“Swimming Hole“ hike and Bob’s favorite day of the year

On Sunday we went to a swimming hole that the ranger told us about. We packed a lunch and our suits and hiked to this gorgeous waterfall with a turquoise pool. We had the place to ourselves. Bob tore off his boots and socks and jumped in with glee… he ran out with tears in his eyes because the water was, per our estimation, approx. 42 degrees. Beautiful, yes. Swimming, no.

We sat on the rocks and had lunch preparing ourselves to hike back out when my pack rolled off the rocks, over the falls, and into the swimming hole. It didn’t have anything irreplaceable in it, just towels and swimming suits etc but we couldn’t just abandon it. Bob went down to the edge to sweet talk it out. He wouldn’t get back in the frigid water for fear of death, so he let the current take it for a few minutes until he could reach it with a long stick. What we ended up with was two massive beach towels that could have taken until Tuesday to dry so I just threw the pack that went from 12 pounds to 35 pounds soaking wet on my back and we got out of there.

Monday was my 29^th birthday, woohoo! I had a nice bagel in the morning and did some interneting catching up on my celebrity gossip. Bob and I went into Bigfork and browsed around. I took a nap in the afternoon and my parents arrived here in Montana that evening. My Grandpa is from Anaconda Montana and my Dad visited here when he was young and always wanted to come back. I suggested they come out when Bob and I were here, and they obliged! Dot and Mike are staying at a condo on the lake just down the street from our cabin. We met them when they arrived on Monday and had an awesome birthday dinner at the Many Springs Restaurant. I had King Crab Legs and an ice cream sundae with a b-day candle in it. I had a great wild west Montana birthday.