Big Sky the Home

We arrived in Big Sky and joined the rest of the Nolan's in relaxing and enjoying each others company.
We first gathered here in 2011 and have almost every year since so we have lots of history and stories.  It is a great place that lends itself well to large groups of people.  Beautiful view and great place to have killer card games.
Patrick and Michael fished many days with Patrick's drift boat and had some luck..but not great luck with catching fish.  Still they had  great "brother" time.
We did lots of reading, some sewing, and lots and lots of relaxing and eating. Many great Cooks!!
We were joined by friends of Pat and Lynn...Steve and Brook from Seattle for part of the week.
Then friends of Kathy and Mike..Bud and Della came for a night on their way back to Michigan.  Great fun

 Dinner on Thanksgiving dinner night...who is missing??  It must be the guy below with his nose in the Mad magazine!!  HARRY...dinner is on the table!!!

                                                              Beautiful sister Fran with Harry

 What are they doing??  Mike, Bonnie and Patrick taking pictures of each other for their I phones, such kids!

                                                           Happy Hour on the deck.

We went into Yellowstone Park one day...the day it turned cold and rained of course...and did some fishing on the Fire Hole River.  It was great fun because even though the air is cold the water is warm due to the hot springs and hot pots etc of Yellowstone.  We saw Bison, Eagles, and the Elk are gathering up in herds..Those males are really bossy and bugle at the females all the time...what nags!
Bonnie looks like a million bucks and had a great time fishing...She could be on a magazine cover!!

We headed home on the 14th of Sept and drove
it in 4 days.  North Dakota is beautiful in its remote way but it is also a LONG state.  We stayed in a campground in Glendive Mt that has risen to our number one most awful..it was next to the train tracks and they loaded and unloaded cars all night.  Too many train whistles!!!  We went to Bessemer in the UP and visited Mike's mothers grave...found it right away which was good.  Found the bakery in Wakefield that Mike remembered and got pasties for dinner...baker remembered many Ahnen family members.  We spent the last night out at a wonderfully QUIET campground and then headed across the Mighty Mac..it was good to be home!
We were gone a month and both of us feel that was about the right amount of time.
Saw Patrick, Heather and Finnley last night and Skyped with Timothy, Casey and Seamus.  The babies have grown and all seems well with their parents.
Love and Hugs from the travelers....Michael and Kathy ...and of course Riggs

Fishin in Montana

 We have been out of internet range for the last week so this has lots of pictures and stories to tell.
We fished for three days in Twin Bridges with Matt and enjoyed the hospitality of Don and Marsha.  Great meals and great conversations.
The weather was beautiful even though we had a rain storm each afternoon while fishing.  The fish did not seem to notice and cooperated by taking our caddis or the famous tar baby fly.  Lots of fun and laughs!!

 Kathy caught this big boy on the first day...20 inches as is the one above that Mike caught.  Beautiful brown trouts that gave us a fight and lots of smiles

 Matt, holding the trout plate, Don, Marsha, Mike and Kathy...Great people...like family!

 After much discussion with Matt and Don we settled on fishing at Rock Creek near Missoula.  It is a beautiful river with one terrible very  narrow road that runs up to Phillipsburg.  Mike and the boys fished here about 17 years ago and camped up at to top end.  We could not drive the RV past the 23 mile mark and so stayed there two nights with no electricity...quiet and beautiful.  Mike caught two big fish and I caught lots and lots of little ones. But who is comparing inches. Lots of fun and laughs.

 Rock Creek from the bridge above.  There was a fire near us but on the other side of the river which is all the smoke you see in the picture above.  The fire fighters were just watching it but it  made everything very smoky.

 We next traveled to the Madison River and stayed at the Campfire Lodge, where we have stayed before, and is a funky place from the 30's era.  They have campsites right on the river as it rages by.  We saw two osprey nests and I got a good shot of one standing guard on the nest below.  Beautiful birds.  Fun to watch them fish in the river.

 We next traveled thru Yellowstone National Park to camp at Fishing Bridge.  It is the only campground in the park that has electricity and was very nice.  The picture above is Mike on the bridge that is over the Yellowstone River where it comes out of Yellowstone Lake and heads to the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  We saw wildlife...Bison, deer, and mountain goats.  This guy held up traffic for quite awhile with his females and their babies.

 Our favorite spot is Yellowstone is the Lamar Valley, the picture below where the Lamar River, the Soda Butte River and Slough creek make for wonderful fishing.  We were very sad to  find them muddy from rain and we were not able to fish them.  So we headed up the Yellowstone River/Paradise Valley to Livingston.  Mike has gone fishing today with a guide and I have relaxed with Riggs and done some sewing.  We head to Big Sky tomorrow to meet the Nolan family and spend a week with them before heading home.
Kathy and Michael