Another failed Idaho trip

Okay, I think I've finally recovered from the Italy trip. I don't remember ever feeling so tired after a trip before! It took weeks to get back to normal. But it was still worth it.

Last weekend I rented a car and was going to drive down to southern Idaho to see my family. My Christmas trip was canceled due to the weather, so I haven't seen anyone in my family since August. Unfortunately, this trip didn't work out either. A few miles outside of Missoula (about three hours from Spokane) there was a big snowstorm with total whiteout conditions. Everyone was driving in a slow-moving line, and I kept hoping the person ahead of me stayed on the road, because my only option was to follow their tail-lights. After about an hour of 25 mph driving and white-knuckled praying, we got to a small town and I noticed all the truckers were pulling off. I decided that if they were giving up, I was giving up too. I found a motel in town and told my family I wasn't coming after all.

I was disappointed that I didn't get to see everyone. This was the perfect weekend to go, since we didn't have church. Primary is so perpetually understaffed that it's hard to be gone on Sundays; there's always some crisis and then I feel guilty for not being there. But I also want to be a good aunt to my little nieces and nephews, some of whom were barely getting to the point where they could remember me from visit to visit. And it would be nice to see my parents, brothers, and sisters-in-law once in a while too! Luckily my dad is going to drive up here this weekend for his Spring Break (assuming there's not another blizzard) so I'll at least get to see SOMEONE from my family.

So anyway, Friday night I decided that I might as well make the best of the situation and have a little mini-vacation in Montana. I already had the rental car for the weekend, after all, and I no longer had any weekend plans. Conference wasn't broadcast on TV there and I didn't bring my laptop with me, so I missed the whole thing. (If I was a good Mormon, I would have found a stake center and watched it there. All four sessions! But I didn't.)




These are some pictures of hiking in Montana. The storm hit east of Missoula, but the weather was great in Missoula itself. I climbed up to the "M" on one mountain (but didn't get a picture of it...you'll have to trust me) and climbed to the "L" on another mountain. I'm pretty sure the "M" is for the University of Montana, but I don't know what the "L" is for. (Nobody I asked knew either. I found that a bit depressing and extremely funny, all at the same time.) The trail on the "L" mountain kept going all the way up to the top, which was great because it was the only mountain in the area without much snow on it!