MONTANA & GLACIER PARK - AS BEAUTIFUL AS I REMEMBERED!

CATCHING UP ON THIS PAST SUMMER:

I was born in Great Falls, Montana. At age 3 my family moved to Cut Bank, Montana. We went to church as a family in Cut Bank. I attended elementary school in Cut Bank. I attended Jr High School in Cut Bank. I attended High School for 2 and a half years in Cut Bank. I broke my leg at age 16 riding a motorcycle in Cut Bank. I swam, played tennis, played baseball, ran track, learned to drive, and learned to work and earn money in Cut Bank. I learned to sing, I learned to play the piano and the trumpet in Cut Bank. I had newspaper delivery routes in Cut Bank. I went on my first date in Cut Bank. My life truly started in Cut Bank.

The last time I visited Montana was in 1987 - twenty-one years without going back "home". For two weeks in August, my wonderful mother and I went "home" to Montana. We stayed with my sister Jan Gray in her beautiful ranch home in the middle of nowhere. And it felt wonderful to be back in Montana.

Montana is called Big Sky Country - and for all the right reason. It seems like you can see forever in Montana. The skies are big and beautiful in Montana with blue skies much of the time. One of the pictures is looking west from my sister's back deck. We visited family and friends. We drove around the neighborhood where we had once lived...and where my grandparents had lived. We went to the cemetary where all of my grandparents are burried and we cleaned and decorated their graves. I had very tender thoughts and feelings as I thought about each one of them and the many ways they had contributed to my life and who I am today. I was very moved at the grave of my maternal grandmother Anna Maude Williams Serdahl. Anna Maude died at the young age of 38. She died when my mother was only 7 months old. I never knew my Grandma Serdahl, I know a lot about her through my mother. I feel such deep love and gratitude for Grandma Serdahl - she didn't live an easy life, and she died young. But she brought my mother into this world. For that I will be eternally greatful. Another picture is of Grandma Serdahl's headstone.

We took five days and visited our family's favorite vacation spot: Glacier National Park. It is one of the most beautiful mountainous areas in the world. The mountains are tall and magestic, the lakes are deep, cold, and blue. Wildlife is abundant and the "Going to the Sun Highway" is an amazing road that takes visitors over the continental divide and connects the rugged and windy east side of the Park/Mountains with the beautiful, warmer and calmer west side of the Park. Our favorite location is Lake McDonald on the western side of the park. One of the pictures shows my mom in front of the Lake McDonald boat launch (which we took on her birthday) with the clear blue lake, blue skies, and the towering mountains in the background. It was a treat to visit Glacier Park and Lake McDonald.

The first and second pictures were taken near the summit of Logan's Pass - the highest place that the road passes over. If you look closely you can see the 2-lane road winding it's way down the western side of this mountain pass. This area is completely covered with snow during the winter and spring, and the road over the pass normally opens around July 1st when they are finally able to plow all of the snow off the roadway. This will end this post from the past. I could have included another 40 pictures and not repeated any of the awesome scenes....but I need to get some sleep before church meetings which start in less than 8 hours. I hope you've enjoyed reading about Montana, and looking at these beautiful pictures.

SEAWORLD WITH MY DAUGHTER JOYLYNN

Hey all of you! I'm sorry that I fell behind on posts. I've decided to post the current, and with each current post, I'll include one or two things from June-September 2008.

For the new:

My youngest daughter Joylynn called me on Friday afternoon and asked me what I was doing on Saturday. I told her that I was working on a "honey-do" list from my mom, but basically I had no plans except to work in the house and yard. Then she asked, "Do you want to go to SeaWorld with me?" Well, of course I said yes! The last time I went was in July of 2007, when Kirk, Joanna, Bruin & Capri went (prior to Hudson) and also my big sister Karen was there along with her granddaughter Morgan from Virginia.

This was the excuse I had been waiting for - an actual reason to purchase my Annual Silver Passport for Seaworld (silver means discount because I'm over 50....yeah.....so what?) I can have just as much fun now at 54 as I could when I was younger than 50. I saved nearly enough money on the first day to pay the extra $30 for the annual pass (first there was FREE parking, and then there was 10% every food & merchandise purchase made by Joy & I).

Original plans were delayed a few hours, but we finally arrived at SeaWorld before 3pm, just in time for the "Pets Rule" show. I couldn't believe how much I enjoyed this show with dogs, cats, birds, pigs, and ducks! The tricks were impressive, and it was quite funny, but best of all I learned that nearly half the animals in this show were rescued animals! It's just amazing what loving and caring animal lovers can do with pets that were either abandoned, mistreated, abused, lost, or somehow found themselves at a local animal shelter. In 2003, I co-owned a rescued puppy named "BearDoggy", and he brought me great joy at that time of my life!

