On June 19th, 2007, we embarked on a 3+ week vacation that took us through 14 states! We decided to take an Amtrak train from Denver, Colorado through Chicago and on to Albany, New York (2 nights, parts of 3 days). Then we spent 5 days in upstate NY visiting Mike's family and attending his youngest cousin's graduation from High School. We took a day trip to Massachusettes and Vermont whilst in NY. We then got back on another Amtrak train back through Chicago and then up to Northwest Montana. Mike spent 1 week in Montana, Erin and Jacob spent an extra 4 days there. We all flew home on a non-stop flight to Denver. It was a long and crazy trip, so of course the photos are split up into sub-sections:

• The first set of pics was taken over the first 3 days we spent on the train to New York. Keep in mind that many of these photos may seem somewhat repetitive, but I tried to capture the general feel of what you see when you take a long train trip.
• The second set was taken during our 5 day visit to upstate New York, mostly shots of Mike's family and their friends.
• The third set takes us back on the train, this time taking the Northern route out of Chicago on up into Montana. Again, much like the first set, you may not be that excited to view all the photos, however the bunch at the end are of the Glacier National Park area - a wonderful experience on the train!
• The fourth set of pics are the "general" photos we shot while in Montana. Mostly shots of Erin's family, as well as some local scenery shots too. Also you'll see the annual Bigfork, Montana Fourth of July Parade...a real slice of Americana.
• The fifth set is from a day hike that Mike and Jacob took on top of the Continental Divide in at the top of Going-To-The-Sun Road in Glacier National Park. The hike was a 3 mile, roundtrip hike to a hidden lake appropriately named Hidden Lake. There was a lot more snow on the trail than expected, but also a lot more wildlife than expected. Be prepared to see many Mountain Goats (within a few feet of the trail if not on it!), along with some absolutely beautiful scenery. The hike took place on July 3rd.
• The sixth set of photos come mostly from the back seat of a Piper Saratoga also known as Zackary Air...a little sightseeing trip of Flathead Lake, a flyby or two of the Zackary at the lake, over to Swan Lake, Hungry Horse Lake, and the Western edge of Glacier National Park (including Lake McDonald). Mostly for the scenery nuts out there, many of the photos are a bit hazy (very tricky shooting through a tiny plane window) but some amazing stuff nonetheless!
• And finally, the last set of course is another round of sunset photos taken from the deck of the Zackary house at the lake. The photos were taken on several different evenings (note the date in the name of the photos if you're wondering) and I'll be honest - many will look alike, but I just couldn't shelve too many of these shots as many of them are stunning - and even the slightest differences in the photos may affect your appreciation of the shots. Again, these are mostly for the scenery (specifically of course, sunset) nuts!

And please do remember to check back in a occasionally as I hope to add a few features to this set of vacation photos - like custom Google Maps of our train trips and the scenic flight with the ability to view the pictures based on our physical location when the photo was shot. It will take some time for me to get it together, but it will be worth it if you're a technofile like myself!

A few notes about browsing through the pages: Click on any thumbnail to see the full picture. To come back to this page, simply click the "Summer 2007 Home" link that you'll see at the bottom of any thumbnail page. Enjoy!