Day 4: North of Flathead Lake, South of Glacier

It's about 5:45 on Tuesday afternoon, and rather than running like a madman to the next thing, I figured I'd slow down and get settled in to a Motel for the next few days. I'm staying at the Rodeway Inn. I do not know why they've chosen such a clever name--the spelling of "Rode" in that fashion was an excellent decision, since it got my attention amongst its competition (Holiday Inn, La Quinta, Super 8, Motel 6). None of those say Montana to me, but the Rodeway Inn is definitely Montana.

Before I get in to the day, I just want to say thanks for all the encouragement folks are giving me on the blog. I think there's a way to subscribe so you'll get updates emailed to you, but I'm really not that familiar with this whole computer thing. Feel free to post your comments on the blog too (you can do that anonymously and give me crap), so fire away....

Also, today's blog is long on rambling, short on action. So if you don't want to read through the stuff below, you can see the highlights here. I try and put captions with photos on Snapfish, but only have so much brain power to write captions and blog simultaneously. And I know my writing isn't perfect, so eat me. But the thought has occured to me that if I was a writer I could put together some clever short stories on all of these random episodes I've had. Kinda like Kramer/J Peterman. Before the whole racist rant thing, I really liked Kramer. Underrated guy on the show...these are a few great ones:

Moviefone

TCB

Kramerica Industries (couldn't find on Youtube)

Merv Griffin

I'm still in Kalispell, about 2 miles from the hotel I stayed in last night, which is not a big deal. Let me just walk through my thought process before 11 AM to explain why I'm still in Kalispell.

• Wake Up in Kalispell Grand Hotel, Annie hogging the Twin Bed, slept like crap.
  Decide I need to go to Glacier today or tomorrow.
• To do this, I need to either find lodging or a dog walking facility for her
• Clean Up
• Walk Annie, Leave her in car
• Go to hotel, check out
• Drive car to coffee shop
• Eat
• Search for dog kennels online, its a pain in the ass and expensive
• Search for motel room on hotels.com.
• Make a reservation at the Rodeway Inn
• High five myself in my head for getting a "good" deal on a hotel room at a place with such an awesome name
• Ask waitress for day hike I can take annie on prior to checking in to hotel
• Go on Hike, Wander Rest of Day

Looking back on that whole process, several steps never needed to happen...total waste. My former coworkers are probably smirking at the Waste in all of that. All in all, I could have just stayed in my last hotel room, but the lack of wireless was not helpin' my cause and I just didn't dig it.

So my day really began after breakfast, heading to a hike in Columbia Falls at Columbia Mtn. Columbia falls is about 15 minutes north of Kalispell, and my waitress (Emily) said it was where she would go on a day off of work. I've found that's a good question to get a "local" perspective on things. Obviously people live in this part of the country for a reason, so why not ask the people who know the best stuff around? Duh. And if a tourist came to you in whatever city you are reading this from, I'd hope you wouldn't send them to a tourist trap or lame attraction (see Navy Pier, Pike Place Market).

Anyhow, the hike was tough on Annie. Very steep, and I have a hunch we're at some elevation (at least that's the excuse I'm giving myself for being winded as well). It was probably 2 miles to the lookout at the top, and we made it in about an hour or so. Rather than head to Kalispell, I decided to take a field trip down Route 2, the road that leads in to Glacier. I just need to say it again, but the whole "go with the flow" attitude is really fun--no timetables, no schedules, no commitments (other than Annie). Its like travelling abroad, just not so far away.

We cruised through to Hungry Horse National Park, which got me thinking what Native Americans would have named Annie and I if they stumbled across she and I in the woods. Annie would obviously bark at them once they stopped petting her, so I think the name for her would be: "Thundering Cucumber." I don't know what they'd call me, probably "Skinny Jackass Wearing a Bears Hat." I guess that counts as a tangent, so I'll retroactively warn you.

Hungry Horse was pretty cool 'cause NO ONE was there. I had an entire Lake to myself, with amazing views of Snowcapped Mountains, and I think that may be the benefit of not flocking to tourist spots. I still want to see some of those traditional tourist spots, but there's also something to be said for getting off the Interstate and checking out some really cool stuff.

After Hungry Horse I decided to continue on Route 2 to West Glacier. One of the guys I met last night (I think its Roger) worked with his mom at a camera store in West Glacier, and I had nothing else to do so went and paid them a visit. He's a sharp kid--graduated from Wash U in St Louis and has a degree in Engineering. He's a Cards fan, but a nice guy, and it was funny to see him working with his mom. They had great senses of humor as we chatted about the low tourism turnout thus far. I was the 2nd customer of the day, and reminded them that technically I'm a 'visitor' and should not be counted in their census....always thinking facts/data thanks to you Lean folks. They gave me a cool recommendation to a path along the Flatlead River which I headed to with Annie. I floated down that river during our family trip here in the 90's, and it was pretty cool to see it flowing. Annie and I had one wildlife moment that freaked the sh*t out of me with a snake. Annie took us down to the riverfront, and as she comes across an uprooted tree stump her ears and tail pointed straight up which means its "Go Time" with a small animal. I look closer, and see a snake slither through the tree and in to some grass nearby. Yowsa my heart jumped through my throat.

Tangent: I hate snakes. I'm sure they're really nice animals for snake lovers, I just don't like seeing them in the wild. As a kid who grew up in suburban Chicago, the wildlife I am comfortable seeing in public are birds, squirrels, deer, and the ocassional raccoon. Since I'm on the topic of animals I don't really care for, here are the things that freak me out with animals: 1) Live fish touching me. whether its under water or not, I just don't like 'em. Of course, this instantly eliminates fishing as a potential hobby, and I'm totally fine with that. 2) Birds flying inside. I hate when birds flap their wings indoors. Even if they have their wings clipped I still don't like 'em. 3) Snakes (see above) 4) Pigeons. I have a hypothesis that our natural food chain would go completely un-influenced if we removed Pigeons from the food chain. Other than Mike Tyson and something for people to feed in Europe, is there a benefit to these animals?

So back to the topic at hand, tonight I have two choices. At 730 there is a monster truck rally at the Fairgrounds in town; at 830 there is an Open Mic night at a local bar. Either way, there will be some interesting people watching...but I'm leaning towards Open Mic since that's where my friend from the camera store will be going, and they seem to be good guys.

With a web connection, I'll keep the updates rollin'.