Relaxation

     This past weekend Kelli and I had the privilege of being invited up to West Glacier for the wedding of a family friend of Kelli's.  We couldn't have asked for a better way to spend our Memorial Day weekend!  Kelli's dad Dan had booked one of the cabins where the rest of the wedding party was staying and when we arrived on Saturday afternoon it felt like one big family reunion.  There were 5 total cabins at the lodge and we had them all to ourselves!  Over the years I have become close with all of these friends of the Dobson's as well and many of them we haven't seen in a very long time, like since our own wedding!
     Saturday evening we went back into Kalispell and enjoyed dinner followed by church with some good friends of ours from our time in the Flathead, the Vullertson's.  We quickly realized their two kids are no different than any others we know and they are growing like weeds!  Our time with them was fantastic as it always is and we capped it off by stopping for ice cream on our way out of town!
     The wedding was Sunday afternoon and since we had a little time to kill in the morning and we were so close I told Kelli I wanted to drive up to Hungry Horse dam.  I'd never been there in all the time I've spent in the area and since it is one of this countries engineering marvels I couldn't pass up the opportunity to check it out.  Within a matter of minutes word spread through our camp that we were going up and seven of us decided to go.  I could go on for hours about the magnitude of the dam and the fascinating process that it took to construct it, but I'll spare you the details and just tell you if you haven't been there and are in the area you must check it out for yourself!

 

     After viewing the dam we came back to the cabins and simply relaxed!  I feel like I give myself a fair amount of relaxation time while at home but I can tell you when your on vacation like this and take some time to simply enjoy a cup of coffee on the front porch while looking at the mountains with absolutely no agenda, you realize what true relaxation is.  People often say that relaxing is good for the soul, I don't see how anyone could ever argue this as after simply siting on the porch for a coupe hours I felt completely rejuvenated!
     The wedding ceremony was beautiful!  It was held at the Lake McDonald Lodge just inside Glacier National Parks West entrance.  The ceremony was right at the waters edge next to where a creek, bursting at it's seams with spring run off, poured into the glass like surface of the lake.  The groom and his family are native American so they closed the ceremony with their tribes dove song which was amazing! 

     After the reception, and way too much sugar for this guy, we headed back to the cabins for more relaxing:)  Dan and Donna rested in the cabin while Kelli and I decided to go for a hike before the sun went down.  All of the really good trails were too far away to make it before dark so we ended up just going for a walk through the town of West Glacier.  Our journey came to an end when our asphalt stopped at a bridge over the Flathead river.  We walked over to the sign on the other side of the bridge and read that it was the Belton bridge.  This bridge was the only way into this end of the park for many years.  During the flood of 1964 the bridge was completely submerged in water leaving those who lived on the North side of the river detached from needed supplies.  Somehow when the water receded the concrete arch of the bridge remained intact!  Locals quickly rebuilt the bridge on top of the old concrete base and it's still there, serving as a constant reminder of just how well things were built in the good old days! 

     We snapped a few photos of the bridge then headed back to join the rest of the crew for dinner and some socializing on our last night together.  Of course like most family reunions we had our share of excitement, one of the brides cousins and I went to light up some sparklers late in the night and somehow his flared up in his hand, burning three of his fingers pretty badly!  We had a few nurses at the cabins so they assessed the situation and quickly realized he needed medical attention.  The closest hospital was in Kalispell, 30 miles away, and the only people who knew how to get there were Kelli and I and the bride and groom.  I didn't feel like taking your cousin to the ER on your wedding night sounded like very much fun so I volunteered to ride along with the cousin and his dad for directions.  Everything went good at the hospital, they put on some burn cream and bandaged him all up, then on the way back to the cabins we got a speeding ticket going through Columbia Falls!  The local cop took it easy on our driver, only giving him a $20 ticket for going almost 20 over the limit, and we finally got back to the cabin around 2am! 
     Everyone got up at their own pace the following morning and we all headed our separate ways.  Even with the ER scare on Sunday night, we had an amazing time and arrived home thoroughly refreshed and relaxed, just in time to make it over to my parents for a Memorial Day BBQ!   As we settled into our own bed that night I couldn't help but thank God for what I consider to be a perfect weekend!

Remember, there's no such thing as too much relaxation!