Up in the Air, Junior Birdman

Thursday, July 17, 2014

We’re heading to Whitefish, a town of six thousand, right after breakfast.  Our goal is the Big Mountain Resort where we will do the “Walk in the Treetops” on Saturday.  They have a maximum waist size due to the harnesses which everyone wears, and Marilyn is afraid she won’t be able to wear the harness.

The girl at the ticket desk assures her that there is a couple of inches leeway. That settled we decide to buy tickets for the scenic lift, aka ski lift.  She tickles me by looking skeptical when I ask for a senior ticket.  She defines the age range and I tell her where I fall in it.  Yay!

We pass the children's version of the walk-in-the-treetops.  I think ours will be about sixty feet up.

I’m a little nervous about the chair lift but the operator actually stops the lift while we hop on and it’s a piece of cake.  The ride is so quiet and it is so serene riding though the air with nothing to interrupt the view. 

Below us is a mule deer with her flag raised.

We hop off and look around a few minutes before taking a second lift.  There is a slide down to the bottom of the mountain that resembles a luge but it is being ridden by little kids, so it must not be dangerous!  The “sleds” come back up on the side of a chair lift.

Off they go!

And that's how far they have to go!  And they get three trips!

The mountain is being enjoyed by hikers and mountain bikers, as well as sightseers.  The bikes have special chairs on the lift and the next chair is always occupied by the biker.  The same lift also has gondolas but they aren’t as much fun and you can’t really take pictures through the glass.

At the top of the mountain you can see the trails for the bikers and hikers and there is a brand new restaurant.  

Here's something you won't see in Florida.  Know what it is?

There is also a Nature Center for the kids.  It is there that we learn that there are more bald eagles in the park than we had heard.  The ranger estimated that there are around thirty nests and there are golden eagles as well.  

There are casts of many animals' footprints and some scat casts, too.
Look at how huge the grizzly's foot is.

There is a wonderful taxidermy display as well as pelts and fresh-picked flowers, all neatly labeled.
One of the displays, about trees, was prepared by a University of Missoula student.

We also learn that the haze we’ve been seeing in not normal;  there are fires in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia that are causing it.

I'm still in love with the beargrass.  You don't see much of it here until you get most of the
way up the mountain.  It must be an elevation/temperature thing.

Two hikers in the foreground and two bikers in the middle ground.  They are below
 the hikers but above them in the picture! Strange, huh?

There is actually a little snow left at the summit.  A man in town said that by the
end of the winter there is usually fourteen feet of packed snow on the slopes.

Lots of cell towers on the next peak.

We have lunch at the summit – we split a bison burger with a fruit cup and each have a side salad.  I ask if I can have huckleberry vinaigrette, and lady says, “Of course!  It’s Montana!”

Tummies happy we ride back down.  The views are even more magnificent from here!

So many trails!

I have been fascinated by the insouciance displayed by the younger riders!

Nairy an adult to be seen!

Back down the mountain and we go inside to make sure we know where we are supposed to report on Saturday.  It is still early so we drive into Whitefish.  It is as cute as people had told us, with lots of artsy shops and antique dealers, restaurants and bars.  They have a huge performing arts center, too!

There is a thriving art scene with many of the local shops displaying local artists' works.

I love the way the Toggery's sign is both an eagle and a hangar!  There is another
place whose sign says, "Coopers Eatery and Drinkery"!

Marilyn is shopped out, so we head back to GGL to make some popcorn to munch on before our sumptuous dinner of PBJ and moscato.  We have time to catch up our blogs and check our mail before turning in for the night.