Ramble

Hi there! It's been a while since I've last posted, but that is because I have been out of town and have had a lot going on lately. Brian and I headed to Great Falls for a few days at the end of July. We went to the Montana State Fair, which was pretty fun. We didn't go on any rides this year, but that's okay because there was plenty to do. Looking at the exhibits and watching the shows filled up the whole day for us! I even got picked to go onstage during the mental illusionist show. I was an unwilling participant at first, but as soon as I got up there I was all smiles and just went with it. I was nervous at first, but then I told myself that everyone was there to enjoy themselves, so who cares? :) The fair is definitely one of those yearly traditions you have to do...well I think you should at least. It doesn't matter where I am. I like to go to at least one fair each year. This year I even got to have a funnel cake. I wasn't sure if they had those in Montana, because Brian didn't even know what it was lol. He had heard of fry bread, but not fried dough or funnel cakes....how odd! There was one thing I wanted to do, but didn't, and that was to get a henna tattoo. I got one at my UVM orientation a few years ago, and I thought it would be cool to see if I could find a henna booth at the fair. We did see one, but I didn't have much money on me, so we didn't bother checking out the price. Oh well, maybe next year.

Wood Lake, Montana

We also went camping again, but for a week this time. It was my first time at Wood lake, which is a little ways from Augusta. It seems like Montana has a lot of lakes, but some of them are rather small, and I'd feel more inclined to call them large ponds. I guess that's just because I am used to Lake Champlain from back east. That's a pretty big lake, which is funny because it was almost going to be considered the 6th great lake, but then they decided it is way too small compared to the other great lakes. Wow! But it's true. Looking at a map, Lake Champlain looks like a tiny sliver compared to those lakes. I would love to visit them someday. I might have seen one already, but I don't remember it. Anyway, Wood lake is a cute little lake. It looks so serene at dusk, especially as the sun sets and reflects on the water. I always enjoy camping much more if there is some sort of water nearby, be it a creek, a river, a lake, or whatever. I just love water! So, I certainly appreciated wood lake.
Wood Lake, Montana

At first I wasn't even sure I was going to go camping. I was feeling very sick a couple days before we went, but I decided to just deal with it and go anyway. The first day and night was miserable, but Brian's family was very nice to me, which really helped keep my spirits up. I was pleasantly surprised, because you never know what to expect with them. I thought they would drive me nuts with sarcasm or something. But nope, I seriously got treated like a princess lol, and they were willing to do anything for me. Being sick has it's perks sometimes I guess. In a way, it was kind of a blessing. Don't get me wrong, I DREAD being sick and I've been sick so much this summer, and I'm really fed up with it. It was pretty much one thing after another since i had strep in April. But being sick did keep them off my back a little, and things went a lot more smoothly than last year's camping trip.


Despite not feeling well at times, I was able to enjoy nature's little wonders. We found a few frogs, and if you know me at all, then you know that I absolutely adore those critters. Catching frogs was a childhood passion, and I still carry that with me today. Although, I'm much more gentle and considerate of the frogs now. I try not to disturb them too much. We also saw lots of birds, and even some little ducklings! I had my binoculars with me, so I was able to observe all the wildlife as I pleased. My favorite part was probably hearing the owl at night. Even though we didn't actually see one, it was nice just knowing it was near. I am not real familiar with Montana's wildlife, so I'm not sure exactly what owl species live here, but it kind of sounded like a barred owl to me. They are so beautiful! There were a few barred owls that lived near us in Vermont and I would see one now and then just sitting on a tree branch in the middle of the day. That's one of the things I miss about Vermont, because I doubt I'll be seeing an owl anytime soon in Montana.


Actually, there are a lot of things I miss about Vermont, and I'm sure when fall comes around I'll be missing Vermont even more. There is just something about that Vermont foliage that makes my heart ache for home. I used to love looking out at the colorful sea of trees whenever we went for a drive. I would think to myself, it looks like a bowl of fruity pebbles! Oh, how I loved those colors! I can't really find a photo to do it justice. If you've never experienced it, you definitely should at least once in your life. And if you do go, make sure to research when the peak foliage is likely to occur. Believe it or not, Vermont's Autumns draw in tourists from all over.

