Tuesday, July 22, 2014

Home to Tampa Town

Tuesday, July 22, 2014

We're up, moving and nearly conscious at four a.m. and out the door and on the road by 4:25!  We're supposed to park the car in the Hertz section of the rental-car returns lot but the only signs we see are for Alamo and Avis.  Wait!  There's one that folded over with an "H" showing!  We'll take it! Another car is looking for the Hertz section, too, and we share our belief that we're in the right place.  Once parked we unfurl the sign to see "Hertz' proudly displayed.  Good thing we know that Hertz bought Thrifty!

We drop the keys and paperwork and head for security, happily clutching our TSA Pre-check boarding passes.  The lady hands us red laminated strips that say "Expedited Security".  It seems that Kalispell doesn't have Pre-check yet.  We have to remove our laptops and liquids;  but at least we can keep our shoes and light jackets on!

We're at Gate 3 - there are only three! - by quarter of five and think that it might be smart to buy breakfast sandwiches since we will only have forty-six minutes to change planes in MN and we don't know how far we'll have to go to find our connecting flight.

Unhappily it is a large plane and a small crowd, so they aren't taking luggage away from us!  Marilyn has to hoist both our bags because I don't have a prayer!  Too much shopping!  I get the window seat and Marilyn gets the aisle, so we're both happy.  As we sit on the plane awaiting our turn, we get to watch the sunrise.  Not having the mountains in the way sure makes a difference!





The flight is smooth and we are offered coffee and cookies, which finishes breakfast nicely, even though I sure am ready for a cup of my own coffee!  Or tea!



We arrive pretty close to on time at Gate C8.  That would be fine except that our flight to Tampa is leaving from G15!  That's a long darn way away and it is supposed to be loading in about five minutes!  Even with the moving sidewalks we aren't hopeful. Marilyn stops an airport employee on a cart and he stops a colleague who is going our way.  She zips us to G15 where they are just beginning the boarding process and since we are in Zone 2, we have time to catch our breath!

As the gate attendant scans my ticket I say that I missed her announcement and wondered if they were taking bags.  She says they are and thanks us for volunteering!  She has no idea how grateful we are!  And we both have aisle seats!

The only disappointment on the second flight was that they didn't have the lunch wraps they have been advertising and we make due with drinks and lots of peanuts!  The touchdown is flawless and our bags have made the flight with us, always a plus!  Kurt picks us up and takes us to my house, then I take Marilyn to hers and on the way we stop for Chinese take-out so we don't have to worry about groceries until tomorrow.

My kit kats are all fine and happy and when Jody checks in he reports that they were all well-behaved while I was gone.  Life is good!!

                                            --30--

Monday, July 21, 2014

Heading home

Monday, July 21, 2014

It’s been a beautiful trip and we’re really pleased with the way our plans (and non-plans!) came together but it’s time to pack up and get home.  I miss my kids!  But don’t tell them!

We hang around the lodge until the last minute.  Marilyn has printed our boarding passes for our six a.m. flight and we are, once again, TSA Pre-checked!  Hurray!  We’re looking up wildflowers in Jennifer’s book and tying up loose ends.  We’ve given her our cooler, extra water jugs, bear spray, my old hat and some assorted odds and ends of food stuffs which she says she can use.  I’m so glad that it will not go to waste!

Here's Jennifer, our charming hostess. 
Everything is packed and we think, maybe, our suitcases weigh less than fifty pounds.  I sure hope they take them away from us when we are boarding!  As I contemplate hoisting my monster down the eighteen stairs, one of the pretty young things that does housekeeping volunteers to take it down for me!  I’m not too proud to take help when it’s offered!  Marilyn declines assistance.  Show off!

One last shot of Glacier Guides Lodge
We’ve stashed our bags in the trunk, our backpacks in the back seat and our lunch, leftover from last night, on the floor with the rest of our bottle of huckleberry wine, and go inside to say good-bye to Jennifer.

We’re just going to Columbia Falls which is only fifteen minutes closer to the airport, but at four am fifteen minutes counts! Our first order of business it to find a UPS store to ship some things home.  Marilyn spots is tucked away alongside the grocery store.  Next order is to either get lunch or see if we can check into our motel, the Glacier Inn Motel.  


