Montana became a state in 1889, and the capitol was built around the turn of the century. The inside of the dome was pretty ornate, and there were lots of Pawnee-esque murals on the walls, paying homage to their pioneer and Native American heritage.
It was a beautiful afternoon, but we still had a ways to go across Montana to Whitefish. So back in the car we went. After an uneventful couple of hours, we knew we were getting close when we saw lovely Flathead Lake out the window.
Whitefish presented us with our first night in a hotel. We explored the lodge (love the pic of them drinking cucumber water and reading the paper by the lobby fireplace like seasoned travelers!), walked around the golf course next door, and the kids ended up in the oversized, outdoor hot tub overlooking the golf course. And we were loving the room temp ambient air outside in the sunshine and fresh air. Ah, vacation!
The next morning we headed north of town to Big Mountain where you can take a chair lift to the top of the mountain. What a beautiful view in the summer! Mountains for miles (into Glacier Park!), and we saw lots of marmots on the way up.
From the top, we took the Danny On Trail down about 3.5 miles back to the car. It was a great trail! Lots of wildflowers in bloom, a clear path, beautiful overlooks, and not too crowded. We give it 5 out of 5 stars; just wish we had thought about some bug spray...
We took some sandwiches with us and stopped at this bench for a drink and rest, while we ate lunch. It had a great view!
Apparently, we weren't the first visitors to bring food to this spot. After we'd been sitting there for a few minutes, we saw several marmots and a chipmunk come out of the rocks and sniff around. This particular marmot came right up within a couple of feet of me while I was admiring the view and nearly made me jump when I noticed how close he had gotten. No, we did not feed them, much to their disappointment.
Some parts of the trail were in exposed mountainside meadows, some were forested, and parts followed a creek in the bottom of the canyon. There were some interesting variations in color of the rocks in the creek, notably lots of purple stones.
The views were outstanding, particularly when they included Whitefish Lake.
When we saw the ski village, we knew we were getting close to the end. The kids were champs on the hike. No complaints or excessive dawdling. It probably helped that we just had to go downhill, rather than up.
On our way back to the hotel, we stopped off for some ice cream, because we earned it! It was pretty good, but it was no Reed's or Bluebell.
After a brief respite in the hotel room, the kids and I were itching to go to the lake. No sense wasting a beautiful day in a hotel room when we were surrounded by such natural beauty outside! Not going to lie, the water was pretty chilly! But, of course, they had a great time regardless.
After a while, we grew curious about the paddle boarders. I wasn't wearing my swimsuit, but I thought we could probably manage a paddle board between the three of us. It was a little wobbly at times, and my passengers were a little unpredictable, so I kept us low to the board, and it was fine. And fun!
About halfway through our rental time, I decided to abandon ship and let the kids paddle and steer themselves. They loved it! Owen paddled about 80% of the time, which Hadley was fine with. They didn't go far, but it was pretty entertaining to watch them figure out the workings of paddling and balance. I think Hadley even fell off once or twice, but was able to get back on. The afternoon was absolutely perfect to sit in the shade and enjoy the lake breeze.
Our hotel did not include breakfast, so on our last morning, we ventured out to Loula's. Pretty popular place with tasty food. Check out Owen's short stack! We did not know that was the size of their pancakes, but it was okay because we all ate them for lunch, too.
Aw, they do like each other. Thanks for a great time Whitefish!
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