Waterfalls, Rain, Games and Beaver Creek Hike Keep Gals Occupied
Food was in no shortage on a trip that has some weather interruptions, but the camaraderie made up for one drizzly day of playing games, shopping, and giggling.
It all started on Friday at noon with six of the GiG driving to Seeley Lake in two cars (Mary, Ellen and Randi arrived earlier and traveled on their own). Both cars stopped at the Hi-Country Beef Jerky and gift store just outside Lincoln, but we stitll arrived in Seeley before 4 p.m. As soon as we arrived, we called dibs on sleeping arrangements (two bunk beds, one queen and two doubles in the loft), and then quickly headed for a half-hour drive to Holland lake, so we could get our hike to the falls in before dark.
The hike didn't disappoint, showing off the first two wildflower sightings of the year for the GiG: early buttercup and blue-eyed Marys. We all thought the second one most appropriate since Mary was hosting us at her cabin. But the wildflowers were just the beginning. The snow-topped mountains, the ice patterns on the water and the beautiful falls and butterflies rounded out the experience. On the downside, the ticks were out: both Katie and Randi found ticks crawling on them; in fact, Randi found two.
That evening, Mary treated everyone to her yummy chicken bean soup/stew, while the rest of the GiG provided corn bread, rolls, crackers and cheese and wine with brownies for dessert. The gals all felt tired and headed to bed quite early, skipping games for now.
The next morning, Mary played hostess again, preparing a full brunch of sticky pull-apart buns, an egg/cheese/bread casserole and bacon. The GiG provided juice and fruit to round out the full-fare meal. Yum. However, this excellent start to the day didn't influence the weather, as it rained off and on. So Mary taught everyone a game called LRC (Left, Right, Center), as we waited to see if the wet weather would clear.
Susan won twice and Ellen once, taking home a haul of $13.50 and $6.75 respectively. It appeared the rain let up, so the gals decided to drive up the road for the hike to Beaver Creek, not leaving behind their ponchos just in case. However, along the way, the drizzle turned into full-blown sleet, so we all turned around and shopped around the town of Seeley instead. Several gals picked up projects at the quilting store while others bought tee-shirts and other items from the various gift stores.
Then it was back to the cabin for more fun and games; this time we played Catch Phrase, which brought a lot of smiles when some of us drew blanks on how to describe words.
Then before we knew it, it was time for dinner at the Double Arrow. What a feast we had from pork chops to Shanghai stir fry to elk-burger sliders.. After dinner, we visited Mary's other house, to see how beautiful it was and also see the water damage. What a sad tale.
Sunday morning brought another brunch feast with scrambled eggs with bacon and pancakes. We also had strawberries, oranges and apples and leftover sticky buns and corn bread. After our bellies were full, we packed up, helped Mary clean a bit and headed out to try Beaver Creek hike a second time. This time the weather held, providing blue skies and wispy clouds over snow-capped peaks of the Mission and the Swan mountain ranges. We hhiked from 9:45 a.m.-Noon.
One of the things we noticed was the abundance of deer. Every time we drove or headed outside, deer covered the fields and hillsides. Luckily, we didn't come close to hitting any but we did slow down to around 40 mph to be prepared if any jumped out in front of us.
After our hike, we headed back to Mary's cabin to pick up the other cars, do a final load of everything and a brief lunch. We arrived back in Great Falls just after 3 p.m., at which point Kathy Dunn found a tick. Then Katie found one in her hair after she got home. Yuck!
We owe a big thanks to Mary for opening her cabin to us and scouting out all of the hikes. Every part of the weekend was fabulous.
Link to Katie's pics
Who went: Jeanne, Randi, Ellen, Mary, Susan, Kathy D, Gail, Catherine, Katie
Tick count: 5
It all started on Friday at noon with six of the GiG driving to Seeley Lake in two cars (Mary, Ellen and Randi arrived earlier and traveled on their own). Both cars stopped at the Hi-Country Beef Jerky and gift store just outside Lincoln, but we stitll arrived in Seeley before 4 p.m. As soon as we arrived, we called dibs on sleeping arrangements (two bunk beds, one queen and two doubles in the loft), and then quickly headed for a half-hour drive to Holland lake, so we could get our hike to the falls in before dark.
The hike didn't disappoint, showing off the first two wildflower sightings of the year for the GiG: early buttercup and blue-eyed Marys. We all thought the second one most appropriate since Mary was hosting us at her cabin. But the wildflowers were just the beginning. The snow-topped mountains, the ice patterns on the water and the beautiful falls and butterflies rounded out the experience. On the downside, the ticks were out: both Katie and Randi found ticks crawling on them; in fact, Randi found two.
That evening, Mary treated everyone to her yummy chicken bean soup/stew, while the rest of the GiG provided corn bread, rolls, crackers and cheese and wine with brownies for dessert. The gals all felt tired and headed to bed quite early, skipping games for now.
The next morning, Mary played hostess again, preparing a full brunch of sticky pull-apart buns, an egg/cheese/bread casserole and bacon. The GiG provided juice and fruit to round out the full-fare meal. Yum. However, this excellent start to the day didn't influence the weather, as it rained off and on. So Mary taught everyone a game called LRC (Left, Right, Center), as we waited to see if the wet weather would clear.
Susan won twice and Ellen once, taking home a haul of $13.50 and $6.75 respectively. It appeared the rain let up, so the gals decided to drive up the road for the hike to Beaver Creek, not leaving behind their ponchos just in case. However, along the way, the drizzle turned into full-blown sleet, so we all turned around and shopped around the town of Seeley instead. Several gals picked up projects at the quilting store while others bought tee-shirts and other items from the various gift stores.
Then it was back to the cabin for more fun and games; this time we played Catch Phrase, which brought a lot of smiles when some of us drew blanks on how to describe words.
Then before we knew it, it was time for dinner at the Double Arrow. What a feast we had from pork chops to Shanghai stir fry to elk-burger sliders.. After dinner, we visited Mary's other house, to see how beautiful it was and also see the water damage. What a sad tale.
Sunday morning brought another brunch feast with scrambled eggs with bacon and pancakes. We also had strawberries, oranges and apples and leftover sticky buns and corn bread. After our bellies were full, we packed up, helped Mary clean a bit and headed out to try Beaver Creek hike a second time. This time the weather held, providing blue skies and wispy clouds over snow-capped peaks of the Mission and the Swan mountain ranges. We hhiked from 9:45 a.m.-Noon.
One of the things we noticed was the abundance of deer. Every time we drove or headed outside, deer covered the fields and hillsides. Luckily, we didn't come close to hitting any but we did slow down to around 40 mph to be prepared if any jumped out in front of us.
After our hike, we headed back to Mary's cabin to pick up the other cars, do a final load of everything and a brief lunch. We arrived back in Great Falls just after 3 p.m., at which point Kathy Dunn found a tick. Then Katie found one in her hair after she got home. Yuck!
We owe a big thanks to Mary for opening her cabin to us and scouting out all of the hikes. Every part of the weekend was fabulous.
Link to Katie's pics
Who went: Jeanne, Randi, Ellen, Mary, Susan, Kathy D, Gail, Catherine, Katie
Tick count: 5
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