The Montana Update: Day 16

This morning was pretty standard.  Wake up early, sit around and drink coffee, stare aimlessly at the wall as people slowly wake up.  Mom made eggs and bacon from breakfast.  It was yummy.  After everyone was ready for today’s adventures, we left of Tower Falls.  It was about an hour long drive.  We saw lots of friends (bison and elk) along the way.  But when we got there we learned that the lower half of the trail was closed, so we could only walk down the first half of the trail.  Blarg.  And it was raining  L

After Tower Falls we went back to Mammoth and had lunch.  Our normal lunch spot was taken, so we kind of took over some entryway thing.  We had lunch meat and cheese.  I’m a pretty big fan of that.  Then we went to the general store.  I’m not sure what everyone got, but I got mom and dad a new spoon rest!  Kimmy and I decided that we were going to start getting mom and dad spoon rests from various places because we’re cool like that.  So I got them the spoon rest from this trip!  After the general store we went to the hot springs and walked around for a little bit.

Please let's notice the sweet kid with the yellow rain jacket

When we got back from Mammoth we got ready to go rafting!  It was raining all day and rafting was cold, but it was way fun.  We got to wear wet suits and things.  The helmets were funny looking and everyone made fun of me…  And then Jesse was playing tricks on me!  We had changing rooms to get dressed in and every time I knocked on the door Jesse would say it was occupied.  The dressing rooms were all in a row and connected and had really shady walls in between so it sounded like Jesse was in all of the rooms at the same time.  It was weird and I just wanted to go rafting!  Silly him.  But rafting was fun.  It was cold and wet, but way fun.  Our guide told bad jokes, so obviously that made it better.

After rafting we came back and had chili for dinner!  Woo!  And then after we cleaned up, I took a nap and everyone else watched a movie.  Then dad and I were anti-social in the basement and just read and things.  Because we felt like it.  And we ate ice cream.

And now it’s time for bed.

The Montana Update: Day 15

This morning started like other mornings, with people slowly getting up as we assembled in the main room and drank coffee.  Mom made really good pancakes for breakfast.  After we got all packed and things, we started driving out to Old Faithful!

This guy's hair is amazing

The trip went well until about an hour and a half in when we hit (figuratively) traffic.  And we remained in traffic for about two hours.  Apparently there was a herd of bison fluttering about the road, so people were being all slow.  There was a park ranger directing traffic, but he couldn’t really direct the bison.  He did his best.  Oh well.  Kimmy, Jessie, Richard and I were in the other car (we took two), so Kimmy went to the van to make us sandwiches while we waited.  She’s nice like that.

When we eventually arrived at Old Faithful, we ate lunch part 2 and watched the geyser erupt.  It was cool and things.  Afterwards we walked to the visitor center and gift shop.  Kimmy and I got sweet ceramic mugs!  And I got some awesome pictures.

When we got back, mom and aunt Shasta made dinner.  We had grilled chicken, corn salad stuff, and some other thing that was really good.  After dinner Kimmy and I brought up the cookie cake that we made.  Amber was surprised… somehow she hadn’t caught on.  I figured she would have because I’m bad at keeping secrets and at talking quietly.  Oh well.  She liked it and it tasted really good.

After dinner and cleaning up Kimmy and I went for a walk/sit down by the river.  It was nice but there were not many places to sit.  Dumb.  When we came back we all played Scattergories.  I don’t recall anything exciting happening.

