Tball Rocks

playing under the mountains! mt barnably is the peak to the right.

skiing barnaby

our place from the summit of mt barnaby

 our view from camp cuffe is inspired by therriault pass, flanked by mt barnaby, at 6,803 feet and mt gilbralter, 7,131feet, to the right. barnaby burned in a fire about 10 years ago.
the namesake of the the mountain was jack barnaby, a quarter breed colville trapper and packer, who was tall and strong, about 6 feet 1 inch, 190 pounds and dark complected. he could speak french as well as indian. he lived at "kansas johnny's meadow" on glen lake. barnaby also had cabins at wolverine lake, paradise lake and weasel lake.
this guy knew all the good places!
in the fall of 1904, he finished a thanksgiving dinner with the rich family and set off up the indian creek trail to his usual trapping grounds. he was a lone wolf, so no one suspected anything was amiss until his little dog appeared, half-starved, one day in july. a search party was organized. dan shea and lou babcock found jack barnaby's body at the foot of a steep cliff. it was determined that he had been cought in an avalanche, pinned down, and had died of starvation.
deputy sherriff george rich and justice of the peace john cuffe (jo and lo's great, great grandfather) went up, and seeing it was useless to attempt to move the badly decomposed body, wrapped him in a blanket and buried him beside the trail, as he no doubt would have wished.
in the spirit of a man who loved these mountains as much as we do, we climbed mt barnaby.

my classic summit pose, i love the mountaintops!   ksanka is behind me to the west on the ridge.

looking across therriault pass behind me to the east.  incredible view into canada.

skiing the backyard,  not too bad.

heading up the big face. 

feeding ducks from the foot bridge in whitefish

big mountain birthday party

johanna going off jumps in her dancing dress.

turner mountain crazy days

johanna's first time skiing top to bottom at turner!!

logan needed a litttle help from dad to launch his balloon.

the irish cuffe men (and jim)

johanna getting ready to launch a green water balloon to paint turner green!

 

custer's last stand

"Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument memorializes one of the last armed efforts of the northern plains indians to preserve their ancestral way of life.  here in the valley of the little bighorn river on two hot june days in 1876, more than 260 soldiers and attached personnel of the u.s. army met defeat and death at the hands of several thousand lokota and cheyenne warriors. among the dead were lt. co.l george armstrong custer and every member of his immediate command.  although the indians won the battle, they subsequently lost the war against the military's efforts to end their independent, nomadic way of life."

great for lettling everyone get out some energy on a long roadtrip.

colorado cousins, doing their thing

josh's soccer photography by johanna.

the montana kiddos' first skyscraper, downtown denver.  we made it to the 48th floor and looked out.  logan was standing on the window sill, while johanna was so overwhelmed by her first look down, from that dizzying height, that she would only look out from across the room!

thank you aunt dana, the hostess with the mostess (and stashes of the best kid toys ever!)