1,100 miles to grandmother's house

Before sunrise on Saturday, Corey and I are departing from home (point "A") on a road trip. We're headed west, to Montana. En route we'll meet up with a few friends, and my parents. Our final destination is Grandma Katy's home.

Our first night will be spent at point "B" on the map, near Gardiner, MT. Corey's friend Marty and his family have generously offered to host us at their cabin near Yellowstone National Park. It sounds like we'll have a great day hiking and exploring. On Sunday we'll head to Bozeman, to Marty's house (point "C"). We'll spend the night there and depart bright and early Monday morning.

On Monday we'll head north. Way north, to Glacier National Park and Many Glacier Hotel (point "D"). My parents will meet us there, where we'll spend two nights. The hotel is located on a magnificent lake, in the north east corner of the park.

On Wednesday, we plan to make our way through the park, to the west side, where we'll enjoy some shopping, exploring, and white-water rafting. In the evening, we'll all arrive at Grandma Katy's house, in Kalispell, MT (point "E"). From our door to her door, we'll have driven no less than 1,100 miles, assuming we don't get lost along the way. Sounds like a fun road trip to me!

It's been more years than I care to mention since I've been to Montana to visit my grandma and I'm very much looking forward to it. It's a beautiful area with so much to see and do. I have a feeling I'll take many, many, many photos. I hear there are a few new quilt shops in the area too!

The following weekend we'll make the trip back home, again.

I'll try and keep this blog updated at least a few times while we're away, so be sure to check back. Happy Trails!

Hager family 2009 golf tour

All the Hager kids (Corey, me, Jesse, Megan, Andrew, Matthew, and Maria) and Megan's dad and Corey's parents, Andrea and Gary Hager gathered together for a Hager family 2009 golf tour. On the agenda were three golf courses - Hawktree, Bismarck, ND; Bully Pulpit, Medora, ND; and the Kenmare golf course, Kenmare, ND.

On Thursday, Aug. 6, we headed west about 150 miles to Medora, ND.

We made a pit stop at Assumption Abbey in Richardton, ND.

It is beautiful and has amazing architecture.

The weather was pretty crummy, so we weren't in any hurry to get to Medora - we wandered around the grounds for a while and shopped in the gift shop.

It was definitely worth the stop.

Medora was overcast, chilly and drizzly so we made the drive through the Theodore Roosevelt National Park.


... looking for prairie dogs.

To see my bison photos - click here to view them on bisongirl.com.

My fabulous bonus parents :)

Andrew and Matthew enjoying the views in the park

All us Hager kids

In the evening we had dinner at the pitchfork fondue and then watched the Medora Musical. As you can see, it was very chilly but still lots of fun.

Friday morning the boys golfed at Bully Pulpit.

The scenery at the course is one-of-a-kind in the North Dakota badlands.

While the boys golfed, the rest of us explored Medora.

After lunch, we made our way north to Kenmare.

Our car took the 'short cut' from Dickonson north through Killdeer and Stanley. That also means that we drove through the Bakken. We were amazed at the transformation that has taken place. What used to be sleepy farm land is now hustle bustling with oil activity. The big piece of machinery pictured above is a rig.

We made a pit stop in Stanley to use the restroom and stumbled across this beauty.

It's a real-live bait vending machine. Ya definitely don't see these everyday.

Saturday and Sunday were spent in Kenmare. Lucky for us, it was raspberry season. We had fun picking!

Before we returned home on Sunday, we snapped a family photo.

Such a fun few days of family, golf and good food!