Sweet Peas and 'Tater Pigs

The first weekend in August is the annual Sweet Pea Festival in Bozeman. The festival consists of 3 days of music, arts and crafts, theater, dance and the always entertaining Sweet Pea Festival Parade. Really, the party lasts all week including the Sweet Pea Ball on the previous Saturday, Chalk on the Walk on Tuesday and Bite of Bozeman on Wednesday. And, yes, there is a Sweet Pea Flower competition with the winner announced at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party.

We went in early Saturday morning in time to catch the parade beginning at 10 am. The parade is preceded by a 5k and 10k run, and then promptly at 10 am the kids 1k run down Main Street kicks off the parade,. I think everyone in Bozeman and Gallatin County runs! There were 1100 kids in the kids run alone! Look no further for a postive role model for physical activity - Bozeman wins, hands down. I even caught one toddler running for all she was worth - breathing through her Binky!! Life long habits begin here.

After the parade, the celebration moves to Lindley Park, one of the many public parks Bozeman offers.

The main thoroughfare is lined with food vendors, all good fare, but the absolute favorite is known as the 'Tater Pig. What's a 'Tater Pig?? Half a baked potato filled with a link pork sausage and topped with butter, sour cream, bacon bits and chives. Calories - who cares - "at 5000 feet, calories don't affect the human body", says one of the Chord Rustlers. The Chord Rustlers are a barbershop chorus who sponsor the 'Tater Pig booth each year. This year they sold 7,200 'Tater Pigs and the proceeds benefited the Big Sky Youth Harmony Rendezvous, an a capella singing camp for kids.

We wandered through the arts & crafts booths, where about 100 artists display their work including visual art, woodworking, fiber arts, pottery, jewelry and metal work. Some of the best artists in the west are invited to this show, and I always manage to find one more thing I "need".

We wandered over to the Family Stage to catch the cowboy act, Shorty and Stretch, who sing, tell tall tales and yodel. The Trees West Stage featured a bluegrass band, Riverbend, a group of young guys who are just getting started in the bluegrass, or as they would say "New-Grass" genre.

A great day and tradition in Bozeman - one we look forward to every year.

Portland - Days 2 & 3

Saturday morning was a beautiful day, so we decided to head over to the west side of town to the International Rose Garden and Japanese Garden. The easiest way to reach there is, again, the light rail to the Portland Zoo. From there, the Zoo Train goes through the zoo and stops at a station just a short walk from the two gardens.

The Zoo Train is a treat in itself. Three trains run continuously through the zoo and Washington Park, which surrounds the zoo. We rode the Oregon Express, a diesel-powered train, on the way over to the gardens, and the return trip was on the Oregon "Steamer" which is a steam-powered train built in 1959. The round trip is 4 miles.

The International Rose Test Garden opened in 1917 and is oldest continuously operated public rose test garden in the US. The garden is a testing ground for new rose varieties. Honestly, I wouldn't know a new rose from an established one, but I can tell you that I have never seen so many beautiful roses in one place, ever. I got quite carried away with my rose photos, so I have just posted all of them in a slide show to the left.

Several features in the rose garden are worthy of mention. The Shakespeare Garden includes only herbs, trees and flowers mentioned in his plays. Of course, roses play a prominent role in this garden - "Of all flowers methinks a rose is best." A rose arbor stands in front of a brick wall - a perfect spot for weddings. That's us standing under the arbor!!

At the foot of the Rose Garden is the "Queen's Walk" which honors all past, present and future queens of Portland's Rose Festival. A plaque bearing the name and signature of each queen is laid in the Queen's Walk. I found not only Queen Linda, but Queen Linda II. Portland is called the "City of Roses" for all it's city streets lined with roses.

The Japanese Garden is 5.5 acres and is just up the hill from the Rose Garden. We were asked to turn off our cellphones before we entered the garden.

This quiet retreat is filled with lush greenery, symmetrical rock paths and steps and serene ponds, waterfalls and sculpture. The garden consists of five separate garden styles: Flat Garden, Strolling Pond Garden, Tea Garden, Natural Garden and Sand & Stone Garden.

The Sand & Stone Garden was probably my favorite, consisting of only stones rising from raked sand, suggesting the sea. All the gardens were simply beautiful and what a spectacular view of downtown Portland and Mount Hood to the east!!

We took the Zoo Train back to the light rail station and stopped at the Brewfest. By this time, it was late in the afternoon and the tents were mobbed!! An estimated 30,000 people visit the Brewfest every year, and I think all 30,000 were there - just too much for us - so we headed over to Kell's Irish Pub and found a table on the sidewalk. Kell's is rated the #1 Irish Restaurant and Pub in the nation.

Have you ever had Irish Nachos?? Made with homemade potato chips and covered with cheese and traditional nacho ingredients, they were so good they didn't last long at our table! The sweet potato fries weren't bad either!

What could be better for dinner with beer than more pizza?? This time we chose Flying Pie Pizza. By the way, I love my brother's convertible and Portland weather was perfect convertible weather.

