My Montana Walk

This is Tucker, he's obviously a pug. He's the
first pug that I had known, although my mother
now has one as well. They have no face and
no neck but they are nice dogs.

After a few days in Kansas with my mother, the two of us flew out to Montana for my niece's graduation from pharmacy school at the University of Montana. After a flight from hell (thanks to United Airlines), we arrived a day later than planned but still in time for the planned events. My sister lives in Helena and we had the chance to get away for a walk up Mount Helena with her two dogs, Tucker and Timber.

This is Timber, a golden retriever. He and Tucker are the same
age, nine years old. 

Once we were up on the trails the dogs could go off leash.
Timber stuck very close but I feel like I've got nothing to do
unless I'm holding a leash so mostly I kept him on leash
although I did drop it occasionally to let him just drag it around.

It's spring and there were a lot of
wildflowers in bloom. I won't attempt to
name them because I can't, but they are part
of Montana's beauty this time of year.

It wasn't hot out, but my sister carried water
for the dogs.

Being a pug, Tucker has short little
legs, but he kept up very well. We
didn't set any speed records anyway.

From this view, Mount Helena sort of looks like a smaller version of Half Dome.  It is essentially
an urban park, accessible from neighborhoods and full of trails.
Our hike this day was about 3.5 miles; we did not walk all the way to the top.

Montana is so beautiful -- the mountains, the air, and even the people. The hiking opportunities are endless and the scenery never gets boring. I would have loved to spend more time there but work and responsibilities on the home front only allowed for a quick trip this time. I'm back home now dealing with my usual post-vacation depression. That's partly just coming down from a vacation high back to the reality of daily life. Everyone in my family is so successful that I feel like an under-achiever in comparison, feeling that my life's potential isn't being realized fully, while imagining that everyone else's is. It takes a while to get back into the routine before things return to normal.