snowshoe hare

snow

hello, winter

We're just back from a whirlwind trip back East. Now that we're going to be here full-time, we needed to head back to our storage unit (the Carr basement) to get our necessities: skis, winter gear, and my beloved KitchenAid mixer.

After two days in the car, we made it back to Chicagoland. And F-O-O-D. Steve flew back to NYC and fell in love with pizza again.

And I was reunited with Whole Foods!


I tried to restrain myself, but there was no way I was passing up Intelligentsia coffee or Argo tea.


We shopped,



and we ate. And ate.





It was a very quick visit, but we were lucky to see some of our family and friends...and then it was back in the car for another two days of driving.

When we left, the park looked like this:


And when we came back, this:

glacier goats, the end

We're currently in Chicago, where it's been in the 60's. Back in Yellowstone, it's snowing. We're loading up the car and mentally preparing for the snow that awaits us...

In the meantime, here's the last of our Glacier trip. We woke up on day 3 at Lake Ellen Wilson, and as we prepared breakfast our camp was invaded by very curious mountain goats.


Of all sizes, big and small.




And they weren't just in the kitchen area--we found this guy hanging out by our tent.



We set out again with our new friends, and soon we were climbing up and up, looking down where we camped.



It wasn't long before we met another goat, and he was very interested in checking out Steve and Dan as he went by.



Then we ran into this guy, who liked to pose.


Oh and this guy, who wanted to know what Dan was taking a picture of. I said they were curious, remember??


Then we had another one follow us over the last climb to Sperry Chalet.



Then finally, the chalet was in view. We stopped in to share a delicious grilled cheese sandwich on homemade bread and to get out of the chill. Opened in 1914, this is 1 of 2 chalets that operate in the park. It's 6.7 miles from the trailhead, and guests can either hike in and spend the night (where meals and accommodation are provided), or just drop in for a meal like we did.


Then we hiked out the final 6.7 miles back to Lake McDonald and our car. In the end, we hiked 20+ miles over 3 days / 2 nights, and made some great new friends.