My deep thought recently has been generally related to the book I’ve been reading. Something that the book has really focused on is how there are so many more important things to be worrying about than a person’s sexual orientation and how if we just focus on getting to know God better, he’ll let us know if we’re doing something incorrectly. If we believe that God truly is all powerful, then we really shouldn’t worry about changing anyone because God’s going to do it if or when he’s good and ready, and not a moment sooner. I also believe that there is an important connected thought that most people don’t like to think about because it’s scary: how do we know whether we’re going to heaven? There is never a straight forward “do these things and ye shalt forever be in heaven.” There is, however, a section that talks about how not everyone who calls on the name of the Lord is going to heaven. The implication is that simply “talking the talk” will not gain you access to eternal life with God. I believe that the crux of my idea rests in James where he talks about how we must “show our faith by our works.” This is different than acquiring faith through works. The idea of showing faith by works is that we love God so much that we want to do things for him and his friends. It’s like the way we treat our friends: we don’t love our friends because we hang out with them and do things with them, but doing things with them is our way of expressing love for them. Related: I don’t like catchphrases. Things that rhyme aren’t necessarily true. However, one that has true depth to it is that “they will know that we are Christians by our love.” Now, from my understanding “love” is supposed to be an expression of our feelings and a positive action. So by loving someone you are doing something for them. So people are supposed to know that we are Christians by the kind things we do. You know what else? I think that “they” doesn’t just refer to other people. I think that it also refers to God. I believe that God knows that we are Christians by our love. And if that’s the case, some of us (myself included) really need to start stepping up out game. Now, I do not believe that God has a check list of things we can and cannot do, using complex formulae to determine who enters heaven. I think that he’s simply looking for people that love Him and are expressing that love through their interactions with other people. Our interactions include our service towards friends, enemies and strangers, our idle talk, and our personal convictions.  I personally believe that God would rather hang out with people who are away of their sin but are doing their best to be better people than those who pretend to have it all together and hold that as a point of judgement over those who struggle through life.  By God's standard, telling one small lie is the same as conducting the Holocaust.  So instead of pretending that we're better than anyone else (because we aren't), let's just working on respecting, befriend, and loving everyone regardless of their past, their opinions, and their convictions.  Jesus did, and I think that's a pretty good example.


Alright.  That's all for now.

The Montana Update: Day 14

Today started a bit early (7am), but it was good.  Amber and Lily and mom were up, so I joined them and had coffee with them.  It was fun.  We had coffee cake for breakfast and then went to Mammoth for church.  I really like that church/pastor.  They sang hymns and the pastor was all fiery and things. It was very traditional, and I was a big fan.

After church we got lunch, which Kimmy, Jesse and I had made earlier that morning.  We had sammiches!  It was yumminess.  Also, I got a sweet hat!!  After lunch we went to the Hoodoos and climbed around for a while on rocks.  It was way fun and many pictures were taken.  When we finished our climbing business we went to a town called Norris (but not the residence of Chuck, sadly) and walked around a geyser basin, again talking lots of pictures.  And we ran out of water, which was silly.

Kimmy being all photo-graff-er

When we got back Jessie and Amber made sloppy joes for dinner while Kimmy and I went the store get things for Amber’s surprise cookie cake!  It’s not a surprise at this point, don’t worry.  We decided that Amber needed a cookie cake because that was always our running joke when we were growing up that if Amber did anything significant, we would get here a cookie cake.  So when she graduated from college, we got her one.  And now since we’re celebrating… basically all of our accomplishments… Kimmy and I decided that she should get another cake!  And because Amber made Jessie and me signs for graduating and she didn’t have anything.  So we fixed that!

After dinner we sat around and played Taboo (which was unfair because Amber and Jessie were on a team together, clearly).  One of my words was Saigon… which apparently is some place in Vietnam or something.  That was less than fun, but somehow Jesse got it.  Then we Frisbee-ed.  Uncle Mike and Jesse and I are really good (bad) at it.  But it was fun and things.  After that we played Phase 10 for a bit.  And then when we were nice and tired, Kimmy and I made Amber’s cake.  And then it was bed time.

The Montana Update: Day 13

Well now.  Today was fun.  This morning started quite early when dad got a call from the airport at 4:45 saying that Jessie, Richard, and mom’s flight was canceled.  So he talked with someone from United for about an hour and got very heated about how they were not doing their job.  So that went on until about 6 and neither of us were tired anymore.  So… yay.  And the coffee maker was broken!  It was all sorts of badness.

After that business, dad and uncle Mike left to get Amber and Jesse from the airport.  Kimmy and I decided to go for a walk around Gardiner, eat at one of the restaurants, and get ice cream.  It was lots of fun.  When we got back, she and I helped aunt Shasta do some cooking and things.  Around 4ish we went over to the house we’re renting for the week where dad, uncle Mike, Amber, and Jessie were already chilling.  So that was all good stuff.  We had a yummy dinner of homemade pizza and eggplant parmesean!  Yummo!

After dinner we went for a hike.  Kimmy’s asthma was being all silly, so that was less than fun for her.  But she was a trooper and made it through!  We went hiking to some place with cabins or something.  It was cool.

When we got back, we played some games… and just kinda hung out.  And now I’m super crazy tired so I’m going to bed!

The Montana Update: Day 12

I woke up early this morning, mostly because I went to bed so early.  This time change thing is killing me/awesome.  But after I woke up, I had a jalapeño bagel and worked on some homework.  After that I just sat around with dad and Uncle Mike and drank coffee.  Clearly it was a good morning.

