Lucy's Softball Tournament, Missoula Sunday

The team had a bye in the first round on Sunday.  This was an exciting game.  Lots of great plays and a unique strategy at the end of the game to extend it so Lucy's team had one more opportunity to score and win!  The Explosion runner on first base left early on purpose to end the inning before the time ran out for the game.  Another inning was played. 

Several pictures of Lucy at bat! Lucy got one hit in this game. 

This was a different field.  What a setting!!!!  Beautiful. 

Lucy and her cheering section. 

Not sure what was going on here.  Time out for something.  Love this picture with the flag flying in the background.  

Unfortunately the Explosion did not win this game.  They did great.  They played against 18U teams.  They beat the team on Saturday that won the tournament on Sunday.  Mike and I just love watching Lucy play softball.  She is talented. The Lathrop girls are both talented.  We will be watching the next tournament on the Game Changer app. Thanks for having us!!!

 

Lucy's Softball Tournament in Missoula Saturday

We arrived home from our anniversary trip on Friday late afternoon.  Saturday morning at 6 AM we headed to Missoula, Montana to watch Lucy play softball with her new team, USA Explosion16U Premier:Thompson.  Lucy's last tournament was in Kansas and her next is in California.  This was our chance to see her play.  The field on Saturday was different.  The coaches were removing weeds before the game started.  Classic. 

Game time!! 

This was the first of two games.  

Here is a hit!!!!  

I always think I am going to remember what I am taking a picture of.  I don't.  I looked back on game changer and she had two hits in this game.  This is the second hit.  I like game changer. 

Game number two!  This ball whizzed over Lucy's head. Nice duck! Lucy hit a home run in this game and they won 7-1.  

After the games we headed to the Lolo Creek Steak house.  There was a really, really long wait but Lucy came prepared.  Cards!!

Lolo Creek Steak House.  A very unique atmosphere.  

Lots of animals to look at.  

Great food surrounded by family.  So much food!!!  I am sure we could have made two meals out of the food.  

Lucy topped the meal off with a huge dessert.  We were all invited to share it with her.  Family time is a gift!  So precious to spend time together!!!   

Thursday, our Last Day on our Anniversary Trip .

We had such great memories of Twisp when we were there in 2016.  We decided to go again.  Twisp is about 15 miles from Winthrop.  This was a bakery we went to in 2016.  Mike had a huge cinnamon roll. No more cinnamon rolls but they did have cinnamon twists.  We both passed on having a twist. There was really nothing else to look at or to do in Twisp.  The reason it was so fun last time was because it was the 4th of July.  A parade and streets filled with people.  We sort of forgot about that.  We didn't stay long.  

We did go to a grocery store.  Franks was the name of the store.  Frank sold it to Rosauers.  I had never seen so many animals in a grocery store or anywhere for that matter.  There had to be over 40 animals of all different kinds. Yes, that is a lion!

I learned later that the previous owner of the store, Frank, hunted every one of these animals.  He even went on African Safaris.  I didn't take picture of everything obviously.  Hopefully, Rosauers won't take them down.  They are a part of the history of the area.  

I finished of the day with a short walk over the suspension bridge right by the inn we were staying in. 

Not sure what that door leads to but I didn't investigate.  

That's all for our 25th anniversary trip to Winthrop and the North Cascades Loop in Washington!  We had a good time and it was very relaxing.  We met a great couple from England at breakfast one morning.  We talked to them about our faith and they shared the same with us. It was a divine encounter.  Thank you Jesus!  

 

Road trip along the North Cascades Highway.  Our first stop was Mazama.  I wouldn't call it a town, more like an area.  There is a great bike/hiking trail that goes through Mazama.  There was a big store with all kinds of things in it.  Food, clothes, etc. There was also a sports store where you could rent bikes or pay a lot of money for sporting clothes.  Maybe there are houses somewhere but this was our second visit to Mazama and we have seen no houses.  Of course we didn't go exploring.  

The outside of the store had a coffee shop. 

This is the rode we came in on.  We are on our way out in this picture.  

Here we go.  Majestic mountains as far as you can see. 

Notice how small the cars are at the bottom right of the picture.  

This highway is long and windy.  I am standing on the edge of a cliff basically.  See the rocks.  I did not get close enough to look over the edge.  Those rocks might not be stable. You can see the road in the distance. 

A waterfall trickled down this mountain. 

Mike is in his element.  Looking for wildlife. 

We stopped at a overlook.  There was a nice path that headed to some great scenery.  

I circled the cars on the road below the mountain.  These mountains are huge.

We were looking for a Diablo Lake that we had visited in 2016.  The color of the lake is green and it is surrounded by beautiful forest.  We couldn't remember the name of the lake so we never found it.  When we got back to Winthrop I searched green lake in North Cascades.  Diablo came up, and we found it on a map.  We didn't go up far enough on the highway.

Dinner was next.  We went to a local restaurant.  Great food and we were being watched the whole time by animals.  

We needed to walk off dinner and found a trail close by.  

We both looked at this picture and said, "Boy we look old!" Ha!

We walked a couple of miles on this nice trail.  It was a great way to end the evening.  God's creation is amazing and glorious!  We love being in the creation God made for us.