In the cold light of day it looks a little iffy.  There are huge construction trucks in the front of the parking area and we can’t figure out just what they are doing there.  

See what I mean?
We go in and the man at the desk is very friendly and says we can check in now if we’d like.  He also suggests a couple of restaurants for dinner.  He charges an extra 3% if you pay with a credit card;  but I've got my debit card!  Yay!

Our room is around back and it’s really very nice!  Big beds, efficient a/c, table for computering – and eating our lunch and finishing our Glacier Park Montana Wild Huckleberry!  Lunch out of the way we play with our pictures and go on Trip Advisor as we had promised so many people we would!

Eventually, our tummies realize that it’s dinner time.  We go to The Back Room which is a separate restaurant from the Night Owl even though they occupy the same building and share entrances!  The owners of the Night Owl built the Back Room about thirty years ago!

Perfect way to say good-bye!  And he's even blue!

The real entrance to the Back Room is around the side but they don't seem to care
how you get in, as long as you do!
We share a pound of country ribs, with cole slaw, baked beans, little red potatoes and fry bread with honey butter.  And we can barely finish it!  And it was only fifteen dollars!  Maybe the best deal of the trip and a fitting way to bide adieu to Montana!  We want a piece of huckleberry pie to go but it turns out to be blueberry.  Oh well, close enough! Walking past a Montana car I notice that the license plate has a panther on it!  They probably call it a mountain lion.

This enormous building is the Columbia Falls Chamber of Commerce
and Tourist Information building.  Apparently it is a Montana Certified Community!
Back to the room to finish our blogging and set the alarms – we figure it might take two of them to get us up!  Marilyn is going to fill the car tonight so that’s one less thing to worry about in the dark of the morning.  It’s been a great, grand time!  Thanks for coming with us!

Sunday, July 20, 2014

One Last Taste of the Outdoors, Glacier Style

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Our last full day in West Glacier,  sigh.  The smoke from the fires in the adjoining states is in the air and you can both see and smell it.  We are planning a last hike on the trail that begins at Fish Creek Campgrounds, even though they are suggesting that people with respiratory difficulties stay indoors.  If it gets awful, we’ll turn back! 

At breakfast we chat with Jennifer and learn that she has lived in Montana, Texas and California and that her twenty-year old son is going to college in Washington state.

This little guy was watching us eat breakfast, through the window!
Back upstairs we sit on our semi-private patio and enjoy the scenery. Marilyn has her second cup of coffee and I have orange juice.  There are two tiny birds playing hide and seek in the trees and when they fly away, they are practically wing tip to wing tip!  So cute!

Ah well.  Enough of this lolly gagging!  Time for our last official Glacier hike!  We’re going to Rocky Point, not to be confused with the one in Tampa!  For part of the drive we are on the Inner North Fork Road and can see why people don’t take it all the way to Polebridge!  If you thought the Outer Road was rough, this one is amazing!  But we don’t have to be on it for long before we come to the trail head parking lot.  There are a couple of families preparing for the trail and we debate letting them get a good head start or trying to stay ahead of them.  The question is important because one of the little ones seems bent on setting some sort of volume and duration record!


These are my new favorite flower, they are called Ocean Spray and they are as
prevalent here as Beargrass was on the other side of the park.
The trail and nature loop take us close to Lake MacDonald and through the area that was damaged by the fire of 2003, including the Howe Ridge.  For the most part the path is wide and only has a few places with an impressive climb.  We’ve done most of the loop when it begins to rain and we decide that it might be smart to head back, since we don’t know how intense the weather might become. 

The red on the tips of this maple's leaves is a fungus called rust.


A bear did this by scratching away the bark to get to the cambium for lunch!

Beautiful Ocean Spray!

And this little gem is a Nodding Onion.
Part of the trail leads to a viewpoint from which we can see Lake MacDonald.  Even with the smoke from the fires in the neighboring states, and the impending storm, it is gorgeous!





