hopeful

As mentioned in an earlier post, I had the opportunity to attend a field trip with Finn's class to the Gates of the Mountains. Named by Meriwether Lewis, who, along with his expedition, passed through this area in 1805, the Gates are so named for the ginormous limestone cliffs that rise alongside the Missouri River:



A few takeaways from my day spent on the river:

• Getting to go on field trips is such a gift. As a working parent, I seldom was able to, and when I did I had to use one of my two personal days. I feel super lucky for the gift of time I have this year.
• Getting to go on field trips ON A BOAT is super cool. Amiright? 
• Montana kids are tough. It snowed the whole time. Snowed. Now, we were in a covered boat, but it wasn't heated, and at the end of the trip when the teachers allowed the kids to go out back, they loved it.
• Finn seems to be thriving. He's made good friends. I'm so happy I got to spy on him for a day and get to know some of the kids in his class. 
• Unrelated: Sean really wanted to name a kid Meriwether.

The photographic highlight of the trip was this bald eagle. The boat skipper/tour guide pointed out the nest shortly before spotting the actual bird. With my long lens, I was able to see it up close:


I leave you with a few more photos. Come visit us; we will take you on this trip! Maybe plan on coming in the summer, though :)

All aboard!

Early morning light on the Missouri

Indigenous pictographs

Autumn colors at Mann Gulch

Braving the elements

My favorite 4th grader

I took 968 photos when we visited Montana in early July. At the time, Sean still hadn't interviewed for his position so we didn't know we'd be moving here. Things happened pretty quickly when we got back to Illinois, and while I managed to get those 968 photos onto my hard drive, I never went through them until today -- three months to the date after we arrived for a ten day visit.

It's a strange feeling to look at photos taken on a vacation and realize you now live in that place. That hill we were playing on is now our route to school. Those cousins we usually see once a year we now see every few weeks. That pool is right outside our window. Sometimes it feels like we're still on vacation, but most of the time it feels like we've settled into a functional, everyday routine.

Montana is one of the reasons I got into photography; there is so much beauty and it changes by the second. These photos were all taken the first few weeks in July - before it got smoky. Pretty spectacular. I share today to put a little beauty out into the world. I hope you enjoy them.

Little Blackfoot River

MacDonald Pass

Little Blackfoot River

Sunset on the Little Blackfoot

Driving to Seeley Lake

Mount Helena from the backyard

Approaching the Little Prickly Pear

The first time I went on the Gates of the Mountains boat tour, it was 2002. I was newly engaged to one Sean Morrison, and my parents were visiting Montana for the first time. Fun fact: we did not yet own a digital camera - ours still had film- but I borrowed one of these new fangled contraptions from the library where I was working in Missoula. It was a Sony Mavica, and it stored the photos on a floppy disk that you inserted into the camera. No joke.

Anyway, we took my parents on the boat tour along with Sean's parents. They were meeting for the first time. My Chicago-based parents' idea of wilderness was pretty much limited to attending the Hoop-Dee-Doo at Fort Wilderness in Disney World, but we got lucky that day; while coasting along on the Missouri River learning about Lewis and Clark, a beautiful cinnamon bear came galumphing along the shore. Glad I had my Sony Mavica to capture this shot:



Fast forward one year. The night before our wedding, we rented out two boats at Gates of the Mountains and brought our friends and family up the river and to a picnic pavilion where we held our very casual rehearsal / rehearsal dinner. It was a huge highlight of the wedding weekend and so.much.fun for our out of town guests. So to say the Gates have a special place in our memory is a bit of an understatement. Here are a few favorite pictures from that night:

Pre-departure. Only 4 Rokosz grandkids, and they were so little!

Obligatory sister shot. You can't see Annie's ridiculous pants, unfortunately.

One of the best thing about your wedding weekend? Your lifelong bestie and your Peace Corps besties get to hang out...

...and your college friends come all the way to Montana to celebrate with you.

One of two boats full of wonderful people.

Fun with bandanas.

Aforementioned very casual rehearsal.

Since 2003, we've been to Gates a handful of times, and if you come and visit us in Helena we'll likely take you there as well. It's really pretty great. I bring all this up because tomorrow morning I have the privilege of accompanying Finn's class on a field trip to Gates of the Mountains. Fourth grade is pretty heavy on Montana history, which is pretty great for our transplant, and I'm super jazzed that I get to go. Never mind that the forecast calls for snow mixed with rain and a high of 38. I'll be back with more pics after our adventures.