Family Vacation 2011 part I

mmmm pancakes!

Savannah hanging out under the water trough at Gem Mountain

breakfast!!!

Mining for sapphires at Gem Mountain, MT

"Ranger Keith" with Savannah

This year I was given the responsibility to plan our family vacation. since we had a fence installed this year that took a big chunk out of our vacation fund. I decided we should go camping. If you know me, you may say to yourself...why? I went to girl's camp once when I was 13, a went on Trek for 3 nights in Mississippi, but pretty sure that is it. I am kind of a girly girl...I don't like to be dirty, or stinky, or sweaty. I don't like bugs, and I am not very outdoorsy. I decided that for my family's sake I could make it work. I didn't want to go South... too hot. We had been West to California, and East to Colorado, so the only other way to go would be North. When I looked north, I decided that since I had never been to Montana, Glacier National park would be a great idea. At first we were going to rent a tent trailer to tow behind the van, but found it would be too heavy. So then it was off to buy a tent. Keith found a sweet, 8 man tent. I could easily put 3 queen mattresses in it, and stand up fully. It was gonna work. Next I planned every single meal, and bought all of the items required to make those meals. We packed the van, then borrowed a cargo thing for the top of the van...my goodness, we barely fit the kids into the van. We left on Friday morning about 5 am. We drove thru Idaho and finally stopped in Anaconda, Montana for a quick lunch. After lunch we continued on to Gem Mountain, where we were able to find a free camp site. We set up camp and then took the kids to a site where we could mine for Sapphires. For $20 you got a bucket of gravel. They showed you how to put it in the screen, then take it to the water trough and soak the dirt and junk out. Then we took it over to a table and dumped the screen. The sapphires would be on top of the pile if you screened it properly. With each batch we found several small sapphires that looked like sea glass. When we asked what was the biggest one found, our guide told us, not 2 hours ago, he had been working with a group, and a woman was just about to throw her gravel away, when the guide spotted a sapphire. He pointed to it and she picked it up. She said, This is one?? It was about the size of a quarter (19 ct), and was very dark. Once it was examined, they determined that it was flawless. When she asked if it was worth much, they told her it would probably be worth 6 figures. When I heard that story I KNEW we were gonna find the next big one. But it wasn't to be...part way through our third bucket, Savannah was being ornery, and she dumped out 3/4 onto the ground. After we finished the last bucket we went back to camp. We had a quick dinner of hot dogs and smores. It was starting to get dark so we hurried and got ready for bed. All snug in our sleeping bags, we decided it would be a great place to see the Perseus meteor showers. Tonight should be the grand night to view it, we even left the rain guard off so we could see better. Unfortunately it was close to a full moon, so it seemed it was light out all night. Plus it was SO COLD. At about 1am Savannah was so cold she climbed in bed with Keith and I. It wasn't that she didn't fit...she happened to spill her sippy cup of water down my back. So all night long we were shivering, waiting for morning to come. At about 3am I decided I really had to pee. I was scared that an animal would get me if I went into the woods, so I did what I had to do. I opened the van, found Megan's McDonald's cup, and used it for a bathroom...whoo I felt much better. I then turned the car on, and it showed that it was 30 degrees. brrrr. I hurried and got back into bed. I tried to sleep and stay warm, but couldn't. At 6, I got up, started the fire, and made pancakes with bacon for dinner. It was yummy. We packed up as soon as we could and started driving the 4 1/2 hours to Glacier National park.