Montana Updates

Stories from the road
March 16, 2017
Whitefish, Montana
Del Mar, California

My computer stopped sending emails before we got to Whitefish. Here is the final update of our adventure. Even computer guru Michael Gold doesn’t know why!

We had a clear driving day for the five-hour journey from Big Sky to Whitefish, an outdoor community 50 miles south of the Canadian border. Dennis, Vicki, and I saw 4 or 5 deer on the road to the home of Carole and Roger Spragg, neighbors in Del Mar. One ran in front of our car and jumped a snow bank in dramatic fashion.

This morning Roger, Vicki, Dennis, and I drove to Big Mountain to ski. Dennis decided to read in the lodge, while the three of us headed up the main lift, after taking a practice run on shorter trails off lift 2.

At the summit we found several inches of new snow, which was heavy with moisture but fun nevertheless. Roger took us to a new part of the mountain that featured narrow, twisting trails that were a challenge. We all did pretty well and later met Dennis for lunch at the Base lodge.

After lunch we made a couple more runs. By then the tails were slick, and we decided to drive back to the Spraggs. Roger and Dennis had left earlier. The Spraggs live on 12 acres in a gated community. Wildlife is abundant. We have seen wolf tracks, and Roger’s outdoor camera captured a mountain lion on his deck a while ago. Deer roam in his backyard, and Vicki and I saw 4 black bears one summer on the road from the Spraggs to the main gate.

Probably twenty-five years ago Vicki and I skied at Big Mountain before we knew Roger and Carole. The town was just beginning to transition from a country town to a resort community. There were few restaurants and shops in the main part of town. Things are different now with lots of eateries and shops. Only thirty minutes from Glacier National Park, Whitefish is becoming an increasingly popular place to vacation and live.

Day 2 on the mountain brought fog and almost zero visibility. I went up alone, but came in after one run, as I could see nothing. On the way down the mountain I used the definition provided by the pine trees to guide me, but the going was slow. The next day, Dennis, Roger, and I found only ice. The skiing was treacherous, and we stopped early.

On our last night we ate at the Golf Course Restaurant, my favorite in Whitefish. My martini and prime rib were perfect, and the price was right. The next day I went to return my Jeep Cherokee to Enterprise, only to find there was no Enterprise office at the Kalispell Airport. With some scrambling I found out what to do with the car, and then we were off to San Diego, via Salt Lake City.