 Along the way we encounter a family of three.  The eight-year old daughter has borrowed a back back from the Discovery Cabin with binoculars, an identification guide, and a bug catcher.  She was working for her Junior Ranger badge!  She gave her brother three geodes for his birthday!

A Douglas Fir furry cone!

Marilyn outstanding in her field - of Ocean Spray!

I told you it rained!

And they were large drops!

Huckleberries coming into season for sure.  Along the path we saw a man who was about
ten feet off the trail.  He was having a feast on them!
Back to the car and a short stop at the West Glacier Mercantile for a couple of last-minute purchases and back to the lodge for lunch.  We have those humongous burritos left and Jennifer lets us use the microwave in the kitchen to heat them up.  We have our computers and play with our pictures while we eat and we are still around when one of the three owners of the Lodge comes in.  He is here to repair our A/C (don’t laugh!  We need it cold, and we enjoy the white noise which drowns out the trains!).  We take the opportunity to sing Jennifer and Don’s praises and to compliment him on the design and décor. 

Our tummies are really full, so it seems an ideal time to go to a whiskey tasting!  There is a local distillery right down the road, Glacier Distilling, and how can we resist the call of the red barn?  Besides, it is raining, even though slightly, and we can’t hike any more!



Inside there is a swarm of people tasting, drinking, and having a blast!  We can have a flight of four whiskeys for only four dollars!  There are eleven choices so we can hit eight of them and it is not too hard to eliminate the other three.  There are whiskeys and liqueurs to sample.  Whew!  After eight little sips I’m already not too responsible!  And then we each have a cocktail!  Marilyn’s is called a Fisherman’s Direct and mine is a Tuscan Brown Bear, made with iced coffee, coffee liqueur, almond syrup and Grappa, one of their liqueurs.  And it’s topped with whipped cream!  Life is good!

The drinks are GD's version of a Bloody Mary, called a Rocky Mountain Caesar!  The
wooden holders in the front hold the little glasses for the flites

Our treats!
After ordering a few bottles of this and that, Kendra boxes up our orders and we will take them to UPS tomorrow in Kalispell, since they aren’t allowed to ship out of state.


More weather rolling in.

Everyone is hoping that the western states are getting enough rain to help the firefighters!

This is the drive to Glacier Guides Lodge.
 Back to the Lodge to see if all our worldly possessions will fit in our suitcases!  We are donating some things to Jennifer, like the bear spray, our cooler, some paper towels and other assorted food items that we didn’t finish – not too much, though.  We did a pretty good job of shopping and eating!

Finally ready for our Wild Huckleberry Wine! That's Jennifer's corkscrew.
 Now we are sitting outside enjoying the gorgeous, seventy-degree weather, drinking our huckleberry wine and blogging!  Eventually we will go to dinner and prepare to return to reality.  We have tomorrow to go to Columbia Falls which puts us that much closer to Kalispell for our six a.m. flight Tuesday morning.  While there we may go to another wine tasting and see what wonders this little town holds.

I was ready to post this when a lady from another room stopped by to chat.  She and her friend are going on a five-day hike called the Glacier Challenge.  The guides set up the tents and fix breakfast and dinner!  Sounds great until she says the hikes are from six to ten miles each day!  What makes this even more remarkable is that this sixty-year old is just three years out from chemo and has lost twenty-eight pounds!  Her friend is sixty-five and her last day's hike will be seventeen miles!  What an inspiration!

Off to dinner at the West Glacier Restaurant where Krystal is once again our waitress. She's the cutie who told us several days ago that the salads were too big to finish!  We learn that in ten days she is leaving for Nepal!  She is working on the licenses required to be a helicopter pilot, and hopes to take tourists around the park. She has three associate's degrees and plans to take a degree in tourism.

We each have a cup of Broccoli Normandy, a cream-based soup with broccoli, cauliflower and other vegetables.  We split the stir-fried veggies with chicken and even with both of us eating there is no way we can finish this endless bowl of deliciousness!  We wind up taking some home and will have it for lunch tomorrow before we hit the road for Columbia Falls.  

