The Fabulous Muggli Adult Summer Camp

After our Yellowstone experience we headed east through Wyoming to South Dakota. We stayed 2 weeks at Hart Ranch near Rapid City and had a great time. But the real party started after we headed back west and north to reach Clyde Park, Montana. Here's our rig parked next to Bob and Carol Lee's at Wayne's sister's house (Gail provided us with the best accommodations one could hope for!). During our stay, the Muggli's hosted 2 other Happy Trails couples (Art & Marj Hall and Mary & Jim Russell) for a total of 8 visitors at one time! Plus we had daughter Becky (moving into her 2nd trimester with a baby girl expected to arrive in January), Dad, sister, brother , cousins, and Clyde Park friends to add to the fun.

Here are just a few of the great activities we all enjoyed: Blue Grass jam sessions in Livingston, art walk (!!!), watching the parade from the Elks balcony, July 4 rodeo, 4-wheeling, plus daily walks to the Crazies and back to the Bridgers and pickleball on the driveway. The culmination was Nancy's birthday on July 6 (she can tell you which one), which was a hoot!

Family visits in May and June, 2009

Our spring travels took us to daughter Cara's home in San Diego (Brook was 7 months old and is shown here playing with my toes), our home town of Santa Barbara (where I got my Hyalgan knee injections over a 5-week period and also took a walk near Rancho Oso shown here), and then north to Boise, Idaho, where daughter Laura and her family live.

A major highlight was the week that our two grandsons traveled with us to eastern Idaho and Yellowstone NP. Having a 10 1/2-year-old and and almost 9-year-old with you at Yellowstone adds a whole new dimension to a much-loved place. The first picture shows the boys' reaction as Old Faithful blew ("Awesome!"). They loved the geisers and were suitably impressed with our grizzly sightings and the baby bison and elk we saw frequently during our travels through the park.

Road Trip 2009, phase 1

I'm reflecting on our road trip this spring and summer while resting my back here in Santa Barbara. We're here to clear out all our belongings and do a few repairs and fixes on the house, and my body is objecting to some of the work. Soon Larry and I will be heading into phase 2 of our summer travels, so I'd better record some of phase 1. This is my first time with this blog, and I haven't figured out how to tweek the format. The pictures above relate to the next paragraph. Hang in there with me ... I'll get it.

Back in April we left Happy Trails in Surprise, Arizona, stored the rig in California, and caught a flight to Cancun. Our good friends Wayne and Carolyn Larson met us there for a 10-day stay, April 4 - 14. We had a great time seeing the sights and relaxing in the sun. The pictures above are Xel Ha near Playa del Carmen, sunset from a great restaurant on Isla Mujeres, and, of course, the great ruins at Chichen Itza. They're in reverse order compared to our experience, but it's a sample of our time there.