Easter is our time to get out into this beautiful world, and see it for it’s true simple beauty. We usually head North or East, there really isn’t an explanation or a reason behind this, it just seems to happen that way. This has pretty much been our norm for 18 years or so. No matter were we are living, Mother Nature never disappoints.

We start at home with an early Easter morning romp in the yard, breakfast, and packing.

If we somehow don’t leave until the crack of 10am or so, we stop at Mark’s in Livingston. Hands down my kids favorite!

We like to travel on back roads as much as possible. We find that we see more, experience newness,  and it’s truly an intimate way to see an area. And you are guaranteed to run into something bizarre at some point.  It’s simple, we open a map, find an interesting name of an area, and head there. We have never been disappointed in the adventure department, and always, absolutely always have a great time. We leave our day open to new options and detours. Nothing is set in stone.

This year we decided to explore the area around the Big Snowy and Judith Mountain ranges, and a little beyond. We’ve driven through on the highway for sheep herding clinics and things like that, but have never really explored the area. The Crazy Mountains were first, incredibly gorgeous.

We had some rain, lots of wind, gorgeous sun, and a bit of everything in between. We almost depend on this variability to be honest. Spore found a county road he wanted to explore, the dogs needed to get out, and the kids were ready to blast.

These are my 3 Musketeers! $eeker is always with the kids, and the kids with him.

We went through the Invenergy Wind Farm by Judith Gap. I wish we had more wind harvesting in this world. Montana has wind to spare, and it just makes sense all the way around. And personally, there is something about wind farms, when they are in motion, that I like.

Roadside lunch for the crew. Olive oil and rosemary roasted gizzards and organ meat. And then off for another walk in a new area.

Some of the places we wanted to go were up too high and it was still too snowy, so we pulled out the map and noticed that there was a State Park in the middle of this area, Ackley Lake State Park, who knew? Spore is a State Park junkie by the way, he feels that since we pay for them, we should visit them, appreciate them, and explore them. So off we went. What a treasure is all I can say. There was one, just one other car in the State Park while we were there. It was freedom, airing out, running, and playing at it’s best. This was a true find! And for about one hour the sun came out. Smiles all the way around. I can only imagine that this lake is packed in the summer time!

Beach parking, this was so cool in and of itself!

Franny ran and ran and ran. She enjoyed herself more than any of us I think. The soft ground, the openness, no stress, just running. I couldn’t stop smiling. Her joy was palpable.

 

$eeker won’t go swimming unless Ocean goes in first. If alligators don’t get Ocean, and no giant octopus tentacles reach up and suck her under, well then he considers the adventure all good and will take the plunge!

First swim of the season. This is Ocean’s true love, well really anything that puts her in motion is, but she LOVES to swim above all else. The windier and wavier the better! She will be 11 years old in just three months, and this girl still has such amazing drive and power.

Story. He is so true, honest, powerful, and present. And I think these photos capture HIM as I feel him.

Playing. We all needed it!

And then, we try to find some place that’s open for dinner. Harder said than done in super small back roads towns on Easter evening.

Spore and I have eaten in a lot of crappy little dives, on four different continents. We consider it part of the adventure and truly have very low expectations, and a pretty good tolerance for crappy little dives. There always seems to be some redeeming quality, even if it’s super small, and that is what creates that great memory. Maybe a great view, maybe a cardboard shack of a place but awesome food, maybe the food was inedible but the coffee was amazing, maybe a great fun server or eccentric cook, there is always something small that is great. Out of the way is fun, in the middle of nowhere you can sometimes find the best pancakes, food adventure is part of traveling in my book.

Spore and I agreed on the final stretch of our drive home, that the diner we stopped at in Harlowton, now tops our list of the crappiest of diners we have ever been too, during all of our travels, spanning 18 years together. That is saying something. There was nothing that was redeeming. Not the service, not the view, not the decor, and least of all the food. Again, we are not hard to please, it’s an adventure after all. You have to work at making us not like a place.

Was it a great Easter? Yes. Everything I love more than anything else in this world was packed into our car. A big mosh pit, my mosh pit. And we were out exploring little places in a big world together.

Nancy