

We ate lots of seafood, walked around Pike Street Market, downtown and made a visit to the Seattle Aquarium. Peter had never experienced shopping at Ikea, so of course we had to do that and we loaded up on all sorts of perfect and cheap goodies for the baby girl's room! I LOVE the Sweds for inventing such an amazing store - my mind went NUTS at all the imaginative possibilities for our home!

On our return trip home, we visitied a hunter / film maker that will be coming to elk camp this fall. He produces, directs, and stars in the finest hunting shows and commercials on the Outdoor Channel and many other places. He welcomed us into his home / office and we met all the video and editing crew, his kids, and Pete even got a FREE Bowtech bow and lesson from one of the worlds best archery shots. It was very serendipitous 4-hour stop in Spokane. We can't wait for Mr. Jim Burnworth and friends to be in camp this fall! You can check him out at one of his websites. He and his family were as nice as people get!

We hit some weather on our way home so we stopped and stayed with our friends John and Jen Greer in Alberton, Montana - they were gracious enough to open there doors and kitchen after we called and said "Roads suck, now it's dark, been on the road for 7 hours already, need a bed." It was a very nice treat to finally see their beautiful log home in the woods!

Pikes Market - FRESH fruit!

This is Brooke and Baby Howell at 32 weeks! Baby already loves to travel....

My honey....

We are back at here in Livingston - waiting tables, remodeling my dad's bathroom, working at the ranch and generally trying to see all our friends and have some fun... It was a great week with many memories Pete and I will cherish.

You can see ALL our pics at our Picasa Web Albums.

2009 March Seattle Trip