adventures in love and the great outdoors
So I'm back from Montana and IT WAS SO GREAT. I was so disgruntled about having to fly all the way out there for the wedding but now I am so thankful I did because it was seriously one of the greatest weekends ever. ♥
THURSDAY
Up at 4:30am to catch the metro to the airport at 5. Arrived at Reagan at 6, checked in, hopped on my flight to, of all places, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Brief layover there then I got back on the same plane and headed off to my second layover in Denver. Despite most of Colorado being on fire, you couldn't see much of the smoke, which I suppose is important since visibility is necessary for flights...
I grabbed lunch and got on the plane just in time for the Germany-Italy semifinal to begin. D: Stuck on planes at the worst time. Then I realized our plane had individual screens on the back of each seat with TV channels and movies. Am I willing to pay $4 to watch this game? Hell fucking yes.
And then Germany lost to Italy - Italy - 0 to 2. DDDD:
When I finally landed in Bozeman, Montana, I immediately sent distraught tweets to zanzando. Özil's sadface was the worst. I really thought Germany was going to go all the way and make it another Spain-Germany final.
I wasn't at all over my distress but I did have the presence of mind to meet up with Joe, a fellow law school grad and wedding attendee. He'd arrived a little earlier than I had and checked out the rental car we were splitting because the wedding was in Big Sky, about an hour and a half south of the airport. There ain't much in Montana you guys, but there sure is a lot of sky.
Seriously the most sky I've seen in ages. It was breathtaking.
Bride and Groom, both law school friends of mine, were putting us up in a condo up on the mountain with them that night, then the next night we'd all migrate to the 320 Ranch, where the wedding was taking place.
The condo? Ridiculously pretty and so rustic.
Also, MOOSE. I felt it obligatory to have a picture of moose, even if it was a tiny porcelain one.
So Joe headed off with Groom, Groom's Brother, Groom's Brother in Law, Groom's Sundry Frat Brothers and High School friends to his bachelor party, and I headed off with Bride to do a quick one-on-one catch up over coffee (I hadn't seen her since graduation a year ago) and then to a family dinner with the family of the Groom. It was easily one of the fastest times I've ever felt welcome: they were all so Southern (hailing from Tennessee but in Montana just for skiing in the winter and the wedding) and warm and friendly. And there were passels of small adorable children running around, reminding me that I actually enjoy being around kids sometimes. It's not like I've had much a chance at school and then now in DC; most of my friends are younger than me and haven't quite started their own families yet.
Having been up at 4:30 that morning, I crashed pretty hard around 10pm local time, which was midnight to my exhausted body, and clearly made use of the entire California king of my bed.
Or, you know, about 10% of it.
And this is the sky at 10PM, just so you know. It's light forever up here in the summer.
FRIDAY
A beautiful morning, god. It was maybe 50 or so? I just missed the sick heat wave hitting the rest of the country - Montana was about 70-80F during the day under the sun, but around 40-50 in the evenings and early mornings. It was perfect. PERFECT. It was so so so so pretty; I cannot even emphasize enough how pretty. It stole part of my heart away for sure.
An early bagel breakfast with the necessary coffee, and then I got held hostage by Bride and Groom to go white water rafting with them. I hadn't planned on it but they had an open spot and they were insistent. So I did, a little nervous remembering danii06's last experiences rafting, but oh god.
I'M A CONVERT. LET'S GO ALL THE TIME.
It was so much fun and so, so beautiful. We were on the Gallatin River and it was a perfect day and we got wetsuits because the water would be around 40 degrees (i.e., way too fucking cold) but it was hot under the sun and alskdghsdkfj. I wish I had pics - maybe I will steal them from Joe later on. But here's the river, from Google Images I didn't have a waterproof camera:
Fun fact: They filmed A River Runs Through It up here on this river.
We had wetsuits, windbreakers, life jackets, and helmets over our hats and sunglasses. I was twice the width I normally am.
ME: I feel like I should be rolling around like Katamari!
BRIDE: Like calamari?
ME: LOL no, Katamari Damancy.
BRIDE: Oh, OK, because I wasn't aware that calamari rolled a lot...
Along on the trip were Groom's Brother, his two sisters, his brother-in-law, and various and assorted friends. One sister fell in the river but was promptly fished out. Everyone had a great time. And the bonus? Our team guide for the rafting? Super cute. SUPER CUTE.
Post-rafting, we had lunch outdoors, and I found a Flyers fan among the Groom's fratbro friends!
He was a douche.
Yes, it's tragically true: all Flyers fans are inevitably assholes. I'm just awaiting my official seal-stamped certificate.
Post-lunch we all moved into the 320 Ranch where the entire wedding party was staying and where the wedding would be Friday. We had little log cabins in front of the river!
