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Notes from the Glaciers, Day The Last
The last day of our vacation included only our own half of the family, as my dad, Trinh, Mark and Emma were driving back to Vancouver. One of the last things Emma said? "I think I believe you're my sister now." :):) :) :)
It was a neat experience. We all left thinking it might be really cool to get together for another vacation, and thinking of the logistics involved. It was just a lot of fun, for all involved. Emma was wonderful - bright, and fun, and interesting. And I just realized that following that with "She reminds me a lot of me at her age" sounds rather narcissistic :D :D Mark charmed the boys with his total Young Uncle Coolness :) Trinh was a lot of fun to get to know. And it was great catching up with my dad - though a bit disturbing to realize that I probably hadn't spoken more than a sentence at a time in Spanish since... damn, don't know how long ago. I only speak it to family members, and I haven't spoken to either of my mom's sisters in a few months. (Should probably rectify that.)
Neato home-schooling/Sliders moment: When we were watching the Greatest Canadian videos a few months ago, Justin decided that Frederick Banting was his #1 choice, because he discovered a cure for diabetes. Without him, Jack Benny, Halle Berry, Wilford Brimley, Delta Burke, James Cagney, Nell Carter, Jackie Gleason, Mary Tyler Moore, and George C. Scott might never have acted at all, or might have had much shorter careers. Yuri Andropov, Menachem Begin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Winnie Mandela, Augusto Pinochet, Anwar Sadat, and Mike Huckabee might not have done a lot of world-leadering, which in some cases might not have been such a bad idea. But Johnny Cash, Carol Channing, David Crosby, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Mick Fleetwood, Jerry Garcia, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Waylon Jennings, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle, Peggy Lee, Tommy Lee, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Meat Loaf, and Elvis Presley might have given us far less music, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, and Sugar Ray Robinson might not have graced tennis and boxing, Mario Puzo and Anne Rice might have been far less prolific, and George Lucas might not have lived long enough to create Star Wars.
That last really decided Justin, BTW. Great values I'm raising him with; the Greatest Canadian is the guy who made Star Wars possible. ::sigh::
I also pointed out that the three of us might not be here either. My dad's father was diabetic, and depending on when he developed the condition, without insulin he might not have lived long enough to father my dad, which meant I wouldn't be here, which would make Daniel and Justin immaterial as well.
And one night around the campfire I remembered to ask my dad, and found out we do indeed owe our very existence to Frederick Banting, as my grandfather became diabetic relatively young.
Which meant that in some alternate universe, where Banting never invented insulin, the only way the trail ride would've happened would've been if by some bizarre twist of fate Chris met Trinh and said, "Hey, you want to go on a trail ride with me? Because I get the feeling that in another universe, you're my... stepmother-in-law."
That's assuming Trinh didn't think Chris was giving her the most bizarre pick-up line ever, and quickly backed away from the crazy.
Anyway, the day after the trail ride ended, newly showered and shining with the pleasure of having used flush toilets for the first time in five days, we headed across the border, to Glacier National Park.
Glacier National Park
Justin was very proud of this shot.
Those pictures of Grinnell Glacier were taken in 1938, 1981, 1998, and 2005.
Chris believes this to be Grinnell Glacier today. I am not totally sure it is. If it is Grinnell, it's beautiful and *&%$ it's disappearing by the second. If not, it's still beautiful. And possibly also disappearing alarmingly fast too, but I don't have visual proof :)
Doe, a deer, a female deer.
What I loved was how the hikers on the trail reacted to her. A young couple walking in our direction, very slowly and quietly, grinned at our kids, and said very quietly, "There's a doe grazing just ahead of you. Be really, really quiet."
We all crept slowly forward, then watched her for a while, taking a few pictures. Then when we started hiking again we came across an older couple and the boys whispered to them about the doe, and they also went as silently as they could.
It was just a neat moment, sharing a wonderful bit of nature with perfect strangers. Nobody shrugged and said So what, nobody continued yapping about whatever it was they were talking about before, nobody tried to scare the doe away.
Sometimes I really like people.
Had no desire to kayak this thing. For one thing, it must have been freezing, as it was glacially fed. I'm from Canada, right? Icy cold isn't exotically attractive to me ;)
Spent some time looking at the licence plates in the parking lot, seeing how far people had come to see the glaciers. The majority were Montana, some Idaho, Washington, Oregon, BC and Alberta, but there were also quite a few from Florida, Ontario, Texas, etc. This one was from Wisconsin and I took a picture of it for the "Coexist" sticker, which made me very happy :) I only noticed the Bush one after I'd taken the picture. Heh.
