And Life Is Indeed Good

When we lived at North Ranch in Congress, Arizona we developed close friendships with a great group of people.  Tom and Sandy live summers in Minnesota and winters in North Ranch.  They are out and about doing some traveling this summer and we are so glad they decided to include our place in their stops.  Tom and Sandy arrived Wednesday afternoon and we’ve been on the go!

Thursday morning we headed up the Boulder stopping to pick up friend John from his place along the main Boulder River and the below photo is his and Diane’s spot–quite relaxing I would say!

Our destination was Blue Lake.  It’s one tough, rough and steep road with three miles taking an hour to travel but it’s worth every single bounce and jar along the way.  With all the rain we’ve had there was an abundance of water and mud.

John and Tom doing a little road maintenance—–

Old mining cabins John made it through the spot  which concerned us most–very, very muddy!A local guest ranch owned by distant relatives of the Cowboy bring their guests to Blue Lake in this unique vehicle.

Down to the lake for our picnic.  As usual, the mosquitoes were rampant and incessant–but we were prepared and had doused ourselves in repellent.  You can see by our attire the temperatures were not warm!  The lake is situated at almost 10,000 feet.

Lots of snow around the edges of the lake.  In spite of the mosquitoes and howling wind we thoroughly enjoyed our picnic by the water.  I never, ever tire of this trip up the Boulder and are always glad to share our piece of paradise with traveling friends.

The lake itself is located in the Absaroka Beartooth Wilderness so there is a short hike down to the lake and of course a climb back to the rigs.Off we go, back down the trail–that’s Sandy and Tom.  Back home we slapped hamburgers on the grill and enjoyed our evening.  It rained once again and the hay is wet, once again.  The sun was out Friday morning and the temperatures warmed enough that the Cowboy was able to rake and bale the hay here on our place.  Finally.

Friday morning while the Cowboy was haying I took Tom and Sandy to Natural Bridge.  In times of normal water flow all the river water flows into a natural hole in the limestone tumbling out below.  In times of high water the river water flows “over the top” and creates a 100 foot waterfall.  At times logs and other debris partially plug that hole too.  But, this year there has been speculation that any debris inside the hole released or that erosion has enlarged the hole.  At no time this spring during high water did the water flow “over the top.”

This photo was taken in May, 2018.

Sandy and I played in the quilting studio this afternoon and the guys and Emmi took and jeep ride up Elk Creek.  We all enjoyed another great dinner–spaghetti and homemade bread.  Stay tuned for more adventures–life is indeed good.