Other pictures from Mt. Baker

A beautiful stream running by the road on the way up the mountain.

This waterfall was AMAZING. Huge amounts of water falling over these rocks!

The gang, minus the photographer...

Monday July 6th - Mt. Baker Washington

Driving up to Mount Baker was very scenic -- even though it was misty and gray most of the day! As we were driving - this was one of the scenes that caught my eye! How pretty!


This was a pretty little water fall on the side of the road.



As we approached the height that we would be able to travel to - the mistiness got thicker & we were literally in the clouds!

We got to a parking lot just past the ski lodge where we could go no higher. If you look up on this mountain - you can see the snow plow still trying to clear some of the roads!

Road Closed

The snow was very hard! But Darwin & Amie definitely had some fun with a snow ball fight. Tim was wearing shorts and decided to stay in the van!

She was pretty pleased with herself - and her throwing of the snowball at Daddy!

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Ut Oh - now she's aiming for me!!

SHE GOT ME!!

Darwin about hit another vehicle with one of his snowballs!

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Time to climb! Bye Dad!!

No snowmen this year in our snow fight in July! This snow was SOLID!

Another snowball??!!

Hi Mom! Hi Grandma! Hi Timmy!

Sunday July 5th - drive into Canada

None of the Miller Clan had been to Canada - so Sunday we decided to drive up there and just look around!
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Going through the border was interesting.......did you know that Mace spray & Pepper spray are banned in Canada?? Of all the odd things....we could carry a gun, just had to declare it. But we couldn't carry pepper spray (not that we had any, but just seemed odd)!


At the border that we crossed at, is Peace Arch Park. In the center of the park is this large white structure. On the US side (going into Canada) it states: "Brethren Dwelling together in Unity".

On the Canada side (going into the US) it states: "Children of a Common Mother".

And in the entrance area it states: "May these gates never be closed"

There were two large flower gardens - one on each end. This one was in the shape & design of the Canadian Flag.

And on the other end the one shaped and designed like the American Flag.

This is what sitting in customs looks like....which is why they have the park! Lots of people had more then enough time to walk around and take pictures while they waited to get through customs!

This was an interesting little structure - all four sides had something etched into it.

Here is the official border...

Just before we crossed back into the US - we stopped at the duty free shopping store - lots of liquor...and a few other items!

It was a nice drive - especially since we were in Western Canada (British Columbia) - lots of hills and some mountains. Not a ton of noteworthy things. They had McDonald's, Wal-mart, and probably tons of other stores I associate as USA stores. They even had a Pier 1, that seemed kind of funny.

We ate at a little restaurant by a mall, then came back to the condo!

Miller Vacation 2009 - Westward bound!

Our Trip out West 2009!
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We left on Thursday July 2nd....and drove for three days!!

Day one started at 5am - on the road by 6am. We drove from Galesburg to Sturgis. Sturgis is just past Rapid City (Mt. Rushmore). The driving is pretty mundane for the most part. There are the badlands, and some early foothills.....other than that....not much to see!
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Day Two we drove from Sturgis to Coeur D'Alene Idaho. Western Montana & Idaho are absolutely gorgeous! I love the rivers winding right next to the Highway. It always reminds me of my Dad. The first time I saw it, I started crying, thinking that my father probably loved that exact same stretch of road! If you have never been to western Montana & Idaho (especially just east of Coeur D'Alene - it is a feast for the eyes!
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By Day Three we were exhausted! We were going to drive up through Canada to get to Blaine....but we just wanted to get there by Saturday morning! So, we took the quickest, straightest route (is there a straight route going through the mountains?)

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We arrived at our condo around 3pm!! Those were three long days!

In South Dakota, there is a place called "Al's Oasis". It is part way across the flat state of South Dakota. Al's Oasis is a good restaurant, and has a few little stores in it...a good place to stretch your legs after a long drive!

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We stopped at Al's Oasis when we brought the boys out to Mt. Rushmore several years earlier - so planned on stopping this trip as well. We tried to get a few touristy pictures, but Amie wasn't super cooperative!

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Above she is sitting on a saddle in the lobby - by the way - notice the lovely job she did on her bangs!!

Tim is always our ham! I'll have to compare this picture to the ones I have when he was younger at the same spot!

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Amie only wanted pictures on her terms....no one elses!!

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Amie taking a picture of Grandma!
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Amie not wanting to pose for the camera! Grandma and Tim!

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and of course....what would a vacation be without an incident or two?! First Darwin begins feeling sick mid-way through Saturday. It appears he's trying to pass a stone again!!

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Then our little Baby Boo-Boo bumped her head pretty hard on the coffee table at the condo!!

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Oh boy!! Let's hope the rest of the time goes better!

Baby Boo Boo

We are going to rename Amie....Her new name is Baby Boo Boo! Or Boo Boo Baby!!
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Although she tells us it's "Amie Owie"...that's cute too!
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We're in Washington & Miss Ball of Energy is even more energetic then normal.....probably because of our three days of inactivity (riding in the van)!
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So what does she do...she falls onto the corner of the coffee table! Talk about bleed!! Darwin grabs her and says, "it's bad. It's bad"!! I went into panic mode!! I couldn't find a towel or wash cloth (since we had just gotten here!)
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Eventually we got the bleeding stopped & got her to hold ice on it & it didn't look as bad!
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But when she stood up, she couldn't walk at first! She got her bearings, and we kept an eye on her. Turns out she's got a hard noggin!!

The actual cut was tiny enough to be covered with a little bandaid!

Railroad Days

I have a few posts that I need to get made - have tried to get some pictures on here while we've been driving - but not real successful. I'm using the Verizon thingy that lets you use a phone connection to connect the laptop to internet....I think anyway. Anyway, it's not as reliable as a home connection.

Here's one of my favorite pictures from railroad days. Although would have been perfect if Kylee were looking at me! But considering I had to try to catch them both looking & still enough to capture, since I didn't have the camera - only the camera on the phone -- it's not too shabby!!

I might have time tonight to load some pictures!! It's been a couple of super long days of riding in a vehicle!