We woke up this morning still sore, still tired and George
still with one heck of a boo-boo. We got on the road and started driving toward
Great Falls, Montana. I don’t know why I navigated us that way, east and north.
In actuality, we needed to head west and north. Picture a rectangle, standing
on its end, tall like a skyscraper. We woke up in the middle of the bottom,
where the skyscraper doors would be. I drove us up the wrong side for two whole
hours. One might assume that I was the one who got bonked on the head, not
George! By the time we pretty much simultaneously figured out we were doing
something wrong, we realized it would take longer to go around the edges of the
rectangle than just to go across it. But of course, it is just not that simple.
This is Montana, people! The thing they call a highway that went across the
middle of that rectangle was a two lane non-divided road with lots of turns,
hills and a very carsick me.
We did finally get on the right track, about 3 hours behind
schedule. There were a lot of cool things to see when we finally pulled in to
Missoula. We got to visit the gravesite of “Sky King” Kirby Grant. This fella
was a western movie star from the 50’s and 60’s that my dad remembers watching
on TV every week. We ended up at his plot because of a virtual geocache (no
container, just prove you were there by answering a question or taking a
photo). His marker was small, understated and simple, which surprised both of
us, considering he was Hollywood royalty. The virtual cache asked us to email
the name of the person buried to the right of Kirby Grant. It was his dad. It
touched me that someone whose star shone brightly was laid to rest with his
family in a town cemetery. I think that Hollywood today has gotten so far away
from the concept of “down home”, eschewing it for glitz and glamour. Look what
happened with Michael Jackson’s funeral! Televised worldwide, it was a
spectacle and a media circus. And I can’t imagine his mom liked sharing her
grief with the world.
We had another driving leap to make to get us to Kalispell.
By the time we arrived in town, the stores had closed up. I did spy a nifty independent
toy store on Main Street though. After consulting our smart phones for a
restaurant recommendation, we chose Hops, a downtown burger joint. We parked,
crossed the street, read the menu on the board and decided that it would work.
We pulled the door handle (you know where this is going if you read yesterday’s
post) and it was locked. Apparently, they are closed on Sundays. Argh! We
crossed back over to our car and zipped off down the street to The Montana
Club, a local chain (4 locations, worldwide – seriously, they are all in Montana).
I ate Macadamia Encrusted Chicken on a Bed of Garlic Mashers and George ate
Crispy Orange Chicken, which ended up being spicy, but good.
Back into the car again and we drove to the west entrance of
Glacier National Park. On the highway in, I remembered the drive-thru bear park
that I had seen as a kid. It was closed! We couldn’t read the handwritten sign
from the road, so we will have to investigate. We made our left turn and passed
under the welcome bridge. There were a few stores before the actual entrance
gate, and I happily pointed out the restaurant/ diner where I had my first
encounter with huckleberries – it was ice cream – and thus, began my long
standing love affair with the blueberry’s cousin.
We found our spot on Loop C in the Fish Creek campground and
settled in. We will be here for two nights and then, we move over to St. Mary
to a different campground. I am still patiently slogging my way through Eldest
by Christopher Paolini. When we drove through his tiny Montana town, I tweeted
him just to see if he would respond. He did! I’ll admit our exchange was banal
as he only commented on the weather, and did not invite me over for dinner and
to read his newest manuscript like I had dreamed, but c’est la vie. George
started a new book today that he picked up in the Yellowstone Association’s (we
are members) bookstore -- Wolf Wars
by Hank Fischer. The author was the sole driving force behind the
reintroduction of wolves into the Yellowstone ecosystem and the book chronicles
his struggles with the bureaucracy to make it happen.
Not sure what tomorrow holds; I had scheduled a 3-4 hour, 5.5
mile round trip hike for us but we shall see.
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