Gates of the Mountains Part I

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.