Last I left you all it was Wednesday and the Wordens and the Frenches had extended their stay a few days, but sadly Brett and Sara had departed. Wednesday Ash, Alicia, and I headed to West Glacier for a fabulous helicopter tour of Glacier National Park . Captain Kruger was our guide and he did not disappoint.
While we helicoptered over Glacier, the Wordens and the Frenches toured Glacier by car and by foot...driving the Going-To-The-Sun-Road up to Logan Pass and the Continental Divide, and by hiking through the park.
That night we stayed in again for dinner and enjoyed some yummy pasta and that ever important bread (had to be there). The evening wound down once again with drinks and tunes on the porch.
Thursday morning Ash, Alicia, Wally and I fished the Swan River. The Swan is my favorite. As Alicia says...."it's so intimate." It's beautiful and remote. I love it. As I mentioned before my regular guide couldn't join us on the first day of fishing, so Alicia and I were ecstatic to finally get to see Rod and more importantly fish with him. At lunch, we presented Rod with our "special gift." Alicia and I had made him a photo book in celebration of our five years of fishing together. He was touched....really. The fishing disappointed that day, but the fun did not. Alicia was in rare form and kept us laughing the whole day.
After a great day on the water we headed to the "Wan Bar" (aka the Swan Bar) for burgers and beer. There we met up with Keri, Char, and Kirk who had tubed the Swan River down by the house and had many of their own tales of the day.
Friday morning Keri, Wally, Kirk, and Char sadly did in fact leave. That day Ash, Alicia, and I headed over to West Glacier to meet up with Banning for a half day fish of the Middle Fork of the Flathead River. We finally had a great day of actually catching fish, even though my casting left something to be desired. Banning used to guide up in West Glacier during the summer, so he was full of tidbits along the trip and introduced us to all the locals.
After the trip, we met up with some of the other guides and old pals of Banning's for the third annual "Shoot Shit" skeet shoot competition. We had tons of fun, even though we stuck out like a sore thumb amongst this motley crew. After the Shoot Shit we joined the participants for a drink at the local bar before parting ways with Banning, Danger, Spanky, Bartles & Jaymes and the rest of the locals and we headed back to Bigfork.
On our last full day in Montana, we spent the day lounging around the house....reading, watching the Olympics, and just "generally kickin' it." We even canceled our dinner reservations and opted to stay in with pizza that night. We were really milking the down time.
But, as all good things do, this too ended on Sunday. We are all devastated to be back home in the brutal heat and back in the daily grind. In fact, I suggest you all check in on me regularly just to be safe. It was a wonderful trip and I can't wait until next year!
For all the pics from Montana click here.
2 comments:
I am in a deep depression! It's my birthday and I have left Montana. Double Whammy!
Love all the pics and stories! Can I come along one year? It is so beautiful.
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