Saturday, July 19, 2014

"She Rocks in the Treetops, All the Day Long”

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Oh yum!  Jennifer has put out the goodies we brought back yesterday from Polebridge Mercantile!  We feel guilty taking a bear claw, since we bought our own, so Marilyn has a chocolate chip-banana muffin and I have a huckleberry-bran one.  It is kind of early because we are heading back to Whitefish today and our tummies aren’t ready for a whole muffin, so they go into our little fridge and we go into the car!

We are going back to the Whitefish Mountain Resort, this time to do the Walk-in-the-Treetops!  At it highest, this series of suspension bridges is seventy feet off the ground!

First the nine of us adventures gather for a description of what’s coming, delivered by our two guides, Kelsey and Andrew.  They look like they are teenagers;  but surely they are older than that or the insurance company would have a cow!  We ride our “open-air limousine”  to the Treetop’s tent, about a mile away, where we learn the ins and outs of donning our harnesses, attaching our safety lines and moving our double-safety carabiners from one steel cable to the next.

Our limo!
First you put your legs through the harness and secure it around your waist, then you slip the safety ropes through a loop on the harness and form a lark’s head knot.  Each end of the safety rope is attached to a carabiner which they called a lobster claw and each of the two claws had two colors of tape wrapped around it.  The red and blue claw gets attached to the cable with the red and blue tape and the green and yellow claw …. You get the idea!

They are called double safety because you have to push in a release before the claw will open.  And they are pretty strong!  We work with a partner and each person has to have one claw attached at all times.  When you come to a transfer point, you take one claw off the current cable and transfer it to the new one, saying, “One on”.  The your partner says, “One on.”  Next you transfer the second claw, saying, “Two on’” and your partner responds, “Two on.”  Now your partner goes through the same operation and you repeat back to her.  That way everyone is constantly aware of what is going on.

Inside the tent there are fanny packs that we can use to hold the water bottles and snack bars that are provided as well as anything else you plan to bring.  Had we know that I would have brought the other lens for my camera, instead of opting for only the longer telephoto in hopes of a critter!  We can leave anything in the tent, like hats and car keys and once everyone is geared up and has practice transferring the claws, we’re off on a half-mile hike to the beginning of the adventure. 

This lumber company let's us walk on their land.  They practice the kind of
lumbering where they only cut dead or diseased trees.
Along the way Andrew and Kelsey stop us several times to give us a lesson on the biology of the area.  We learn about service berries. During the winter the ground was too frozen to bury people; when the service berries started to bloom it was time to hold a funeral service.  

This lovely plant is actually an invasive species.
There are bane berries which are poisonous, from the Latin word for death.  They have a small dot on the end and were sometimes used as dolls’ eyes! The Pacific yew was used to make a cancer cure!  It is now made artificially.  Arnica is used for treating bruises.  Thimbleberry is similar to an oversized raspberry but when you pick them, they tend to fall apart and so aren’t grown commercially.  The plant has a five-lobed leaf and is very soft.  They are not to be confused with devil’s club with has a similar leaf with seven lobes.  They are covered with evil thorns and are sometimes called bear candy because the bears don’t seem to notice the thorns! 

The twin berry is easy to recognize because the red berries are actually joined at one end.  They are poisonous and will induce vomiting. The indians used to have all the young men chew the roots and the last one to throw up became the new chief!

Twin berry


Thimbleberry
If you eat too many thimbleberries you might need to use the leaves like Charmin.  The devil’s club leaves are like Walmart’s off brand! Pathfinder has an arrow-shaped leaf with a silver underside.  When they are trampled by deer, they indicate the direction the deer traveled.  There is a clump of white sticky stuff clinging to some of the branches.  Andrew says it is a spittle bug! He gets some between his fingers and shows us the critter inside, Yuck!  Now his fingers are all gooey!

Wolves are a hot topic in the area.  Andrew tells us that if you see a bumper sticker that says, "Smoke a pack a day"  it is referring to wolf packs, not cigarettes!

Huckleberries can only be grown in the wild because the seeds must pass through the digestive system of an animal before they will germinate!  The joke is that you have to have a pet bear to grow them!  They sell for sixty dollars a bucket.  That’s why huckleberry products are so expensive in the stores. 

