Montana is a Big State

We drove for what seemed like days, but was really just one really long day and a little…Montana is no tiny state. It is a big Western territory with all sorts of varied topography, geology, and character. And some very impressive scenery and fun towns, to boot.


We left our little cabin this morning after a visit by four beautiful loons and got a killer-great breakfast at the Montana Coffee Trading Company in Columbia Falls—truly D-Lish. We had a little biznes to conduct and managed to download what we needed while chowing down—and we forgot some things so poached more internet from a hotel in Kalispell (a little road-trip trick of the trade) before heading south along Flathead Lake. There was a pretty good fire raging somewhere west of Polson and we saw all the fire crew staging areas and lots of backcountry fire equipment out and about—this is a unique high-country concern. I think people who live outside of fire-prone areas fail to appreciate how much fire and fighting fire influences the way of life in the American west. Take a fire-evolved ecosystem, add people and houses, and you’ve got some issues.

At any rate, our travels took us to Missoula (for more biznes and a romp at the bark park for the 4-legged), Butte (for some spectacular landscape and crazy mountain pass driving), Bozeman (for chow and some leg stretchin’), and Billings (for…well, we didn’t stop—it smelled bad), before crossing into Wyoming and landing at our hotel. Note to self: do not stay at the Best Western in Buffalo, Wyoming. The people were nice, the hotel sucked. Our 189 bones (!) got us a dingy motel room next to the ice machine, with a leaky toilet, cigarette-burned bedding, paper thin walls, and no sleep...and internet was out of the question! Yee-hah! We’re just grateful we didn’t get bedbugs. Yuck. Lesson learned: we did some internet searching and are off to a better place at a lower price tonight.


To end on a high note: we picked up a SWEET beer kozy for the start of our collection today…it has bitchin’ flames!

Glacier National Park

Spoiler: The Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of the most stunning roads in America.


Story: We got to the entrance of Glacier National Park a little later than expected and joined the line-up of cars waiting to get in. Sadly, the Park Service has a no-win mandate: serve millions of visitors without making an impact to the landscape, on a pittance of a budget. Well, cynicism aside, it was our lucky day. We were waved right through the entrance--because the line was so long, the gate-keepers had to wave people through to get it slimmed down. While I was feeling quite lucky that we were let in free, it does make me a little sad that our car, as well as probably hundreds of others, got in without having to pay their dues, dues the Park Service is highly reliant upon for their operations. Okay, there’s some more negativity, which I will now abandon because we had a truly spectacular day.


We drove up to the Logan Pass visitor center via the Going-to-the-Sun Road upon entering. This drive is a bit harrowing, but takes you along the Flathead River where a hair-pin turn sends you several thousand feet upward around more crazy turns with amazing vistas in all directions! We had a lot of photo stops and I couldn’t help but notice the temperature plunging with each turn. By the time we got up to Logan Pass (at the Continental Divide and over 6,000’) it was a chilly 48 degrees F, with the wind blowing steadily and freezing the bejeezus out of my bare legs…as the doofus of the day, I had failed to bring pants. I donned all my jackets, fleecy things, a hat, and socks and shoes (blasphemy in summer!), and we headed up the Hidden Lake trail…along with hundreds of our best friends. We had planned to do the more off-the-beaten-track Garden Wall hike, but the noon-hour and the frigid weather made us reconsider the 11 miles or so. We got great views and saw lots of wildlife anyway, all without going hypothermic.



Of course there needs to be some mention of the charismatic megafauna, with some old goats making a grand appearance (and a baby goat too). And we saw some ground squirrels, marmots, and other little beasties of undetermined provenance. Fun! Even more impressive though, is the geology in the park. Basically my knowledge of geology stops at the major rock types: sedimentary, igneous, and…what’s that other one? But, I sure would have loved to have known a bit about what I was seeing—I guess there’s always the internet.


We headed down from Logan Pass and out the east side of the park, passing some grand attractions like the World’s Largest Wooden Spoon Shop and enjoyed some huckleberry pie at one roadside stop claiming they had the best (rarely do these claims pan out, but this was some respectable pie, even if not truly superlative!).



We made one last stop for dinner at the Isaak Walton Hotel before heading home for some more relaxation at the cabin, where the heartier of us capped off the night with a dark-sky dip in the lake and some adult beverages and we all watched a little bit of the Perseid meteor shower filling the clear Montana sky!

Little Cabin in the Woods

We made our way from Spokane through Idaho to Montana via the scenic route (US 2, that would be). There were lots of hairpin turns and hydroelectric projects and I think I may have found the river where Kokanee comes from (the beer, not the fish), but overall it was a pleasant drive through some moderately sized mountains and some good side stops like Kootenai Falls (also known to us as Kootenanny Falls). This was a great little leg-stretcher complete with a walk out to a Swinging Bridge that is not for the faint of heart, but makes for a great photo op!


I remember the passes on I-90 being more impressive the last time I did this trip, but perhaps the snow and icy roads just made it seem so. This time is was pretty agreeable, weather-wise, if not bright and sunny—but we were grateful for the sake of our four-legged buddy.


We arrived at our little cabin in the woods, on Spoon Lake just outside of Glacier National Park’s SW side. It was all I could get on 3 days notice, but damn, it was perfect! Except that I locked the keys inside the cabin not 10 minutes after arriving and we soon had to retrace our steps for half an hour to find the owner and retrieve a second key (thankfully she was only a short way into her long drive south, so met us in Kalispell). This afforded us the opportunity to pick up our fishing licenses and some flies and load up on some of the best American-Mexican food Columbia Falls, Montana has to offer! Yum.