Moving on............Next was the Dolphin & Pilot Whale Show. The dolphins are fun and very entertaining because of their swimming speed and their ability to jump quite high. This show was great until the trainers signalled the 2 Pilot Whales to use their large tails to soak everyone sitting in the first 20 rows of the audience. Guess where we were seated? Ummmmmmm........the 3rd or 4th row......how brainless was that? Both of us got quite wet.....at least I held the backpack in front of me - so I only got about 70% wet. We both enjoyed this show a lot.

We took the time to go on a couple of rides I hadn't ever ridden before: Journey to the Lost City of Atlantis and the Shipwreck Rapids. Question for you, "What do these two rides have in common?" Answer: EVERYONE GETS WET! I normally love to get wet - just ask my other two daughters and my grandson Trent - we've been to Disneyland/California Adventure twice in the past month and I love to go on the rides where everyone get wet.....except at nighttime when it's getting cool - under 70 degrees........and when it's cloudy/overcast and cool.....like it was today at SeaWorld from around 4pm on. But Joy and I had fun, even though we got quite wet!

We took time, of course, to eat some carnival/fair food.......I mean SeaWorld specialties like funnel cakes covered with soft ice cream, sweet apple slices, and caramel topping........along with churros and popcorn. Can you believe that SeaWorld has the audacity to charge more for churros than Disneyland does? I guess it's because SeaWorld is CLOSER to Mexico.....where churros originated.....(allegedly)! We were smart enough to bring our own drinking water, along with our own cameras so we didn't have to pay $3 for a 15 cent bottle of water, or anywhere from $12-$25 for a picture that SeaWorld takes for you. By the way, did you know that if you're careful and turn off the flash on your personal digital camera - you can actually take a good picture of the SeaWorld/Disneyland picture as it's displayed on the screen after you rides? I had to experiment to find the right combination of flash/closeup....but there's a little tip so you can have the so called "Professional " amusement park pictures for absolutely nothing. I love to save money, especially when someone is trying to rip me off.

Anyways.......(as Sister Melanie Monroe said in all of her missionary blogs).......our final entertainment of the day/night was the nightime SHAMU ROCKS show. This was the first time EVER that I had been to a Shamu show after dark, and I definately want to do it again. Yes....the daytime Believe show is great....the trainers explain things to you and the music and pictures that play on the BIG SCREEN behind the trainers and the whales can really touch you emotionally if you open your heart and mind. BUT.....what the Nighttime show has is: 5 trainers, 1 guitar player (real or fake I don't know for sure), and many whales swimming around the tank, interacting with the trainers and with the audience (here comes the word WET again). BUT what only the Nighttime show has is lights, special effects lighting, fun but loud ROCK MUSIC, and great ever changing visuals on the BIG SCREEN. I loved this show. It's not necessarily better...but it's different in a good way.

Now...my final observation of the night....how crazy is the Exit setup at SeaWorld? From our experience tonight trying the leave the park after 7:30pm (that's the time the park closes and all the rides, exhibits and food concessions have been closed down)....or at least all the the concessions except those located right at the Exit.....so that every single person who wants to go home has to pass through this tiny square area along with people who are trying to stop and buy more souvenirs....and they only have like 5 narrow aisles that everyone must go through....one person at a time, including strollers and wheelchairs. It's absolute one of the most messed up exit systems I've ever experienced, and it's also potentially the most unsafe exit systems due to the huge crush of people trying to leave at the same time. I was so enraged by this experience that I'm going to write a letter to SeaWorld and complain about it.....for real. I might even call the fire marshall and have them investigate the situation. (For real - this is something I'm going to follow up and do.)

It's just about midnight.....and I still need to add some pictures.....but I need to put this in writing: I love spending time with my children and grandchildren. For the six and a half hours I was with Joylynn, I was in heaven. I feel so very blessed to be the father of six wonderful adults/young adults - each of them an exceptional person in their own right. Spending time with them brings me true joy and happiness. After spending time with any or all of my children, I feel like I can take on whatever life throws at me....and I can win. Why? Because I try to express my love and admiration to my children, and they in return share their love with me. Family relationships can bring us our greatest moments of happiness if we invest our time nourishing and enriching these relationships. I can't make time wasted in the PAST.....but I can seize the opportunities TODAY and improve the prospects of happy TOMORROWS. It's all up to me...and I try to live the present so that I will have no regrets in the days to come.

Life is good...Love makes every day go better...and Laughter helps put the tough times into perspective.