Happy Birthdays and Damn Dogs

Chad and I lucked out that our birthdays fall one day apart from each other, super easy to remember. Each year, we try to do something special on our birthdays to celebrate. A couple years ago we went to a nice restaurant in Boulder (one of Chad's patients is the owner of the restaurant we went to and he bought us a nice bottle of wine and saved us an amazing and hard to come by table on the patio- we felt like the superstars we are not). Last year, Chad was in Montana and I was in Colorado, so it was only logical to meet in Wyoming for a quick car camping trip in the Big Horn Mountains. How could we forget this memorable Chad moment?:



Ahh, that is my outdoorsy husband on a Wyoming camping trip with his... suitcase?

This year has been pretty hectic with getting the house ready for baby and dealing with crazy Montana weather, so we just wanted a low key weekend. Friday, we cooked a nice meal and there was something for each of us:

Chad had cupcakes




Beckie had steak



On Saturday, we packed a lunch and headed to the Little Belts for a nice relaxing picnic. The Little Belts is a mountain range 40 miles west of town. It was a gorgeous morning, a little warm for my taste though:



First we had to pass through the tollgate:





Weave through some Montana traffic:



We followed the Yogo Creek to find the perfect spot for our picnic. All of the camping spots were filled up when we drove by, so we were going to have to get creative and find a place to park and hike down to the creek. After a few minutes of driving, we finally found a suitable place. We parked the car, grabbed our picnic goodies and oh yeah, set the dogs free to run around. Yup, we made the mistake of taking our dogs on our quiet, relaxing picnic. What were we thinking? When I think of traveling with our dogs, relaxing is not a term that comes to mind and this time was no different.

During the summers, the cows rule Montana mountain ranges. Ranchers can lease land from private owners or the state and move their cattle to the mountains for summer grazing. Well, naturally, the cows in the mountains come with cow poop that is left in the mountains. Lots of cow poop. After setting the dogs free, they took off across a field towards the creek. Grace went one way. Ty went another. Chad and I were battling the sworm of flies and trying to hurry our way down to the creek. All of sudden, Ty drops his head and smears his entire right side of his body in a fresh pile of cow poop. Of course, I freak out and called him off. My initial thought was "Well buddy, you are NOT coming home with us. It was nice knowing you, but have fun out here in the wilderness." Then I thought, "What the (bleep) are we going to do to get this cow poop out of this dog's fur?" Then I hear Chad yelling at Grace. I look over and Grace is chowing down on cow poop. Again, we wonder, hmmm can we just leave the dogs out here?

After our fleeting thoughts of living a dog free life pass us by, Chad takes action by putting Ty in the creek and washing as much poop off of him as possible and Grace drinks about 5 minutes of water to wash down her mid-day snack. Here is Ty, he looks pretty proud of himself:



After that fiasco, we headed back to the car to move our picnic elsewhere. We finally found a campsite right by the creek that was open and was a peaceful spot for our birthday picnic. Here is Chad at our picnic spot by the Yogo Creek:



Ty was banished to the car after he tried to run off, probably in search of more poop to roll around in. Grace found a cool spot in the dirt and shade to relax:



Chad and I finished eating our picnic lunch (which was delicious) and went home to give our damn dogs a much needed bath.