We had an early lunch so that we could start seeing stuff.  First we went to Mammoth and saw the hot springs.  It was a little chilly, but pretty nice.  We saw some elk and bison.  And there was a whole slew of Asian tourists that were being about as stereotypical as could be.  Lots of cameras, awesome outfits, the works.  I can only imagine people from other countries seeing American travelers the same way.  I’m sure we must be as entertaining to see when we go to other places as people from other places are to see when they come here.  It’s a good time, for certain.

After seeing the hot springs we drove around to some other place.  I fell asleep.  Apparently there is now a gas station along one of the roads.  It looked pretty new.  I guess it’s at the same place that we went skiing a few years ago, so that’s pretty neat and things.

When we got back from sightseeing, I think I took another nap.  Dad and Aunt Shasta went for a bike ride.  When I woke up, Kimmy, dad, Uncle Mike and I played a game of Settlers.  Kimmy was upset because she almost won (but she didn’t!).

Dinner was really good.  We had ribs and mashed potatoes and creamed corn.  All sorts of yummy.  I feel like we talked about something interesting, but I cannot recall at the time.  Such is life.  After dinner we played a game of dominoes.  It was…Mexican Train or something.  Some sort of train, I don’t remember from where it came.  Oh well.  It was still fun.  And I won.

And now it’s bed time!  Night!

The Montana Update: Day 11

We got a little bit of a late start.  Dad had to help someone at work, but the internet at the hotel was being dumb.  So in the mean time I had a phenomenal breakfast!  Biscuits and gravy, eggs, a banana, yogurt, and a cinnamon roll.  The coffee was actually really good.  I was happy.  I just had a nice breakfast while I watched the news.

After we left we went to Mount Rushmore!  It was pretty cool.  We took some touristy pictures… and Kimmy got one of me picking George Washington’s nose.  We’re classy.  There was also a table outside that was selling shirts and stuff.  They were “$5 appreciation gifts.”  Apparently they only appreciate you if you pay $5?  Which is silliness.

We drove for a while.  It wasn’t bad, but it was incredibly windy.  And hilly.  The speed limit was 75, but between the constant hills and wind it was difficult to stay at 75.  I don’t recall anything terribly exciting that happened on the trip.  We were all ready to be done.  Around 8pm we finally got to Gardiner and had dinner.  Then we sat around just talked for while.  I talked some with Aunt Shasta and Uncle Mike about their recent trip to Italy and we compared notes and things.  It was fun.  And I made fun of Olivia.  Just because it’s fun.  J

The Montana Update: Day 10

Today “starts” at 10:15 pm when dad, Kimmy, and I started driving to Montana!  Woo!  I drove while dad slept until about 1:30, then dad drove while I slept until about 5:30.  Then I drove until we stopped for lunch at 11.  I don’t think I could have made it without the pretzels and carrot sticks.  They definitely helped me stay awake.  I’m beginning to understand now how easy it would be for truck drivers to become over-weight: they are required to meet very strict time constraints, and so they drive through the night.  But you need certain substances to help you say awake, most of which are not good for your health.  And so the cycle continues.  When we stopped the first time at 1:30, I had a pear.  After eating pretzels and carrots for three hours, that pear seriously tasted like something straight from heaven.  Oh my word… I don’t know that I’ve ever tasted something to glorious.  Dad sat up front with me for most of the trip.  I helped him work on an email he’s going to send to the athletic director and then I asked him about why he picked computer science and all of that.  We had a good talk.

We had lunch (turkey and cheddar wraps) at a rest stop at the eastern border of South Dakota.  There were a lot of bugs.  Blarg.  So we ate quickly and left.  Then we drove for a while. Kimmy sat up front with me through the entire 5 hours across South Dakota… without sleeping!  We were all really impressed.  And we counted Wall Drug signs.  There are a lot… like in the 150 miles before there were well of 50 signs.

Rest stop on the first morning.  This guy was here.

Obviously we stopped at Wall Drug… because it’s amazing.  We were going to get cowboy hats, but the sweet ones were way too expensive.  Which is silliness.  But it was still lots of fun.  We took some pictures, saw the dinosaur, and talked with some guy who used to work on computers for Wright Patterson.  So that was cool!

At Wall Drug

Kimmy with a Jackalope at Wall Drug

Um.  We had Deny’s for dinner.  It was pretty good.  And then we came back to the hotel, I took a shower, and went to bed.  At 6:30.  It was glorious.

That’s all for now.