Monday Morning Coffee: Weekend Get Away

With the beginning of softball season upon us, both my boyfriend and my birthdays, and just how busy spring/summer can get, my boyfriend and I decided to head out of town for a weekend. We live in such a beautiful place that we decided to explore a little of the Kalispell, Montana area.

We had originally thought we would go into Glacier and get to explore. I use to live in a small town outside of Kalispell when I was very young and haven't been back to Glacier since we moved. This idea excited me! Unfortunately, we had to have a change of plans when we discovered only 12 miles of the Going to the Sun road was plowed! I was really disappointed. Looks like we'll have to plan another trip!!

Anywho, onto what we did get to see! We got up Saturday and headed north! To get to the Kalispell area you drive around a beautiful lake called Flathead Lake. It's massive and so stunning. At the south end of the lake is this cute little lake town named Polson. Just outside of Polson and at the end of the lake is the Kerr dam. I had visited the dam when I was younger with my family and it was truly stunning!

We had planned on stopping and taking the short hike to the observation deck. Unfortunately, our plans were foiled a bit because the road to the trail head was gated off. Umf! We did get to take a beautiful drive!!

My boyfriend likes to drive, he has a beautiful car and he loves to go for drives. Driving and seeing was the center of this trip. After we left the Kerr Dam, we decided to drive up the east side of the lake. It's so stunning! The scenery is beautiful! It's rolling mountains, beautiful homes/cabins, wildlife and then cherry orchards! Yes, cherry orchards! The Flathead lake area is known for producing amazing cherries! We are a little early to get any produce, but the orchards are still beautiful to see.

Once we got around the lake, we stopped at Woodland Park in Kalispell. This place is full of young childhood memories for me! It's a city park, so it has the normal playground equipment, a pool, and then ponds. During the winter, when the ponds freeze, they become an outside skating rink. But when they aren't frozen, they are the home to ducks, geese, and other water birds. The highlight of the park is getting to feed the birds. Some people bring bread, but we had read that bread is bad for birds, instead we brought bird seed. It was so much fun. Here we are 26 and 28, and probably having more fun then the kids!! Ha! I could have fed them for hours!!

After the park, we took the short jump to Whitefish. Whitefish is a small resort town. It's stunningly beautiful. It's at the base of a skiing mountain and on the edge of Whitefish Lake. We explored the little shops in the city center. I say explored for a reason because I think I would have had to sell my right arm to afford something! But it was fun to look around. We ended our exploring with a stop at the Great Northern Brewing Company for a beer and some chips and salsa. So fun and very tasty! I can't remember what beer the BF had, but I got the huckleberry beer. It was so good! Not sweet and in your face, but nice and refreshing! Highly recommend!!

We were quickly coming up on dinner time at this point. So we decided to stop by our hotel, relax, and freshen up for dinner. I was very excited for dinner. We were going to Columbia Falls and eating at The Backroom. Ah! I love this place. We use to go here all the time when I was a child with my family and the food is amazing! They have this breasted chicken and all types of BBQ that was just as good as I remember! It's not exactly a hole in the wall place, but definitely not a fancy restaurant. We relaxed and enjoyed amazing food!!

After dinner, we were unsure what we were going to do and decided to take the drive.  Surprise! Are you sensing a theme?!  We took a mini trip down memory lane and drove past my childhood home and schoo;s and then decided to drive up to the entrance of Glacier National Park and stop on the way at the Hungry Horse Dam! Such a beautiful drive!

Sunday morning we definitely didn't rush to get out of the hotel. I honestly think that we checked out maybe 5 minutes before the cut off!  We were definitely slow moving.  After we checked out of the hotel we stopped and visited the BF's cousin and his family.  I love these guys so much! I wish they lived in the same town!  While we were visiting they introduced us to a new board game.  It's called Ticket to ride.  Essentially the ideal is that there are train routes across the country, which is the board.  There are so many destinations, and it takes so many moves (train spots) to get there.  You get cards that are the destinations (like Seattle to Vegas).  How you move is buy drawing color cards.  You have to have the same amount of color cards as there are spots between the destinations.  The goal is to complete as many routes as possible.  It was so much fun.  It's definitely a game a strategy!! We are definitely picking this up to have for game night!

The time away with the BF was so nice and relaxing.  It was fun to explore and see the beautiful spaces of Montana.  We really need to do more trips like this and cherish the space we have!!  Plus, any time I can get my BF away from the busy everyday life, I enjoy it!! Especially since yesterday was the first games of softball season!! Time starts to get busy from this point on and I cherished the time!!

xoxo,

Mikal-Anne