Anywho, I don't mean to be a bragger. I am not going to say Vermont is the best place in the world, because that would be ignorant of me. I haven't even been to every place in the world, so to say something like that would be unfair. I love Vermont, and it will always have a special place in my heart, but I am always open to experiencing new places, and learning to love them as well. In fact, that is already happening with Montana. I remember the first time I went camping with Brian's mom, stepdad, and brother. I thought to myself, this is their vacation every year isn't it? I mean, sure they go to a different camp site each year, but it's always camping, and it's always Montana. Why don't they do something different sometime? Fly somewhere exotic or something. But I guess I understand. Montana makes an impression. Montana is a big state, and there really is so much to discover, so I could understand them not really having a reason to go somewhere else. Still, I am more of a traveler, myself. I am just used to that lifestyle, growing up as a military brat and all. I think of everything I have seen and done already and I feel so lucky. Yet, there are still so many places I want to see and so many things I want to do! I want to see all kinds of different places, and as long as Brian and I are still together, I will make sure he gets to see different places too. It's okay to love your home, but you can be open to other places too. There are many different kinds of beauty, and it's neat to discover those little quirks, and the differences and similarities between places. When you think about it, it is amazing that there is so much diversity even without leaving the United States. I have yet to travel very much outside of this country, but I am certainly open to that as well. There are so many beautiful places in the world, and I can't wait to get to see as much of it as possible.
Great Falls, Montana

For now though, I'm content with exploring Montana's natural wonders. It seems like you don't have to go very far to discover a new place that warms your heart. Gibson is certainly one of those places. While we were camping we took a drive over to Gibson Reservoir just so I could see what it was like. Sheila (Brian's mom) had been talking about it for a while now, always saying it was really pretty, so I had high expectations for Gibson and I was pretty excited to finally go there. The first thing we did was pull up by the dam and there was a small body of water there. I thought, um is this it? Really? I hope not, because it's kind of lame. I thought the dam itself was pretty cool, but I was expecting more for the lake. I shrugged to myself and just assumed the actual lake was on the other side of the dam.Then we got back in the car and drove up the mountain, and silly me, there was the lake! I couldn't help but smile. It was so beautiful! And what a view from up there! I seriously could have just sat up there for hours just staring at the water. What a lovely place. I wish I could have went swimming there, but just being there for a short time was wonderful.

Gibson Reservoir, Montana
To wrap it up, camping was a lot of fun, and it didn't take very long after getting home for me to miss it. I mostly miss the scenery and the carefree feeling. It's back to real life though, and boy is it stressful sometimes. School can be an especially big pain in the butt, i'll say! I am disappointed in Montana Tech's response system. They can really take forever to respond to calls and emails properly. For many weeks I was trying to get someone to help me with my financial aid. I had switched enrollment from the College of Technology back to the North Campus, but they still hadn't updated my cost of attendance information, which meant that I wasn't qualifying for the right amount of financial aid. I needed them to update it so that I could go in and accept my awards, in order to finalize my registration by the August 11th due date. I was emailing like crazy whenever I could, which was not as much as I would have liked because my laptop power cord kept breaking....I tried calling a few times before we went camping, but no one answered so I just left a message. When I got back into town I was hoping someone would have called me back, but nope. Instead they sent me an email saying oh I noticed you called us about updating your financial aid. Call this number. WTF....oh well... so I called that number and no one answered so I just left another message. Frustrated, I looked up the emails of everyone in the business office and enrollment processing and emailed ALL of them! lol... sounds crazy but I needed someone to answer me asap. After a while I realized no one was ever going to do anything unless i got in their face about it, so Brian and I went up to the school and finally got most of the stuff worked out. Now I'm just waiting for things to finish processing, so I can finalize my registration, and if it's not done by Monday I'm supposed to go back in to figure things out. Ugh what a pain, but hopefully it will all work out. Then I just need to reach my advisor so I can drop a class and add a class. Easier said then done....

Between my school issues and computer cord issues, I was about ready to pull my hair out. I really wanted to go back to camping and not have to worry about this crap! There was some light at the end of the tunnel at least. A couple weeks ago we went to one of the Evel Knievel Days here in Butte. It was my first time and I will certainly go again next year if I can. Of course, I had my camera with me and I filmed and took lots of pictures. When we got home, I edited some of the footage together and posted it on youtube. One of the clips was from the Spanky Spangler stunt show and he had attempted a world record car jump. He crashed the car front first on the hill and it took a while for the rescuers to get him out of the car. He was taken away in an ambulance, but he survived thankfully. Anyway, I put together that youtube video just as a fun way to remember the day, and then a few days later I get this email from someone from the Discovery Channel asking me if I am the owner of that footage, and if they could license it for an episode. Under his name it said Segment Producer, Destroyed in Seconds, so I am guessing it would be for that show. I was thrilled that they noticed it and were interested in it, so of course I said yes! I overnighted (charged to them hehe) the videos through fedex yesterday, so hopefully I'll hear back soon. I thought that was pretty cool and exciting. Just one of those things that you don't expect, and makes you smile. :D

This is definitely really long, so I think I'll end here. Just thought I'd let you know what I've been up to. I hope everyone is enjoying the summer. It'll be over before you know it.

BTW: All of the photos in this post are mine except the "I LOVERMONT" one, which I simply made the title for. =]