Day Three (Sunday) we decided to get to the Brewfest early and avoid the crowds later in the day. We parked the car on the east side of the Wilamette River and walked over one of the many bridges spanning the river.

Our plan was perfect - no lines for beer, plenty of tables and a much more leisurely experience.

Beer t-shirts were the unofficial uniform for the brewfest. Here are 3 of my favorites, from left to right: Polygamy Porter - Why Have Just One?; Killer Ale, Bottled on Orcas Island; and The liver is evil, It must be punished.

As the crowds started to build, we walked back across another bridge to the car and drove over to the Lucky Labrador Brew Pub. As the name suggests, this is a dog friendly place, and several dogs were there with their owners. It's located in a sheet metal warehouse and picnic tables are set up on a covered patio - perfect for peanuts and their excellent brews.

We just had to visit one more brew pub for dinner - you know, calling our name!! The Bridgeport Brewpub was the perfect ending to the day. Located in a historic building in the Pearl District of Portland, it's a great neighborhood for people watching. Even the server there was quite colorful. No pizza tonight, but the food was quite tasty and we felt that throughout the weekend we had sampled some of the best Portland has to offer.

Charles says he is retiring this year and leaving Portland. While I understand their desire to be closer to family, we will miss visiting them in Oregon. Portland has so much to offer and we are pleased that we have had Charles and Carol to show it all to us!!

We are back in Big Sky, recovering and drying out our livers!

Portland Beers and My Brother

We just had a wonderful weekend in Portland with my brother, Charles and my sister-in-law, Carol. The "excuse" for the visit was the Oregon Brewers' Festival. Portland is home to somewhere approaching 100 brewers and our goal was to sample all, or at least the majority, of all the beers. We had a great visit with Charles and Carol, and the beers were mostly really good!! It's one of those calls where it's hard to say whether the quality of the brews or the company made the experience a great one. Probably a little of both, but it's really good to be with my brother since we don't have a frequent opportunity to spend time together.

We drove from Big Sky to Portland in one day - 780 miles. The last 100 miles of the trip through the Columbia River Gorge was spectacular. Previously, we had flown into Portland, missing the drive across I-84 and the gorge, so this was new territory for us. The Columbia River marks the boundary between Oregon and Washington. Some of the really fine Oregon pinot noir wines are produced in the Columbia River valley, and we could see vineyards on the banks of the Columbia River.

This was, however, to be a beer weekend. We started out with pizza and beer on Thursday evening at one of the many Portland pizza pubs, Apizza Scholls. A pitcher of beer and a pizza was all we needed to settle into the weekend.

We started Friday with a hike to Multnomah Falls, The hike to the top of the falls is about 1 mile and climbs 620 feet. The views are breathtaking, particularly from the top. The stream at the top of Larch Mountain meanders through a beautiful forest. A tree had fallen over the stream, and my brother dared me to go to the end of the trunk over the stream . . . "No, I can't!" "Come on" "No, I can't" I'm still a wimp - what can I say!!

The hike definitely whetted our appetite for the beers at the festival. We grabbed a quick lunch at the Lodge and headed down to the Brewers' Festival at Tom McCall Waterfront Park on the shores of the Wilamette River. 72 brewers were showcasing their beers in two huge tents. The feeling inside the tents is definitely an Octoberfest event! For one token each, you get a 3 oz taste - I tried most of the 72 beers - you do the math!!

We then took the rapid transit over to Widmer Brothers Brewery (excellent Hefeweizen) for dinner. By the way, the Portland light rail system (TriMet) is state of the art. There's absolutely no need for a car. The system takes you all over downtown Portland and to points beyond. We just parked the car, hopped on the train, and enjoyed the ride and the beer!!

I'll post more tomorrow - there's way more to the weekend. But, I'm sleepy. We're in Missoula tonight at the Blue Mountain Bed & Breakfast Inn. The bed is calling my name, and the sunrise from our deck is rumored to be spectacular. Good night!!

50th Anniversary

Our friends, Nancy and Jim, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary this week. We celebrated at the home of Nancy's brother, Cy and his wife Karen, who live on a beautiful tract of land overlooking Big Sky with spectacular sunset views of Lone Peak in the distance.

Ten of us - five couples - enjoyed dinner. Many toasts were given as glasses were raised.

After dinner, we moved to the patio where Cy built a fire and served a very fine Australian dessert wine.

This is the first of our friends to reach the 50th anniversary milestone, and we were honored to be there. I just computed the total number of years of marriage represented by the couples present - 228 years!!! WOW!

Owen the Hippo and His "Mother"

" Much of life can never be explained but only witnessed" - Rachel Naomi Remen, MD NAIROBI ( AFP ) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa, officials said.

The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Indian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.

"It is incredible.. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP ."

After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added.

"The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.

"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."

This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures of God,

"Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."

Hiking Under the Big Sky and String Quartets

Since we returned from Red Rocks (see previous post), the weather has been beautiful. So, we have headed out to some of our favorite hikes to enjoy the spectacular scenery, especially the wildflowers.

