Some families keep things close to home, but my family has been pretty spread out the past ten years. While sometimes I really wish we could see each other more, I’m really pumped that we’re all open to adventuring our own paths and going where we’ve been called. My brother and his wife live in Brooklyn. My Sister lives in Holland. There was a four year stint where I lived in California. And now my parents and Brett and I live in Texas (five hours apart). We don’t see each other a lot, so any time we have together is really special to me.

Nature and I don’t see each other much either. And when we do, it takes awhile for me to warm up to it. But give me time and I’ll fall in love with the smell of the mountains, the sound of absolute quiet, and the way the shadows of the trees change as the sun moves across the sky.

This year my parents took us to Montana because 1) I think they secretly just wanted to hang out with us, and 2) Because my sister just turned 40, and 40 is worth doing something epic for, and 3) they knew God really wanted to push me outside my “driving around mountain roads, right next to dangerous cliffs, doesn’t anyone remember how much I hate heights?” comfort zone.

This was seriously a fun and beautiful trip. We climbed waterfalls, hiked to hidden lakes, and stayed in a cozy cabin in White Fish. I could have stayed for days writing, reading, and writing, and reading. Maybe hiking, praying not to see any bears.

I love being a photographer, but sometimes, for me, it’s really freeing not to have a camera on vacation. So I only took my camera with me one day. A really FANTASTIC day to have it on me. No regrets. I LOVED being fully present on this trip. I loved learning why the heck glaciers look so much like mountains. I loved getting rained on and not caring if it messed up my hair.

10/10. Would Recommend. Can’t wait to go back.

Where’s an unexpected place you’ve considered going to for vacation?

P.S. We had considered going to Yosemite, but it’s a good thing we decided not to, because it was on fire and shut down most of the time we were in Montana. Not just a few weeks after we were in Montana, Glacier National Park was ALSO shut down because of fires. Somehow we managed to hit a good window of fire-less time. Some of the pictures you’ll see are places the fire in Montana directly impacted.

P.P.S. I mixed in a few iphone photos there for you at the end. I really love what my Canon Rebel photographed, but we had a few more iphone pics roll in once we all combined our phone pictures.