July 12 - Taking it easy in Big Sky

Here is a day taking it easy in Big Sky: (1) Get up at the lazy hour of 7 AM. Make coffee. Eat light breakfast. Retrieve running clothes from the Prius, where, on the roof, I find FROST from the radiative cooling of the previous night. It's July 12...frost! But the day portends warmth as the intense sun rises over the Gallatins. The sky is clear and as blue as any sky you've seen. Need some exercies, so (2) I don running clothes and set out down the gravel path along the golf course, only to find that the watering guns are spraying full tilt, wetting the path and blocking my way. So I turn left, following the narrow horse path up the draw to the north of the valley. And I do mean up. The path rises about 500 feet in less than a mile, and at this elevation (ca. 6000'), I am huffing, and my heart is threatening to burst through my ribs. OK so I stopped and walked 50 yds a couple of times. My heart still raced, but I did run most of 1.5 miles or so to the high meadow where the stunning wildflowers pulled me up short. Bluebells, columbine, wild pink onion, larkspurs, yellow composites, cinquefoils, potentillas, lupines, and 30 or 40 other species were in full flower. After 15 minutes of wandering through this splendour and suddenly realizing I also had a tremendous view of Lone Peak, I turned to run back into the valley. I was in such a great mood that I ran very fast, managing to avoid turning an ankle on one of the many rocks and horse hoofprints along the trail. Oh, and all of this was done to some of my favoirte music on the tiny ipod shuffle I often carry while running.

I was back by 10:30, just in time to do 30 minutes of Namaste Yoga. Interesting, I found it much easier after running than it is when I first wake up in the morning, my usual time to do it. I guess after a run, I've jolted loose some muscle fibers that make twisting and stretching of Yoga easier.

By then, Colin and Chelsea were up, so it was time to play tennis. We played 3 sets of tennis on the courts located a short 1/2 mile down the road. They had improve a lot since I last played with them. It was great fun, and Kevin and Laurie joined in, Kevin nursing his ACL-repaired knee and being very careful not to twist it.

After eating a late lunch, Kevin and I headed up to the resort where they were having a brew and brat fest, along with several live music acts. The music was a mixture of bluegrass, rockabilly, and some old dude from the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The atmosphere was great. THe music, well, let's just say Porcupine Tree it ain't. But there were some nice guitar licks and the brews made the music go down easier.

So there's my relaxing day in Big Sky. The picture shows the stage they had set up, and Kevin bringing a sample of the local brews.

I'm really looking forward to the next 3 days, when we're heading to Yellowstone on a camping expedition. So the blog will be dormant until Tuesday evening, but I hope to have a few images to share with you then from our adventure.