Sunday, August 5, 2012

Ain't No Place Like Montana!




This is our 5th day here in Kalispell Montana. I can't even begin to describe how beautiful this place is. We said goodbye to a couple of new friends in Washington. Some places are harder to leave than others, and I had trouble leaving that one. Traveling East on I 90 through Spokane. We did a 300 mile day through the tip of Idaho, and stopped in Missoula for the night. Up and going the next morning, we headed north up 93, stopping to see an awesome view of the Flathead. Nothing compares to topping the hill and laying eyes on Flathead Lake in the distance!On the way up the road, we stopped again because its Cherry season around here, and we needed Flathead Cherries to snack on right away! Yummy. The best cherries I have ever tasted.
 Our first night we had a wonderful short visit and dinner outing with Jim and Sandie, Escapee friends, that were staying in this park, getting ready to depart the next morning.We have taken some drives and ran around town getting reaquainted with where things are. Drove down the East side Flathead lake to a Cherry distributing facility. Bought a case of canned Cherries to have for the winter and drove down to Swan Lake yesterday in search of wildlife. We had lunch in a National Forest in Grizzly country, but didn't happen across any Grizzlies! Last year we saw a black bear in the ditch on the way to Swan Lake on the same highway. We did see a Doe with a spotted fawn, a peacock and some ground squirrels, so was not a wasted trip. The waters in the lakes are vivid blue. the trees are all so vivid green. That's the one thing about this valley that sticks in my memory, the brightness of the colors and the clean crisp air. It's easy to be here. This morning we headed south to Lakeside about 9:30 to partake in the early morning sights at the Lakeside Annual Antique and Classic Boat Show, We missed it last trip, and I read about it in a magazine. There's different classes of woodies..depending on when they were built. As we strolled around the docks, we visited with some great boat owners, they all have good stories and are very proud of their boats! There's some great activities to those attending, and tents and presentations by the sponsors. I liked several boats, one was built the year I was born...another was just recently built and I'm sure we couldn't afford that one. One was electric and had a green top and another was built with cherry wood. The Flathead Valley has a Montana Wooden Boat foundation, a non profit organization founded by wooden boat enthusiasts, boat builders, educators, business execs and cummunity leaders to engage and educate people of all ages about traditional wood boats, boat building and the wooden boating experience in general. It is to provide a hands on educational experience designed to help young people gain self confidence, skills and discipline needed to realize their full potential and become productive members of the community. They were raffling off two boats that the kids had built.  We had a great morning. As the sun sets tonight, I am planning another outing to visit a couple of Galleries of a Wood Carver, and the Models of  Log Homes that are being built from the ground up on the south end of town. Stay Tuned. More Nice weather on tap for the entire week ahead. I can't ask for a better August so far.

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