Those of you who have visited us here will not be surprised that one of the first hikes out was to Beehive Basin. As I've said previously, we are having a late spring here, so we were surprised to find that the wildflowers on this trail were not as far along as they normally are this time of year. This is good news for the Dodds, who will be visiting in August, as the flowers on the Beehive trail should be near peak. Don't get me wrong - there were still plenty of wildflowers, just not as many as there are normally. Here's the other surprise - when we got to the lower lake, we were in snow up to our knees!!! Good grief - this is mid-July!! We couldn't even get to the upper lake without snow boots. A long-time friend from Chattanooga, Phyllis M., was here with her daughter and son-in-law, Rachel and Robbie T. I hope their memories of this scene will help them feel cooler in the hot and humid South.

Phyllis is getting ready for a trek up Mt. Kilimanjaro in January. She wanted a test of her fitness hiking at altitude. The Beehive Basin trail starts at 7500 feet and ascends to 9500 feet over 3.5 miles. We did stop often to reset our heart rates, but she made the hike in fine style, and the snow was a rare treat. In the 9 summers we have been here, never have I seen snow at this level in July.

The next day, we headed down toward Yellowstone and hiked into Gneiss Creek. There were so many wildflowers there you would think that they were cultivated. This is a flat trail that goes from one meadow to the next with several water crossings. Each meadow is a different tapestry of colors. The first meadow is yellow with the Arrowleaf Balsamroot and the Little Sunflowers predominant, touched with the blue of Lupin and Forget-Me-Nots. The next meadow continues the blue, but adds the white of Sulpher Buckwheat and a sprinkling of the red Mountain Sorrel. And, so it goes, from one meadow to the next. This was a 9-mile round-trip hike, and once again, Phyllis did really well. She definitely has a good start on her training for the Kilimanjaro hike.

Jim and Phyllis trained together in the OB-GYN program at Erlanger in Chattanooga. It was really a good time visiting with her, catching up with each other and showing her around here in Big Sky country. On the way back home, we spotted a grizzly at mile marker 28 in the canyon. Perfect ending!!

STRINGS UNDER THE BIG SKY

Every summer, the Muir String Quartet visits Big Sky and Bozeman. One of the founding members of the quartet, cellist Michael Reynolds, grew up in Bozeman and comes back every summer bringing talented musicians with him. Based in Boston, most of the quartet and other musicians are affiliated with either the Boston Symphony or Boston University, or both. The event this year, as in most years, is held outdoors on the lawn of a private home on the Gallatin River. This year, the concert benefited the string program at the local school, Ophir School and Lone Peak High School. Funds raised are matched by the Classics for Kids Foundation (established by Michael Reynolds) to put stringed instruments into the hands of students. The program was preceded by tasty hors d'oevres, and the music starts at about 7:30. As the sun sets over Lone Peak, we are serenaded with wonderful strings. This event is one of my favorites of the summer - just another day in paradise!!

Trip to Red Rocks & Elk Lake

We just returned from a 2-day trip to Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. This is our third trip in three summers to this beautiful spot located in the Centenniel Valley south of Ennis, MT and west of Yellowstone.

The refuge was established in 1935, originally to protect the endangered trumpeter swan, but it is now home to hundreds of species of birds as well as other wildlife, including coyote (pictured below), bear, moose, antelope, deer and wolves.

We found this coyote wandering through a field of Rocky Mountain Iris. I had never seen this wildflower in Montana before. They tend to bloom earlier in the spring, but we are having such a late spring this year that the timing was just perfect this year and I was thrilled to see these beautiful flowers in abundance.

The magnificent trumpeter swan are here year-round and we found them at Shambo Pond, swimming as a pair.

Martha and Jim have been with us on each of the three trips. Jim's knowledge of birds makes the trip so much fun. He can spot and identify most of the birds we see. I personally had 43 species on my list of sightings when we left the refuge.

We spent two nights in the VERY remote Elk Lake Resort. It's so remote that their supplies are delivered 20 miles away and the innkeepers, Lorena and Craig, drive to meet the truck once a week.

The resort is self-sustaining with generators powered by solar and propane, water pumped from Elk Lake and trash burned in an incinerator. The accomodations are a series of cabins and one 5-bedroom bunkhouse. We had the bunkhouse all to ourselves - and no, we weren't on bunks. Two of the bedrooms had kingsize beds!! And, real flushies! So, we were remote but not deprived.

Lorena is an excellent cook and we ate our breakfasts and dinners there - salmon & spinach quiche and homemade cinnamon rolls topped with lemon frosting for breakfast, and shrimp scampi for dinner along with a wine selection that suited us just fine.

As they say at Elk Lake, it is located "one mile from heaven." All I can say is that heaven can't be more beautiful than this place. This scenery makes me look like a professional photographer, which I certainly am not - but it's really impossible to take a bad photograph!!

We are back in Big Sky - more later.