AND THEN I WENT HORSEBACK RIDING. It was super pretty and the horse was gigantic and it was my first time and my horse's name was Whitey and she was a sweetie and I FOUND A TED (i.e., the other law school friend who just arrived that day) and made him go with me.
I was told it was a good thing I went riding after rafting because no way I would've found a comfortable seat on that raft if I'd gone riding first, hah. True that.
Our guide - a ranch hand in dusty jeans and cowboy hat and plaid and originally from Georgia with a Southern drawl ♥ - was friendly and cute and took us through the ranch to the adjoining national forest. Again, absolutely beautiful.
And when I finally cleaned up and recovered a bit from all that physical activity and communing with nature, we got dressed up for rehearsal dinner, which passed in a bit of an open-bar blur. I chatted in Chinese with Bride's parents and made nice with some other people and totally had my heart stolen away by one bridesmaid's daughter. She's half-white, half-Chinese, two and a half, and basically the cutest thing ever.
She also loves her pink Shirley Temples and her tiny cowboy boots and brand new cowboy hat her parents had bought for her. SO CUTE.
People gave really funny and moving and sweet toasts at dinner and I maybe teared up a little. Weddings, man. Everyone there was married or engaged or committed and happy. HAPPY. I was the only single girl there and the three single guys there were: 1) gay, 2) the groom's brother, or 3) the asshole Flyers fan.
"Good luck," Bride told me when she let me know the stats.
Whatever. I occupied myself with the cute children instead. Although that didn't help with the sudden attack of maybe I should be married? Maybe I should have kids? I was happy being single! But look how happy they are!! Dammit, weddings.
After dinner all the younger non-parental crowd lazed about in the chilly evening air on the front porch of the riverfront cabins and drank and drank and drank. And Groom's fratbros relived their past by playing Caps. Very Seriously. With gross lite beer. I think I had a locally brewed ale instead. I can't promise I remember everything that clearly.
SATURDAY
Another beautiful morning. Some pics I took on he way to breakfast:
Then girls' brunch and then the bridal party went to do their hair and make-up. I snapped pics for a bit then went back to the ranch to join the guys and non-bridal party, who were grilling hot dogs and brats on the cabin porch and, shockingly, drinking.
It was good times. I stole Ted's hat for this:
One day I will acquire my own, and a real pair of cowboy boots! But real boots cost upwards of several hundred dollars, so that's not quite an investment I will be making in the near future...
The wedding was at 4:30 at a tent right in front of the river so I got dressed up:
Obviously I'm not going to post pics of it, just know that it was short, personal, and beautiful. They deliberately wanted it very casual - the groomsmen were all in jeans and nice shirts and vests and cowboy hats. It was freaking adorable. The bridesmaids were all in purple but different styled dresses. The bride had on a short (but delicately embroidered) dress with purple shoes and a beautiful pearl hair piece. I cried. The pastor was great and had people both laughing and crying. The flower girl was utterly precious. And then the Groom sang to her as his brother hand picked on the guitar. ♥
As for the reception? Well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves:
We had an open bar, lots of good food, more embarrassing and moving toasts by family and friends, and then cake and a first dance by the Bride and Groom. They had a DJ and karaoke - the Groom's first song was "Fat Bottomed Girls". Their first duet was Aqua's "Barbie Girl." ♥ I spent the night drinking and playing with the flower girl:
And dancing, oh, so much dancing. Everyone danced. I danced with the kids a lot. Parents danced. We had everything from Journey to Call Me Maybe and even One Direction.
And then randomly bagpipes appeared. I was drunk. I have no idea where they came from - they just happened to be at the ranch and were invited in. And then the Groom's brother danced a jig:
And we finished off the reception crooning to Backstreet Boys. You'll notice how all the guys are terribly impressed:
Following the conclusion of the reception was more hanging out in the dark and cold on a porch drinking with the guys passing around cigars. It's a thing, apparently. It was good times, though, good times. And then I promptly spent the entirety of Sunday on planes and in airports hating myself for not taking the various opportunities throughout the night to do something about the major crush I'd developed on - okay, there were three single guys and I listed them above. I'm sure you can figure out which one it was.
Drunken making out would've been the perfect cap to this weekend but alas.
SUNDAY
So yeah. Sunday after breakfast, most of us headed to the airport to fly home and so ended a really fun and truly beautiful long weekend up in Montana. I left with great memories, a new appreciation of beautiful big sky country with no cell phone reception, the desire to go white water rafting again, and the urge to Not Be Single immediately. Possibly with this one dude I had really just met, so it's crazy, but he should call me maybe?
Dammit, weddings.
I also managed to be on the plane for the entirety of the Euro 2012 Spain-Italy final but FELICDADES ESPAÑA.
