Nothing like a weekend of hiking and burning

Well, Steph and I decided that after all of our hiking last weekend we decided that we should keep it up and hike more so that we don't waste all of that hard work and get in a little better shape. We hiked the M (a huge 'M' made out of white rocks laid out on the southern side of the Bridger Mountain range that the whole valley can see) one night and went on a nice walk another night.

Over this most recent weekend we decided to go somewhere not too far away and not too strenuous. We hiked to Lava Lake, which is a lake on the northern end of the Spanish Peaks, an area of mountains just north of Big Sky, and about 20 minutes south of Bozeman. It is 3 miles one way and gains 1600' in elevation from the trail head to the lake. The trail doesn't stop going up until you get to the lake, but it is gradual and spread out over the 3 miles instead of concentrated over a short distance. The lake is beautiful and has a number of 10000' peaks surrounding it. I took some pictures, but I'll have to post them later. We spent about 30 minutes just sitting in the sun and enjoying the view and a few Rice Krispies treats.

That night we watched Peter Pan which, as one of the comments at imdb.com says, "Not too bad, worth renting". Which is what I originally thought when I saw previews for it. I didn't want to chance it while spending too much at the theater, but I enjoyed watching it at home for only a few bucks. It certainly wasn't a great movie, but it was cute. I think kids would certainly like it.

On Sunday we floated the Madison River. A girl I know from work, Christie, was going with a group of her friends and invited us along. We didn't really know anyone but it's hard not to have a good time floating on an inner tube (or raft) for 3.5 hours under the sun. That is, of course, until later that night when you notice the red streaks all over your body. I was really good with sunscreen, but not good enough. I'm going to be toasty for a little while, though I hope I'll be fine by next weekend when I hope to be sunning and swimming in Matt's pool in Apple Valley. After floating we went to Christie's house for a BBQ, and to play some games. It was fun and interesting to hang out with a group of people we didn't know at all, just to watch how they interact and what kind of things interested the group.

Then last night we watched Love Actually. It was cute and good, I enjoyed it, I am definitely not above watching a "chick flick". Steph had seen it before and really likes it.

Now back to work!