Another Day in Paradise

There are some pretty serious perks to living out here in the Pacific Northwest. For one, we're only a stone's throw away from the ocean and the mountains. This arrangement fits nicely into my "Both is Best" philosophy. You'll never here me say I'm either a "mountain" person or an "ocean" person. Nope. Don't have to sweat that particular question because "Both is Best." See? A nice perk.

Today, we decided to throw the stone towards the mountains and go for a nice long hike. A seven mile hike, in fact. This was a major victory for Tim and me as we didn't have to drag the kids out by their ankles from sheer exhaustion nor did we have to morph into pack mules and carry them out. We have glimpsed the future and it is good!

As a side note, I usually take lots and lots of photographs of our adventures or at least carry the camera around and threaten to take lots and lots of pictures, but today I brought only one lens and forgot a backup battery (Didn't I learn anything in photography school??!). I got exactly 10 photos taken before my camera pooped out which was totally irritating because this hike is spectacular with lots of waterfalls and a vast, impressive landscape. You'll just have to take my word for it. (Except for you, mom and dad. This is a MUST on your next trip here!) Anyway, here's what I managed to salvage:

 

M is for Montana

So, I have been asked by a couple of people when I might be planning to update my blog which means two distinct things:
a) People are reading my blog (yay!).  
b) The Wii game that my brothers lovingly sent the "kids" for Christmas has taken over my life.

In the past week since we've been home I've taken on the hours, pallor, and unblinking stare of your stereotypical gamer. Not a pretty sight, I can assure you. That being said, I must take a moment from my ridiculous obsession to write about our holiday in Montana. Beautiful, majestic Montana. *loving sigh*

I truly love going back to Montana to visit. I love the scenery. I love the people. Hell, I even tolerate the ridiculous walking pedestrian laws. (For those of you who haven't had the experience of whiplash or terror from this particular law, Missoula has decided that a pedestrian can walk or run into traffic anywhere on a street and without any warning to vehicles on the road. The pedestrians of Missoula take this law to heart and use it often.  Doesn't matter if four lanes of traffic are clipping along at 40 mph, those little buggers will jump out there and dare you to run them over because they know they have the right of way.  It's amazing that more people have not been maimed or more drivers have not died on the spot from heart attacks).
Anyway, besides that little detail, Montana, specifically Missoula, is a place for me to breathe and be still. We hiked daily and saw dear friends. We went up to the local ski area and explored. We caught up on Dexter and Big Love. Tim cooked and we ate our body weight in decadent food. It was a wonderful trip.

 When we visit, we stay with one of our best friends in the world, Jim (aka Jimmer). Jim has an amazing depth of knowledge about Roman and Greek history, classic movies and books and opera from around the world. He's also a musician and was a friend of Harvey Milk. To say that Jimmer is an interesting character is kind of an understatement.  I love spending time with him because I always experience and take away something new and unexpected. I have seen Turandot and Madam Butterfly and have a fondness for Puccini opera. I have fallen in love with Maria Callas.  Under his influence, I've read Anna Karenina, had awful dreams while trying to get through the book of American Psycho, and have taken a couple of stabs at Proust. He has given me all the back stories on my favorite Hitchcock films.

This trip, Jimmer introduced us to 1970's Italian horror films. Think B rated slasher meets art house meets the 1970's. In short, kind of beautiful, kind of cheesy, and strangely memorable. We laughed uncontrollably.

I can hardly imagine what he'll have in store for us next.

Now we are  home again getting back into the swing of life in the city. In my mind, I'm already planning our next trip to Montana.