The Travels of
Mike & Darlene
At the conclusion of calving and
tax season Mike and Darlene flew to Phoenix, rented a car, ate
Mexican food, and explored some of northern Arizona They
toured Montezuma's Castle before heading to the red cliffs of
Sedona. They did a couple of short hikes there, ate Mexican
food, and then headed north to Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon.
After spending a day at all the Canyon viewing points they set off early the next
morning on the Grandview Trail, a recommendation from Jason. The Grandview trail
is a very steep 6-1/2 mile hike to Horseshoe Mesa. On the Mesa
they viewed old mines, explored a cave and even visited with another
hiker from Montana. The following days with muscles too sore to hike
anymore, they journeyed back to Phoenix visiting the Wupatki Indian
formations, Sunset Crater, Tonto Natural Bridge, ate Mexican food and even
followed a very scenic unpaved section of the old Apache Trail to the Lost
Dutchman mine just west of Phoenix.
Mike and Darlene finally made it back to Pocatello in September after two years to
visit Troy and Ashley. While there they did a short hike, bathed in the
hot springs. and ate Mexican food.
At the beginning of October Darlene flew to Minneapolis for a weekend
visit with her college friends.
In
November Mike went elk hunting. He had drawn
a bull elk tag in the Missouri Breaks and planned to hunt for a while.
Inclement weather drove him home the first time, but upon returning later the
weather still prevented him from any serious hunting. He didn't return
empty handed though; just with a smaller animal then he wanted. Deer
hunting continued at home with all of the family through Thanksgiving.
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The Lives of
the
Kids

Jason visited Montana three
times in 2008 from San Diego. He and his daughter Athena came for Damian's
wedding, he spent two weeks in the Bob Marshall Wilderness hiking and looking for
new caves, and he and Athena came for Thanksgiving. Otherwise he spent
many weekends in the Grand Canyon where he continues to find more caves
including the largest one now discovered in that area.
He's working at Qualcomm when he is not
recreating.
Troy became engaged to his girlfriend Ashley Marsh
on July 11th and their wedding is planned for September 19, 2009 in Idaho Falls.
They live in Pocatello, Idaho where he is a BLM wildland fire fighter. His girlfriend Ashley and
their Yorkshire terrier Obie also live with him. Ashley is in her
last year of nursing school.
Molly handed in her teaching resignation last spring
after three years in Newcastle, CO as their 8th grade math teacher.
For the summer, she was a raft guide on the
Colorado River at Glenwood Springs for the second year. When
that ended in September she joined a custom harvest crew in Kansas
where she got to experience combing corn and beans. For the winter
she is working at Aspen.
Damian's bobcat business kept him very busy during
the summer when he wasn't into wedding plans and helping Mike on the
ranch. For the winter he plans to drive truck hauling grain and calves.
His wife Amber continues to attend school and work as a CNA in extended care.
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