Ramada Inn Klondike and Conference Center Kalispell

... one more party tonight, then we're off in the morning for Salt Lake City, our first 10 hour leg.<br>But tonight we get to eat off Linda's 10# rainbow she snuck out and caught without us. DANG her hide. She really is our hero though--the Fish Dancer extraordinaire.<br>Rick's cooking a gourmet feast, the divas are gathering--husbands beware!

... dogs on (verbal) leashes in the woods -- National Parks do not. It dropped below freezing the first night and snow magically appeared on the higher mountains the next day.<br><br>Then horror, while we were packing Bogie cried/yelped while chasing a squirrel up a tree and came back to us on three legs. We were lucky finding a good vet that said he likely had a bad sprain on his right front leg (up to two weeks of being a gimp - if ...

Kalispell is actually starting to feel like home away from home! The mechanic ran into delays, truck won't be ready till Wednesday, so we are catching up with laundry, grocery shopping, haircuts, and resting. Wondering what we'll find when we open up the trailer after this long week. Need to get re-organized before we head west again. <br>

... us a loaner, we will leave the camper at the dealership for the week and we will head towards Canada in this red Corolla. Drive through Banff and Jasper? Try to find V's distant cousin that we've been wanting to meet for over 25 years? Looking on the map, they live waaayy up north in British Columbia. What the heck! Maybe we'll just go for it!<br>

Glacier National Park is fantastic. The highway, named "Into The Sun<br>Highway" (exactly what we were doing!), hugs the mountainside, dips<br>into valleys and brings you up through glorious passes. It's like a 50<br>km scenic roller coaster ride. Wheeeee!

... br><br>Something that has caught my eye in these parts are the small, free-standing espresso shops, little cabins that offer great coffee at a drive-through window. They're everywhere and very uniquely decorated. Haven't seen them elsewhere, yet.<br><br>Hidden in the trees after miles of gravel roads, we come upon this beautiful ...

... retreats. It wouldn&#8217;t be too much of a hardship to live here a few months during the summer, but no way in the winter. <br><br>We continued on to Kalispell and just on the southern edge of town spotted another Mackenzie River Pizza. I had told Wendell if we found one, I&#8217;d be tempted to drug the dog. We settled into the Spruce RV Park. It&#8217;s small, but has lots of trees and sits on the bank of the Flathead River&#8230 ...

... there in 30 minutes than I did at Washington DC's American Indian museum in hours. On our way in to the Park, we passed the site of Lewis &amp; Clark's "Camp Disappointment" and "Two Medicine Fight Site." We stopped for pictures and were greeted by a dozen or so horses. What seemed on the itinerary as a long day of driving went by like a flash. The beauty of this area makes the the bus ride a pleasure!

... this magical place to ourselves. Later, Ranger Todd goes off to take sunset pictures and discovers a meadow where our friend the moose has plopped himself down on the ground for the evening. When I meet up with Todd again later, I spot a little patch of wild chives growing next to a waterfall, so we sit and munch on wild chives, watching the sunset, the moose, the cascading water, and the slowly encroaching shadow on the mountainside, content to just be here together in such a beautiful ...

... but my impatience wins. Matt fiddles in the back, picks up this and that. "Can I have some pop?" he flips the cooler lock. "Why not," I reply. "Let me have one too." We sip our drinks, and wait some more. What we want to see is just ten miles away. But we're held prisoner here, by the working crew. At last, a flag. Go go go but aaaack. The dust is thick, for miles and miles, from all the cars ahead. At last, our stop. The National Bison Range, Moiese, Montana. An antler pile ...