Our Trip Blog

Events of Tuesday, August 3, 2010

This morning I got the pleasure of awakening a happier-than-usual Abby. I did this by animatedly whispering, “Abby, what are we gonna do today?” Immediately, she sprang to life, shouting sleepily, “WE”RE GOING HORSEBACK RIDING‼” That girl never wakes up that fast, but today she did.

Yes, today we went horseback riding. After a quick breakfast and an hour-long drive to the stalls, we got saddled up with nine other people and two wranglers, Becca and Laura. We rode a two-hour loop on Cracker Flats in Many Glacier, which is part of Glacier National Park. It was super fun! It was all us kids’ first real horse experience, and it was quite an enjoyable experience.  Abby got a horse named Coffee, who was a dark brown horse who loved to eat the plants along the trail. Lindsey re-dubbed her horse, Digger, also dark brown, Duke Digger, because he dawdled and sauntered and walked majestically slow and avoided all mud puddles as a prissy duke would do. Ben’s horse, Sioux, also kept eating and had a coughing attack during the ride. Daddy’s horse, Big Al, was, well, BIG. He had a reputation for being a mischievous character, but behaved himself very well for such a foreboding and tall person as my father. Mommy’s horse was Big Mac, a gray and white speckled horse who truly had a mind of his own. At one point during the ride, he brushed against a sign to try to rid himself of his burden, but to no avail. Mom, however, has a scrape on her knee where she met a trail sign.  My horse was named Dunny, but I revised his title to be Dunny Dan, because Dunny was boring. Dunny was a copper-colored horse with a darker brown stripe down his back and rump, which they said made him a dun, thus his name. Dunny was stubborn and a fast walker and liked to tailgate the other horses. But I was quite emotionally attached to him by the end of the ride.

I took joy in noting that each of my family members’ horses reflected our own personalities. Abby’s horse liked to play “Follow the Leader” sometimes, but he also liked to blaze his own trail. Lindsey’s horse meandered and sauntered and avoided mud puddles, just as Lindsey would have, if she herself had been walking the trail. Ben’s horse tried to eat every plant in sight, and he stubbornly wanted to go his own way. My horse (notably a redhead like me) walked quickly, as if there were things to do, people to see, places to go, like I do often. Mom’s horse was stubborn and had a mind of its own. Dad’s horse was big and behaved himself quite well. Based on our experience with horses, I guess you could kind of say, “Like rider, like horse!”

On the ride, we saw a beautiful view of Lake Sherber and a lot of gorgeous wildflowers. The most adventurous the trail got was when we got to cross a mild stream. Yay! Adventure is out there! While on the ride, our lead wrangler Becca told us that they weren’t very creative with naming the horses. I didn’t see how uncreative they were until she told us that the two donkeys they had were named Donkey One and Donkey Two. Abby and I gladly took it upon ourselves to re-name them with better names, so the creatures became known as Nibbles and Pizza. After our lovely two hours of adventure were up, Lindsey, Abby, and I showered our treasured rides with kisses, hugs and love. We got pictures with them and then said our tearful goodbyes.

For lunch, we drove to a lovely scenic pullout, which overlooked a rushing stream. Then we drove back to the RV park, showered using our spare tokens, and headed for North Dakota. We stopped for dinner in a lovely town called Chinook, in Blaine County, Montana. As Mom reheated/cooked dinner, we played on the neighborhood playground. Then, we sat down to a delicious dinner of rotisserie chicken, pasta with parmesan cheese and butter, salad, bread, and Haagen-Dazs ice cream bars. During our dinner, the conversation turned to the origin of the word ‘margarine’, during which we decided that the inventor’s name was Margaret of Margi Aaron and therefore coined her creation after herself.

Then we drove eastward in search of a place to boon dock for the night. The Taylor kids made an adventure of making the beds while we drove, and then we got ready for bed. And now as I type, my siblings are falling fast asleep and I’m watching the sun set on another lovely day in Montana. G’night, y’all.