Montana | The Road Home

Posts from the ‘Montana’ category

From Wayfarer’s State Park on a sunny Winter’s Day

Wayfarer’s State Park is located on the northeast shore of Flathead Lake, just south of Bigfork and Bigfork Bay. It is about 7 miles south of where I live.

On the capture above (Google Map Satellite), the entrance is from Hwy 35 just south of where Hwy 209 meets Hwy 35. A lower picnic area is the JH Horn Memorial Park. You can park there and walk a loop trail to the lake, up to an overlook and back through woods and meadow to JH Horn. There are also several short loop walks in the woods around the picnic areas at JH Horn.

Wayfarer’s has a campground with beautiful campsites from tent sites up to large motorhome sites and many have views of the lake. There are picnic areas along a rocky beach that looks to the bay and a boat launch at the lake end of the beach. South of the boat launch is a cliff area with benches to sit and enjoy the view or you can walk over the cliffs and find wildflowers growing in the cracks of the cliff rock plus more trails that join up to the campsites.

It is a beautiful park and although it can be very busy 4th of July through mid-August and summer weekends, other times I’ve been and feel like I’m the only person there. Karl and I went there often and outside of summer, I was able to allow him off leash on the trail and beach. It was a bit much for Bear and we went only a few times for walks, but we often drove in and down to the beach and back to see and smell (Bear)!

I went today for the first time in over a year. I wanted to see what the trails looked like for snowshoeing and it was such a gorgeous day, I also just wanted to walk along the lake a bit and enjoy the scenery, the sunshine, blue sky and fresh air.

The photos below are taken near the spot marked Wayfarers Campground. It is faint, but there is a line like the road lines extending into the lake. That is a large dock and I walked to the end to take the photos: the first 2 are looking the direction the arrow points – toward Bigfork Bay. The second 2 are looking south toward Polson, Montana.

From this morning’s Instagram Story

I’ve been doing sunrise snowshoe outings when weather and work schedule align…

This morning.

After a storm dropping 4 inches of snow, a bit of blue sky and sunshine … a perfect morning.

Photos from my Instagram Story (iPhone):

Snow Scenes on a cold Winter’s Day

This morning started out at -2F and got to a high of 12F. But when it is this cold, it is usually clear and beautiful … especially with nearly 2 feet of snow on the ground and much more in the mountains.

Bear and I took the Jeep for a look see…

Handmade Holiday in Whitefish, Montana

I’ve been watching the weather and hoping, hoping, hoping… for now snow or ice or bad driving this weekend.

Handmade Holiday in Whitefish was Friday evening, and today. I wanted badly to attend.

And I did! We’ve been under an inversion and it is cold and damp, but the roads are bare and dry.

The event features local makers and is held in the Whitefish Grange aka Bohemian Hall. Inside the Grange is like a cozy cabin and the makers were set up nicely throughout the space.

My primary reason for wanting to attend was to add to my Heidi Haugen Pottery collection. I bought individual pieces and then an entire set of dishes from Heidi 17 or 18 years ago. At that time, Heidi sold her pottery primarily from Bookworks, an independent bookseller in Whitefish. Heidi worked in the bookstore Saturday mornings as well. Recently we reconnected via Instagram and in addition to adding some new pottery, I was looking forward to seeing her.

What’s left of the original pieces… I think there were tears when I broke the last mug. But, I am thrilled that some has survived my several moves and dishwashing fiascos.

The new pieces from today. I had hoped a honey pot might still be available but they sold Friday night. Another time. I was very pleased that the bowls were not sold out!

And I had a wonderful time catching up a little with Heidi. Also saw other Whitefish folks I knew. All in all, a grand Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, at home…

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care…

Some of us are more naughty than nice…

And visions of sugar plums ???

Holiday Joy.

Thanksgiving Day

An unusual Thanksgiving Day this year …

It started at 51F with a blustery, but warm wind. It felt more like late September than late November.

We enjoyed much of the day on the front porch.

And although there are a lot of larch needles on the ground (and in the house!), there is still a lot of gold in the woods.

The Western Larch are beautiful against a gray sky and also when the sun shines on them.

And then there is Thanksgiving dinner.

I had sardines and black beans for my Thanksgiving dinner. Not exactly the traditional turkey and fixings.

A little over a week ago, I fell. Ironically, I tripped over a mat that I placed on the transition between front porch and walk way. That spot gets slippery in the winter and the mat is for both footing and as a reminder to me to slow down. Right. I was moving too fast and not thinking what I was doing. I barely saved myself from a face plant on the concrete and managed to tuck and roll kind of sideways on to the grass. But my tote bag was under my arm and I came down on that hard enough to get an “oof” and partially knock the wind out. Rats. Ribs again. So nights have been majorly uncomfortable and daytime not too bad until yesterday when the muscles started doing little spasms. I was horribly uncomfortable.

In an effort to help things improve, I upped foods with potassium and calcium hoping to calm things down. At suppertime I got to thinking about some salmon for vitamin D but I just did not have the oomph to cook and then remembered the sardines – superfood! Black beans have good stuff also and I had some in the freezer so sardines and black beans. I had a better night and today, Thanksgiving Day felt MUCH better.

But, I wanted to stay feeling better and decided to stick with the superfood program, hence sardines and black beans for Thanksgiving dinner. I have my turkey thawed, some of the side dishes prepped and I baked a mini version of an Apple Skillet Cake for my sweet. The Thanksgiving turkey dinner will just be a day or two late.

That little cake smelled and looked so good. Between taking the photo and writing this post, the cake is half gone. Fortunately, it takes about 10 minutes to mix up and get in the oven so I can make another if necessary.

Not the usual Thanksgiving Day, but as I noted on my Instagram, I am thankful for another year with Bear and Auggie and today, I am very thankful that I am feeling better.

Happy Thanksgiving!