I was also thankful to get home and have power. So - just one regret this entire weekend. :) Not so bad. I'm working on that one too.
THURSDAY
Up at 4:30am to catch the metro to the airport at 5. Arrived at Reagan at 6, checked in, hopped on my flight to, of all places, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Brief layover there then I got back on the same plane and headed off to my second layover in Denver. Despite most of Colorado being on fire, you couldn't see much of the smoke, which I suppose is important since visibility is necessary for flights...
I grabbed lunch and got on the plane just in time for the Germany-Italy semifinal to begin. D: Stuck on planes at the worst time. Then I realized our plane had individual screens on the back of each seat with TV channels and movies. Am I willing to pay $4 to watch this game? Hell fucking yes.
And then Germany lost to Italy - Italy - 0 to 2. DDDD:
When I finally landed in Bozeman, Montana, I immediately sent distraught tweets to zanzando. Özil's sadface was the worst. I really thought Germany was going to go all the way and make it another Spain-Germany final.
I wasn't at all over my distress but I did have the presence of mind to meet up with Joe, a fellow law school grad and wedding attendee. He'd arrived a little earlier than I had and checked out the rental car we were splitting because the wedding was in Big Sky, about an hour and a half south of the airport. There ain't much in Montana you guys, but there sure is a lot of sky.
Seriously the most sky I've seen in ages. It was breathtaking.
Bride and Groom, both law school friends of mine, were putting us up in a condo up on the mountain with them that night, then the next night we'd all migrate to the 320 Ranch, where the wedding was taking place.
The condo? Ridiculously pretty and so rustic.
Also, MOOSE. I felt it obligatory to have a picture of moose, even if it was a tiny porcelain one.
So Joe headed off with Groom, Groom's Brother, Groom's Brother in Law, Groom's Sundry Frat Brothers and High School friends to his bachelor party, and I headed off with Bride to do a quick one-on-one catch up over coffee (I hadn't seen her since graduation a year ago) and then to a family dinner with the family of the Groom. It was easily one of the fastest times I've ever felt welcome: they were all so Southern (hailing from Tennessee but in Montana just for skiing in the winter and the wedding) and warm and friendly. And there were passels of small adorable children running around, reminding me that I actually enjoy being around kids sometimes. It's not like I've had much a chance at school and then now in DC; most of my friends are younger than me and haven't quite started their own families yet.
Having been up at 4:30 that morning, I crashed pretty hard around 10pm local time, which was midnight to my exhausted body, and clearly made use of the entire California king of my bed.
Or, you know, about 10% of it.
And this is the sky at 10PM, just so you know. It's light forever up here in the summer.
FRIDAY
A beautiful morning, god. It was maybe 50 or so? I just missed the sick heat wave hitting the rest of the country - Montana was about 70-80F during the day under the sun, but around 40-50 in the evenings and early mornings. It was perfect. PERFECT. It was so so so so pretty; I cannot even emphasize enough how pretty. It stole part of my heart away for sure.
An early bagel breakfast with the necessary coffee, and then I got held hostage by Bride and Groom to go white water rafting with them. I hadn't planned on it but they had an open spot and they were insistent. So I did, a little nervous remembering danii06's last experiences rafting, but oh god.
I'M A CONVERT. LET'S GO ALL THE TIME.
It was so much fun and so, so beautiful. We were on the Gallatin River and it was a perfect day and we got wetsuits because the water would be around 40 degrees (i.e., way too fucking cold) but it was hot under the sun and alskdghsdkfj. I wish I had pics - maybe I will steal them from Joe later on. But here's the river, from Google Images I didn't have a waterproof camera:
Fun fact: They filmed A River Runs Through It up here on this river.
We had wetsuits, windbreakers, life jackets, and helmets over our hats and sunglasses. I was twice the width I normally am.
ME: I feel like I should be rolling around like Katamari!
BRIDE: Like calamari?
ME: LOL no, Katamari Damancy.
BRIDE: Oh, OK, because I wasn't aware that calamari rolled a lot...
Along on the trip were Groom's Brother, his two sisters, his brother-in-law, and various and assorted friends. One sister fell in the river but was promptly fished out. Everyone had a great time. And the bonus? Our team guide for the rafting? Super cute. SUPER CUTE.
Post-rafting, we had lunch outdoors, and I found a Flyers fan among the Groom's fratbro friends!
He was a douche.
Yes, it's tragically true: all Flyers fans are inevitably assholes. I'm just awaiting my official seal-stamped certificate.
Post-lunch we all moved into the 320 Ranch where the entire wedding party was staying and where the wedding would be Friday. We had little log cabins in front of the river!
AND THEN I WENT HORSEBACK RIDING. It was super pretty and the horse was gigantic and it was my first time and my horse's name was Whitey and she was a sweetie and I FOUND A TED (i.e., the other law school friend who just arrived that day) and made him go with me.
