Schroeder Shack

My time in Montana was restful, relaxing, and full of family memories in the making. My family has a ranch out there near Butte, with a small cabin where my Grandpa Chuck and his siblings were born and spent some childhood before they ended up in Lompoc. Recently, Dad's cousin Don Schroeder, bought some additional property near the cabin with a big hunting lodge. This is where we spent our time, it has 13 beds upstairs and down, to accomodate me, my folks, Aunt Susie + Alan + Julianne, as well as Laurel, Justin, Maddie and Ari. We also enjoyed meeting Jusin's younger sister, Tetra, for the first time. The landscape is beautiful and undisturbed. We enjoyed a long hike up to an old mining cabin, and some fishing and exploring. Julianne panned for gold in the creek, and we all enjoyed many outdoor fires roasting s'mores. I cooked a few pancake breakies, and we all learned how to conserve water as it must be hauled up from the creek. That means very limited use during dishwashing, and taking short showers in the amazing solar shower tent mom and dad set up on the deck. I have to say, taking an outdoor solar-bag warmed shower with nothing bewtween you and nature is very liberating and enjoyable. Extremely refreshing.
We made several trips into the surrounding towns of Butte, Billings, and Boulder for food, supplies and fireworks. It was wonderful to spend so much time with my family unhindered by work or any distractions like movies, phones, tv, or computers. I caught 3 small trout in the river with Dad, and 1 big fatty grasshopper in my hand for his bait box. There were many wandering cows to chase off the front grass area each morning, and lots of cow pies to avoid that they kindly left us. I got in a lot of reading, napping and shooting the breeze. We also scattered some of Chuck's ashes into the rose bushes of the small cabin. Susie and Mom assembled a cross from found wood and rusted coils. Dad sprinkled ashes on it so Papa Chuck could rest with his roots. They sprinkled more in the creek, and it was very beautiful.
I feel so lucky to have such a beautiful emotional family with a gorgeous retreat to visit together. Below are a fraction of the many pictures I took of the weeks good times.