Ben and I went to Montana for the Memorial Day weekend to spend time with his dad and enjoy the great outdoors. 
We left on Thursday night, and Ben drove the entire way straight for 12 hours. On the way, we encountered much rain - hard, driving rain which made it impossible to see the road. Ben drove on at 70MPH anyway, with me clutching my hands together, white-knuckled. Eventually, we got over Lolo pass, and that's when the construction started. Montana must have a massive surplus in its highway bank account, because they're building at least 5 bridges between Kalispell and Glacier Park.
We arrived in Hungry Horse, MT around 7am, and ate a horrible horrible breakfast. We enjoyed most of the rest of the day sleeping - in either the car or the motel room. On Friday night, we met up with Ben's dad at the local crazy hangout, then switched to a bar that had less crazies and funner games. I introduced Ben to shuffleboard, then beat his ass at least once.
Back at the crazy bar the next morning, we had the best. breakfast. evar (Tabetha at the Packer's Roost makes awesome omelettes). Then we got to know the bar cat, Tigris. She lovingly left a blanket's worth of hair on my sweater, so I had to change before we went on our way.
We went up to Whitefish, a cute little resort town, for some new windshield wipers (badly needed, with the rain happening every day, and Ben so proud of having the original wipers on his 1998 Saturn), then, on the drive back to Hungry Horse, we stopped by the Montana Vortex. I had had a conversation with 
Ben a few months ago about "Mystery Spots" and how they work and the like. Being a big fan of the Mystery Spot, and Ben never having been to one, it was a must that we stop in to see the zaniness. Ben enjoyed himself, as did I, and we clebrated our enjoyment by going to see some bears.
On Sunday, we enjoyed a bit of Glacier Park. Unfortunately, the road was only open for 16mi from the West gate, so we couldn't go that far up Logan's pass. I got a photo of myself on a bridge over McDonald creek to match the one taken at the same spot 14 years ago, the last time I was at the park. We milled about, taking photos, then drove south to McDonald lodge, where we enjoyed a fabulous dinner (trout!! yum!!). We went to bed earlyish on sunday so we could get a early start on Monday morning.
The drive back home took about 11 hours, stopping for some fab lunchtime burgers at Ryan's Wilderness Inn, and gathering stamps for the Idaho passport deal.
I didn't fall sleep once on the drive back, so the trip seemed like it lasted forever. Between Kooskia and New Meadows, there is a fabulous part of the state that was so lovely, I sat open-mouthed through the entire thing. To the west, one could see Oregon's blue mountains in the distance, and to the East, the foothills of the Rockies lay jagged against the sky. The land was incredibly green from all of the rain that has travelled through the state, and fluffy clouds were hanging low to the ground, moving swiftly against the blue of the heavens. This was a part of the state I had never been in, and I'm glad I stayed awake to enjoy it. Though the ride in the car was tiring, the landscape's beauty amazed me and certainly made me appreciate the state in which I live. I don't think I'll ever consider Idaho my home state, but with this land so close to our apartment in Boise, I think I may learn to like this part of the country just a little more.
PS. LeeAnn won the donation drawing!! I'll be sending out a package full of goodies to her in the next week. ^_^
And, happy June.
What a fantastic adventure. I want to go to the Montana Vortex. Wild, I can't stop looking at the photos, trying to figure them out.
Posted by: jennifer at June 1, 2006 12:56 PM