I was told it was a good thing I went riding after rafting because no way I would've found a comfortable seat on that raft if I'd gone riding first, hah. True that.
Our guide - a ranch hand in dusty jeans and cowboy hat and plaid and originally from Georgia with a Southern drawl ♥ - was friendly and cute and took us through the ranch to the adjoining national forest. Again, absolutely beautiful.
And when I finally cleaned up and recovered a bit from all that physical activity and communing with nature, we got dressed up for rehearsal dinner, which passed in a bit of an open-bar blur. I chatted in Chinese with Bride's parents and made nice with some other people and totally had my heart stolen away by one bridesmaid's daughter. She's half-white, half-Chinese, two and a half, and basically the cutest thing ever.
She also loves her pink Shirley Temples and her tiny cowboy boots and brand new cowboy hat her parents had bought for her. SO CUTE.
People gave really funny and moving and sweet toasts at dinner and I maybe teared up a little. Weddings, man. Everyone there was married or engaged or committed and happy. HAPPY. I was the only single girl there and the three single guys there were: 1) gay, 2) the groom's brother, or 3) the asshole Flyers fan.
"Good luck," Bride told me when she let me know the stats.
Whatever. I occupied myself with the cute children instead. Although that didn't help with the sudden attack of maybe I should be married? Maybe I should have kids? I was happy being single! But look how happy they are!! Dammit, weddings.
After dinner all the younger non-parental crowd lazed about in the chilly evening air on the front porch of the riverfront cabins and drank and drank and drank. And Groom's fratbros relived their past by playing Caps. Very Seriously. With gross lite beer. I think I had a locally brewed ale instead. I can't promise I remember everything that clearly.
SATURDAY
Another beautiful morning. Some pics I took on he way to breakfast:
Then girls' brunch and then the bridal party went to do their hair and make-up. I snapped pics for a bit then went back to the ranch to join the guys and non-bridal party, who were grilling hot dogs and brats on the cabin porch and, shockingly, drinking.
It was good times. I stole Ted's hat for this:
One day I will acquire my own, and a real pair of cowboy boots! But real boots cost upwards of several hundred dollars, so that's not quite an investment I will be making in the near future...
The wedding was at 4:30 at a tent right in front of the river so I got dressed up:
Obviously I'm not going to post pics of it, just know that it was short, personal, and beautiful. They deliberately wanted it very casual - the groomsmen were all in jeans and nice shirts and vests and cowboy hats. It was freaking adorable. The bridesmaids were all in purple but different styled dresses. The bride had on a short (but delicately embroidered) dress with purple shoes and a beautiful pearl hair piece. I cried. The pastor was great and had people both laughing and crying. The flower girl was utterly precious. And then the Groom sang to her as his brother hand picked on the guitar. ♥
As for the reception? Well, I'll let the pics speak for themselves:
We had an open bar, lots of good food, more embarrassing and moving toasts by family and friends, and then cake and a first dance by the Bride and Groom. They had a DJ and karaoke - the Groom's first song was "Fat Bottomed Girls". Their first duet was Aqua's "Barbie Girl." ♥ I spent the night drinking and playing with the flower girl:
And dancing, oh, so much dancing. Everyone danced. I danced with the kids a lot. Parents danced. We had everything from Journey to Call Me Maybe and even One Direction.
And then randomly bagpipes appeared. I was drunk. I have no idea where they came from - they just happened to be at the ranch and were invited in. And then the Groom's brother danced a jig:
And we finished off the reception crooning to Backstreet Boys. You'll notice how all the guys are terribly impressed:
Following the conclusion of the reception was more hanging out in the dark and cold on a porch drinking with the guys passing around cigars. It's a thing, apparently. It was good times, though, good times. And then I promptly spent the entirety of Sunday on planes and in airports hating myself for not taking the various opportunities throughout the night to do something about the major crush I'd developed on - okay, there were three single guys and I listed them above. I'm sure you can figure out which one it was.
Drunken making out would've been the perfect cap to this weekend but alas.
SUNDAY
So yeah. Sunday after breakfast, most of us headed to the airport to fly home and so ended a really fun and truly beautiful long weekend up in Montana. I left with great memories, a new appreciation of beautiful big sky country with no cell phone reception, the desire to go white water rafting again, and the urge to Not Be Single immediately. Possibly with this one dude I had really just met, so it's crazy, but he should call me maybe?
Dammit, weddings.
I also managed to be on the plane for the entirety of the Euro 2012 Spain-Italy final but FELICDADES ESPAÑA.
I was also thankful to get home and have power. So - just one regret this entire weekend. :) Not so bad. I'm working on that one too.