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No, not the country… Holland Lake. When Pepper’s other sister, Jeanele, came to visit immediately after Cil, we asked what her family wanted to do. They had a few things in mind, but left it to us to recommend some local hikes. We’d really enjoyed Holland Lake a couple of weeks earlier, so we decided to head back there. Once again, it didn’t disappoint.

Here’s my beautiful girl on the shore of the lake.

The weather was more overcast than it had been during our first visit, so there weren’t as many kayaks on the water. I liked this shot of a lone paddleboarder.

Holland Falls was just as magnificent.

For some reason, the mist wasn’t quite as strong (maybe a lack of wind?) so we didn’t get drenched when we stood too close to the falls. So we struck up some poses.

Dave was practicing his photography technique, and asked me for some tips. I was flattered. I found that most of what I told him started with, “Well, my brother told me you should do this…” It was kind of fun being the teacher instead of the perpetual student.

The lake overlook is awesome. We took a lunch break and snapped a few pictures.

A chipmunk visited us. He was clearly not afraid of people… not a good thing.

He even begged for some nuggets from Jeanele. (“Hey lady, got any nuts for me?”)

That tells me he’s pretty used to getting fed by people on the trail. It makes me sad when people feed wildlife, since the food is generally not good for them, and it makes them dependent on handouts.

I found a couple of cool trees along the trail.

Luke was practicing some photography as well.

Yep, Holland Lake is a good one. I suspect we’ll take a lot of our visitors there.

After our “black to white” transformation of the kitchen, we decided to update our bathroom as well. Like the kitchen, it had a countertop (and backsplash) of black granite tile. Ugh.

We found a remnant slab of marble that was around 40% of the original retail price. What a steal. We liked how the grey and white complemented the existing grey and white in the floor and shower tile, so we grabbed it and picked out some fun tile to use as a backsplash.

More demolition work was needed. We ripped out the black granite, tore out the backsplash– and the accompanying drywall– and then had to install new wetboard. My first time working on drywall actually didn’t go too badly!

Once the new countertop was in, we hired a “tile guy” to take care of the backsplash. I installed some new vessel sinks, and we were in business. I think the results look fabulous.

Here are close-up views of the marble and backsplash:

Once again, triumph over black granite!

Today we decided to check out the Swan River Trail, also known as the Bigfork Nature Trail. It starts at the edge of town and meanders along the Swan River, overlooking the river from cliffs a hundred feet high.

The trail is very flat and easy– a hundred years ago it was the only road between Bigfork and Swan Lake.

The first stretch runs along what’s called the “Wild Mile” of the Swan River: a crazy rushing whitewater area. Right now, with spring snow runoff, it’s probably running near its high point, and I don’t think it would be navigable by anyone but the most skilled rafter or kayaker. Here’s one of the “tame” sections:

We went as far as the Swan River Dam, and decided we’ll definitely be back (with bikes, probably).

I just finished installing my new yak racks. Slick.

Now that the National Park Service has opened additional roads in Glacier, we can travel beyond the end of Lake McDonald. We headed up with Cil and Jim, who have been visiting for several weeks and just waiting for a chance to go there.

I loved how green everything was! We’d been to Glacier several times over the winter months, and even in the spring, but now that we’ve officially hit summer, the park is awash in shades of green.

Walking along the Trail of the Cedars was a treat. The huge cedar trees provide a lot of shade, making the colors darker and deeper.

Avalanche Creek is really cool. Here it tumbles over some rocks along the trail:

I couldn’t resist a shot along the road showing the green trees, blue sky, and distant grey mountains.

And there was water. SO. MUCH. WATER. The spring snowmelt causes all the rivers and streams to run high, and it was amazing to see all of it rushing and crashing along.

I grabbed some neutral-density filters and tested long-exposure shots, hoping to get a “flowing water” effect. On the bigger rivers, it was impossible to capture anything other than pure white madness. But on a slower, wider part of Avalanche Creek, I managed to get a decent shot of flowing water:

Here are my two favorite gals.

And two crazy sisters.

It was another amazing day in the park.

I’ve never lived this far north before. And I’ve never lived this far west in a timezone. So it’s kind of an awesome new experience to have so much daylight this time of year.

According to the almanac, today the “official” day will be a hair over 16 hours long. But when you include twilight, the day will be 17 and a half hours. Going even further, considering the times when the sky is illuminated at least a little bit by the sun (astronomical twilight), we clock in at 22 hours 46 minutes… just over an hour of “true” dark.

I’m sure in future years it won’t be quite as novel or exciting, but for now, we’re commenting almost daily about how bright it is (“Can you believe it’s still light out?!”). I’m writing this at 9:30pm and the sun is still above the western mountains. Cool.

In our call with Zaque today, he was describing how missionaries deal with people who just want to argue with them about the gospel.

“We just drop a testimony and skirt.”

In the past, missionaries serving from the church were only allowed to call home two days each year: Christmas and Mother’s Day. Recent changes give the missionaries more leeway in their communication, and Elder Schroeder told me this morning he’d like to call for Father’s Day. Sweet!

He showed up on our video chat munching on a bag of candy corn. Typical.

We had a great chat, and he told us stories about things he’s been doing on his mission in Oklahoma: talking with people, making videos, wearing a mask, etc. I was surprised to learn he’s been teaching himself to play the piano! He shared a few songs from memory.

At one point he launched into a crazy story about a car chase involving a Honda Odyssey, followed by some parkour stunts while wielding a samurai sword. It was a very animated story.

Turns out it was all a dream.

It was from his dream journal, which he’s been keeping since he took a psychology class in high school. His dreams are… interesting.

We talked for over an hour, which was great. It’s good to hear he’s doing well and loving missionary life. What a good lad (as he would say).

You’d think I’d get tired of taking pictures of the sunset over Flathead Lake. But you’d be wrong.

Tonight as Kyra and I were playing an intense game of Bomberman on the theater screen, I looked out the window and noticed a gorgeous orange sunset. I told her she’d have to wait to blow me up while I took out my camera.

After the March windstorm, the forest has thinned and we can see Woods Bay to the north, and the Salish Mountains on the northwest horizon. If those trees were still there, we wouldn’t be treated to this view. Not surprisingly, the sun sets pretty far to the north these days.

The photo above was taken at 9:30; within a few minutes the colors had deepened and the sky turned breathtaking shades of red and violet.

Just… wow.

A couple of weeks ago, we embarked on some demolition work in our kitchen to remove the old countertops. Things definitely looked interesting after we’d finished.

The stone crew came in with three enormous slabs of white marble and laid them in place. Because two of them had to make the ends of the “L” shape, they had to be joined at a seam. A set of huge suction cups, and an air compressor acting as a vacuum pump, were attached so the glue between the slabs would seal everything tightly.

Our house has a very open floorplan, and sounds can be heard pretty much everywhere, so let me tell you how fun it was to have an air compressor running for 24 hours straight, including all night long. The crew said if it stopped for even a few seconds, they’d have to re-set and re-glue everything. Fortunately it didn’t, so the next day they came back to grind and smooth everything.

The end result is amazing. So long, black granite and big clunky island!

Hello, beautiful bright white marble and an island that flows into the great room!