The Farewell Tour

Hey, y'all - 

We're just a few days away from your dad embarking on The Worst Business Trip Of All Time® .

As the date approaches, we've definitely been stressing family time, and taking little trips together whenever possible. Last weekend, we went for the two-night "Family Fun Package" at Fairmont Hot Springs. Two nights at the hotel plus swimming and water slide passes, with free hot chocolates and a bag full of pool noodles and beach balls and grain to feed the llamas. 

On our way to the resort in Anaconda, MT (not a joke), we stopped in the little mining town of Philipsburg because - and I bet you didn't know this - it's home to the greatest camera and photo equipment store in western Montana. If you didn't know about it, it's probably because it looks like this:

My old photography teacher described it as "Amazon meets 'Hoarders,'" and he was not wrong. 

You can find a $2,000 Canon camera body buried under a 1986 issue of Photo magazine. But somehow, it works. Philipsburg is also home to a 100+ year old candy store, which was more of interest to y'all.

It's been unseasonably warm here, which I am going to consider a gift vs. a symptom of catastrophic climate change. It's usually snowing by this time of year, but we didn't even have to wear coats on our trip.

 Your dad, explaining the super moon:

We drove to nearby Butte, because I had never been and wanted to check it out. That took all of 12 minutes, plus lunch. 

We discovered a playground at the back of the hotel on day #2, and Hagen yelled "Mom! MOM!! Take my picture so I can remember THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!" It didn't feel special enough to be the best day of your life, but that kind of thing is subjective. Also: you had been eating A LOT of candy. 

Fairmont Hot Springs has a water slide that's (I think) 6 stories tall. If you're under 50 inches tall, which Laney just barely is, you have to ride with an adult OR you can ride by yourself if you wear a life jacket. Laney said she'd prefer to ride with an adult, so your dad and I both rode it with her over and over again until I had to say "I'm forty! I've climbed 42 flights of stairs this afternoon! Leave me alone!" So Laney said, "I guess I'll just go get a life jacket, then." And she went to the life jacket bin, grabbed the one on top and sashayed on off into the distance, by herself. 

Your dad and I floated with Hagen there at the bottom of the slide, and Laney - over and over again - walked the length of the aquatic center by herself, climbed all 6 flights of stairs by herself, and then threw herself into that tube, only to swim to the side and do it again. 

At one point, we saw a woman a little older than me come screaming out of the tube, holding her nose. She surfaced, sputtering, and yelled at her husband "NO NO NO NO NO. Never again!" She looked at me and said, "I did not like that AT ALL." Her husband said, "We could tell, because we heard you screaming all the way down." "Hang on," I told her, "because you're about to see my 7 year-old come shooting out of that sumbitch."

Laney, you remain daring and fearless and independent, and I love it.

On the other hand, Hagen stopped a man getting onto the elevator and asked him, "Now, why are you wearing that bathing suit?" "Because," the man said, "I thought I'd go for a swim. Don't YOU like to go in the pool?" Hagen wagged his finger at the man and said, "Oh, nononononono." Hagen was more of a sit by the fire in the lobby and chat kind of guy. But he did like the animals. 

We got back on Sunday at 11am, and we were so wiped out that the whole family got in bed together and stayed there all day, watching movies on the iPad and snuggling. 

Beautiful time we'll remember forever. Pass the candy. 

Love,

Mom