Kelsey
Enough education!  On to the bridges!  The very hardest part of the adventure is the first step!  Kelsey has started down the bridge and when she does, the free standing end rises in the air about two feet!  Luckily Andrew is standing right there to offer a hand as each person climbs up and hooks his lobster claws.

Look Ma!  No hands!

 Once hooked up, walking on the two boards is a blast!  The steel cables from which we are all suspended, are the same ones used to catch jets as they land on aircraft carriers.  That’s pretty reassuring!  There are smaller cables that act as handrails with vertical members every three feet and the whole operation really looks pretty substantial.  At some of the transfer points there is a loop of cable that you transfer to before attaching to the next overhead cable and all the time you are walking your safety lines follow behind like obedient puppies.

Everyone on this particular walk is a camera person, so no one minds if someone else wants to stop for a photo op.  We only see one critter, a western tanager sitting in a very far off tree.  He’s a gorgeous bird with an orange head, yellow body and black wings with a yellow path on them.


 Near the end of the trek there are two platforms where we take a moment for photos and to sit with our feet dangling into space!  There is no handrail around the platform but everyone is attached to the cables and it feels very safe.



Andrew was kind enough to take this shot of us on the platform.  We really
are almost as tall as the trees!
A few time the cable is too tall for me to reach and Marilyn has to pull it down for me.  There is a mother and son ahead of us.  The son is about eleven and his mom does the same for him.  He is very conscientious about the “one on, two on” routine.  They take a selfie and send it to his thirteen-year old sister who was too chicken to come!  They also do a really neat thing when they travel.  They take nature photos of natural letters and then print them as a word when they get home.  Last year they spelled out Yellowstone.  They were looking for a “z” to spell their name, Moritz and everyone helped the search on the half-mile hike back to the tent.

Can you see the lobster claws behind my back?  That's the easiest
way to carry the safety ropes.
We turn in our gear and thanks our guides, then ride our limo back to the base camp.  I think everyone bought a Walk-in-the-Treetops t-shirt to commemorate the experience!  What a total trip!

We sit in the parking lot and eat our PBJs and chips and I indulge in a huckleberry crunch dark chocolate bar!  Then we are driving back through Whitefish when we see a sign for the Flathead Winery!  Who could turn down a celebratory wine tasting?  It is nine miles down a well-paved but pretty deserted road and I tell Marilyn that if we hear banjoes we aren’t stopping!


There are a couple of other cars in the parking lot at the top of the steep drive and we feel encouraged.  Dave conducts our tasting, which is free, and we lets us sample everything.  Of course the huckleberry wine is the top draw, but there is also a Rainier cherry and a flathead cherry and a plum and a chokeberry and a Montana red which is a mix of pinot noir and cherry.  He suggests that we order on line to simplify shipping but we have to have one bottle of the huck (sweet) for after dinner tonight.  Maybe we’ll be strong enough to make it last for two nights!


Dave pours for our tasting.  He gave us some pamphlets
to take back to Glacier Guides Lodge.
On the way home we locate the whiskey tasting room and put it on our list for tomorrow or Monday.  Then it’s home for blogging and photo swapping and then we’ll be off to dinner.  Don recommended the burrito lady and that sounds good to us.  On our way out, we run into Jennifer who is chatting with the couple a few doors down.  She is a media specialist in Sarasota County and he is a school psychologist!  They want to know about the wine tasting and we give Jennifer the pamphlets, one of which she promptly passes on!  Jennifer leaves and returns with wine glasses for all of us and a bit later, while we're all still chatting, she returns with more wine glasses, a corkscrew for us, and three of the Polebridge goodies left over from breakfast!  Amazing!

And speaking of amazing - we went to the Wandering Gringo Cafe for dinner.  It is the home of the three-pound burrito!  No lie!  We each brought home half of ours!


The owner schmoozes with the customers while his wife does the cooking and boy is she tremendous!  We will probably be stuffed for weeks!

Time to lie down and hope my tummy forgives me for today!