And then? We went home.
It was a neat experience. We all left thinking it might be really cool to get together for another vacation, and thinking of the logistics involved. It was just a lot of fun, for all involved. Emma was wonderful - bright, and fun, and interesting. And I just realized that following that with "She reminds me a lot of me at her age" sounds rather narcissistic :D :D Mark charmed the boys with his total Young Uncle Coolness :) Trinh was a lot of fun to get to know. And it was great catching up with my dad - though a bit disturbing to realize that I probably hadn't spoken more than a sentence at a time in Spanish since... damn, don't know how long ago. I only speak it to family members, and I haven't spoken to either of my mom's sisters in a few months. (Should probably rectify that.)
Neato home-schooling/Sliders moment: When we were watching the Greatest Canadian videos a few months ago, Justin decided that Frederick Banting was his #1 choice, because he discovered a cure for diabetes. Without him, Jack Benny, Halle Berry, Wilford Brimley, Delta Burke, James Cagney, Nell Carter, Jackie Gleason, Mary Tyler Moore, and George C. Scott might never have acted at all, or might have had much shorter careers. Yuri Andropov, Menachem Begin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Winnie Mandela, Augusto Pinochet, Anwar Sadat, and Mike Huckabee might not have done a lot of world-leadering, which in some cases might not have been such a bad idea. But Johnny Cash, Carol Channing, David Crosby, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Mick Fleetwood, Jerry Garcia, Dizzy Gillespie, Mahalia Jackson, Waylon Jennings, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle, Peggy Lee, Tommy Lee, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Meat Loaf, and Elvis Presley might have given us far less music, Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, and Sugar Ray Robinson might not have graced tennis and boxing, Mario Puzo and Anne Rice might have been far less prolific, and George Lucas might not have lived long enough to create Star Wars.
That last really decided Justin, BTW. Great values I'm raising him with; the Greatest Canadian is the guy who made Star Wars possible. ::sigh::
I also pointed out that the three of us might not be here either. My dad's father was diabetic, and depending on when he developed the condition, without insulin he might not have lived long enough to father my dad, which meant I wouldn't be here, which would make Daniel and Justin immaterial as well.
And one night around the campfire I remembered to ask my dad, and found out we do indeed owe our very existence to Frederick Banting, as my grandfather became diabetic relatively young.
Which meant that in some alternate universe, where Banting never invented insulin, the only way the trail ride would've happened would've been if by some bizarre twist of fate Chris met Trinh and said, "Hey, you want to go on a trail ride with me? Because I get the feeling that in another universe, you're my... stepmother-in-law."
That's assuming Trinh didn't think Chris was giving her the most bizarre pick-up line ever, and quickly backed away from the crazy.
Anyway, the day after the trail ride ended, newly showered and shining with the pleasure of having used flush toilets for the first time in five days, we headed across the border, to Glacier National Park.
Glacier National Park
Justin was very proud of this shot.
Those pictures of Grinnell Glacier were taken in 1938, 1981, 1998, and 2005.
Chris believes this to be Grinnell Glacier today. I am not totally sure it is. If it is Grinnell, it's beautiful and *&%$ it's disappearing by the second. If not, it's still beautiful. And possibly also disappearing alarmingly fast too, but I don't have visual proof :)
Doe, a deer, a female deer.
What I loved was how the hikers on the trail reacted to her. A young couple walking in our direction, very slowly and quietly, grinned at our kids, and said very quietly, "There's a doe grazing just ahead of you. Be really, really quiet."
We all crept slowly forward, then watched her for a while, taking a few pictures. Then when we started hiking again we came across an older couple and the boys whispered to them about the doe, and they also went as silently as they could.
It was just a neat moment, sharing a wonderful bit of nature with perfect strangers. Nobody shrugged and said So what, nobody continued yapping about whatever it was they were talking about before, nobody tried to scare the doe away.
Sometimes I really like people.
Had no desire to kayak this thing. For one thing, it must have been freezing, as it was glacially fed. I'm from Canada, right? Icy cold isn't exotically attractive to me ;)
Spent some time looking at the licence plates in the parking lot, seeing how far people had come to see the glaciers. The majority were Montana, some Idaho, Washington, Oregon, BC and Alberta, but there were also quite a few from Florida, Ontario, Texas, etc. This one was from Wisconsin and I took a picture of it for the "Coexist" sticker, which made me very happy :) I only noticed the Bush one after I'd taken the picture. Heh.
And then? We went home.