So, we did get back to the cabin in time to launch the Old Town and take her for a spin! We headed down the lake and found a small cove with all sorts of funky algae and probably a seep or two, as the water was quite a bit colder than in the other parts of the lake (granted, my lacustrine ecology is paltry at best, but it seems to make sense with the algae).


We also saw a beautiful loon that let us drift to within 20 feet or so—all the while calling in that hauntingly beautiful way that only loons can. It was magnificent! Picture taking in low light from a canoe is a formidable challenge, but I did my best (not nearly up to the standards of the ornithologists I know, but good enough for now). We saw a few more loons and also some small beavers who let us know we were too close with some fierce tail-slaps! They made us laugh!
Basically, this is the best place we could have asked for! And we’re about 15 minutes from the park entrance via dirt roads, my favorite way to get anywhere! It always reminds me of trips on the Basin Road and that makes me happy.

And We're Off...

Finally after much preparation, some tears, and forgetting a bunch of to-dos we hit the road, Eastward Ho! We crossed the Hood Canal Bridge and took the Bainbridge ferry, waving to our friends as we drove down the Island. Upon docking at the Coleman Dock, there was no doubt we were in Seattle: gray skies and some sort of liquid sunshine. We took a deep breath and a long last view of the great city, giving a fond farewell to all our friends and family, before setting the Grey Goose on the course east...there was some temptation to take in the ballgame, but we persevered. Perhaps the drizzly skies made it easier to leave it all behind.


Of course, east of the Cascades the sun was shining and the Grey Goose cruised along, laden with all our worldly possessions and everything.


One member of the clan didn't seem so thrilled with her lot in life, despite the fact that she probably had more square footage for her size than either of us. But she seemed to adapt fine with each new sniff and stop. And when we rolled into Spokavegas and settled in to our hotel, she seemed more than obliged to snuggle up and watch some Olympics with us.

We're all looking forward to our next few days relaxing on Spoon Lake just outside Glacier National Park, decompressing and focusing our attention forward .

The Saline Canine, Exemplified

The Salty One had quite a day at the beach. I think she was glad her Papa was home. She pulled out her puppy-like obsessiveness and chased her ball like there was no tomorrow. Personally, I was most proud of her gung-ho wave jumping. I was damned and determined early in this dog’s life to make her like the water (she did not like the water and liked waves even less). She decided this was her day and caught a few good freighter waves, even taking one in the ear which left her with a funny cocked-headed expression—though it was nothing a little full-body shake couldn’t get rid of.


One of this pup’s most endearing qualities is her ability to entertain herself. My wise aunt once told me that she admires sea otters because they play well into adulthood. Well, this little furry beast should be added to that class. Sometimes it’s rolling around on the rug making funny noises, but today it was kick-and-pounce with the ball. We watched as she repeatedly chased and batted her tennis ball up and down the sand. She’d kick it soccer-style, run after it, and pounce on it, whereby she’d knock it one direction or the other and twist herself in circles trying to figure out where it went so she could pounce on it again…and this went on for quite some time, cracking us up with every iteration!




Thankfully, although we’re leaving this beautiful beach behind, we’ll soon be established near a different one. One of the reasons…okay, perhaps the most salient reason…for working in the marine realm is that it guarantees the opportunity to live and work in fantastic places and the utter avoidance of places well, landlocked. I’m a happy tourist to New Mexico, Switzerland, and even Idaho, but I’ll take life on the coastal edge any day of the week. Looks like the pup will too!

Unemployment Just Isn’t That Fun

Okay, maybe that statement needs some explanation.

I was figuring my last week on the Peninsula to be full of Olympic wildflowers, beach walks, maybe some crabbing, and lots of visits to the local haunts I have come to know and love over the last few years—and mostly no work. I guess I neglected to consider that picking up and packing up all of our worldly goods would take considerable time and energy. Ugh. Work. Just in a different form. And frankly, I would have been happier underwater, even in the Columbia River.

We did fit in some prolonged goodbyes, a round of golf at the local duffers course, time at the pub, lots of Elevated Ice Cream and of course one last wonderful stroll on the beach with our furry buddy. And that furry, salty buddy must have known something was up because she partied like it was 1999 (and then didn’t want to stand up the next day…getting old sucks). But that part of our week probably deserves its own post.

The bottom line is, packing up is hard to do. But with the Grey Goose all shined up, tuned, up and packed up, I guess we did it.

Bzzzzzzzzzz

The Hawaiian guy must have brought the good weather—finally we’re into summer. In Port Townsend, when shorts and a t-shirt are comfortable, you know it’s warm—in fact our little household weather station registered 81 degrees F the other day. I’m no Joe Cupo, but that’s hot, especially for Port Townsend.

Besides being thrilled that it’s been comfortable to be in summer duds, I’m also thrilled that the nice sunny daytime weather has brought the bees to our lavender (which is finally fully abloom) in droves! Tons of bees. Bees of several species, drinking themselves silly in some sort of Bacchanalian celebration of the nectar. I’m jealous.

Every year I look forward to this annual event. Bees are industrious. For this reason they are super difficult to photograph. But I tried and here’s my tribute to these stunning creatures, going about their business, and doing their part to turn the sweet lavender nectar into delicious honey.