This past weekend we took a little weekend get-away with Theresa, Richard, Bryan, Ali and Ryder. We headed up to Island Park on Friday night and stayed there. Rich has a cabin up there and so we parked Bryan and Ali's camper at their place for the night. We had dinner and enjoyed a game of Phase 10 before going to bed. I don't think I won....
Saturday morning after a breakfast of bisquits and gravy at Rich's cabin we headed into Montana. We parked the camper at a KOA and then jumped into Theresa's suv and we all headed up to the Lewis and Clark Caverns.
To begin with we had a 3/4 mile hike up an asphalt path with a grade of 7% in 90 degree weather! It wasn't an easy climb but Theresa just kept going. We took a few breaks along the way but made it in less that 20 minutes. They allowed the group 30 minutes for the hike so we didn't do too bad. There were others behind us that had a rougher time than we did!
The tour through the caverns lasted close to 1 1/2 hours. It was fantastic. It's had to believe nature is so beautiful! The steps were often steep, narrow, slippery, tight, with very dim lighting. Frank was in front of Rich and Theresa behind him. With such dim lighting it was almost impossible for Rich to see much. So, they counted steps and gave him instructions through out. We all laughed and joked and had a great time of it. Poor Bryan had to carry Ryder pretty well the whole time but he was good little guy. We then had a 1/2 mile walk back after we toured the cave. Theresa never gave out or complained. She's amazing.
We then went back to Virginia City and walked the streets for an hour or so that evening. What an interesting city. Nevada City just a couple miles from there is compiled of around 90 buildings that the Montana Historical Society has moved in to save them. We needed more time to just walk around and explore but everyone was getting pretty tired and very hungry!
It's been 20 years since we last made this trip. We went with mom and dad the summer before she died. I remember feeling so sad because when we started the climb up to caves she just couldn't do it and went back to wait for us.
All in all it was a great weekend and fun to hang out with the kids - especially little Ryder!
