Whitefish, Montana

Since this particular trip through Whitefish was in August, it was nice, sunny and warm. Whitefish is a beautiful little town, with beautiful scenery.

 

It’s so beautiful, ABC’s The Bachelor 2013 even filmed an episode there. (They spent their group date canoe racing, milking goats, and bucking hay*…because that’s what all Montana girls do…) (That being said, most Montana girls probably do know what “bucking hay” is… but if you don’t know, the dictionary defines it as: “is a type of manual labor where hay bales, usually 65 lb. to as much as 140 lb., are stacked by hand in a storage area such as a barn.”)

 

Whitefish is a very tourist-friendly town – and not just because it’s a world-renowned ski destination, but it also has so much to do in the summer. Even the ski hill (Whitefish Mountain Resort - also known as Big Mountain) offers a full season of summer activities, including zip-lining, hiking, and mountain biking. You can also take the ski-lift up to the summit to enjoy the summer view!

 

There’s also Whitefish Lake, fishing tournaments, wine festivals, and a Huckleberry Arts Festival (this year is August 9-11), which includes a dessert back-off contest…hmmmm… I might need to plan a trip around that…)

The town itself is worth walking around (and is “pedestrian-friendly”), with it’s quirky shops with art galleries (generally local artists) and jewellery (mostly, if not all, hand crafted) stores.

So, summer in Whitefish is great, BUT it really is best known for it’s winter activities. Not only winter fishing, sleigh riding, the local dog-sledding activities and the Whitefish Winter Carnival (pay special attention – we’ve missed it this year, but it’s the 54th (?) annual, so you can plan to make it next year!), but, also! cross country and downhill skiing and snowboarding at the Whitefish Mountain Resort!


Somehow, I had not previously gone down hill skiing, until I was about 15, when my friends, Shannan (previously mentioned) and her sister, Stacey, made me go. I was scared to death!! And, she said, “oh no – it’s really easy! You just have to point your skies down hill and then go like this” (snow-plow motion) “to slow down” and THEN! took me up a chair lift!! No, NOT the bunny hill, which is scary enough, but up a real hill!!! (Chair #3, which – ok, is called “Tenderfoot”, but don’t let that fool you!! It was SUPER STEEP AND REALLY SCARY!)

Not to mention that the Chair lift is scary enough, your first couple of times …how to disembark, how to not fall disembarking …how to not fall off on the way up the hill!!


So, there I am, safely off the Lift, and staring straight down the hill, straight at the Lodge, waaaaaaaaaaaay down below…I’m not sure how long it took to get down the mountain. I crawled down the first 50 feet, and then skied from one side to the other side of the mountain, zigzagging the whole way down, and when I’d get to the tree line, I’d lay down on the snow, and flip over… it was a long process.

I can’t remember if I had fun or not…

Last year, I decided to try snowboarding. But, I took official lessons at Big Mountain (they had a great deal – 2 lessons, equipment, and lift tickets, for around $70! The catch is: you are supposed to take those lessons within two days.)

I barely could walk the day after my first lesson. I mean – not at all. I did manage to get in my second lesson. Barely. The second day was better. It wasn’t good. I am actually terrible at it. Terrible.

 

Later, when in physio therapy, they asked “Did you at least have fun?” I actually can’t remember if I did or not.. BUT, I’m at least crossing it off my list of things I haven’t tried before…

 

One of my favorite things was listening to my snowboarding instructor talking to his co-workers. “Listen – this is what I’m thinking – we should climb up on that roof, and we should board off the end, and flip around in the air and land on that roof, and then hit that mound of snow, and then go off a jump over there, and then end in that mound, and that’s when someone should take a picture of all the powder flying” (or something like that – probably really cool words, though, instead of just the basic “flip” and “jump”.) The best part, though, was the follow-up conversation: “DUDE!” “YEAH duuuuude!” “Du-u-ude”. (and all the “dude”-ing totally made sense. “TO-O-O-O-tally, Dude.”)

Peter, and the friends with us, had a wonderful time skiing. Best snow ever (today’s snow report has 85 inches (216 cms) of snow at the base) – they went through the snow ghosts, they went down the north side, they did jumps and moguls. They passed me on the bunny hill many, many times.

 

Oh! and don’t forget the Pond Skim! This year, it’s April 6. Have you ever seen this? It’s a bunch of crazy people who – well, actually, this is what the website says: “The pond skimming celebrates the wacky feeling of spring and the end of the ski season. Participants must have skis or snowboards appropriately worn (normally mounted) as they attempt to cross an 80+ foot pond…”

Don’t forget to go to the Bierstube pub while you are there, and get your free souvenir ring!!!!! I got mine when I was about 15, and I’ve since lost it. They keep track, too, so you can’t get another one… :’(

…

See you Wednesday!  (Hopefully- this one is two days late - I had no internet!!)

Eureka, Montana

45 minutes south of Fernie, and just on the other side of the US/Canada border, you will find Eureka, Montana.

Once upon a time, people would only know "Eureka" if I added the identifying "you drove through it on the way to Whitefish" (where everyone goes skiing.) (Or if coming from somewhere other than Canada, people might have an idea where it is if I added "It's close to the Canadian border...North of Whitefish, which is north of Kalispell, which is in Montana, which is in the northern part of the United States, and no, we don't all live in teepees, and yes, we have electricity there, and indoor plumbing.")

Although, to tell you the truth, when we first moved there, even further back, in the "once upon a time" story, we didn't have electricity OR indoor plumbing. But that was just us. Well, and our neighbor. They didn't have electricity or plumbing either... and they did live in a teepee... But, I'm pretty certain electricity and plumbing were available. I'm pretty certain some people had it...?

We moved to Eureka from Seattle, again "once upon a time... a long, long, long time ago."

Eureka was so "old west" back then, that the week we moved to town, there was an actual "shoot-out" from the rooftops, between some of the locals (can I call them "red-necks"?) and the sheriff and deputy. I don't know the cause, but a couple of years ago, I was reminiscing with my Mom, and she said that wasn't the only time that happened!

When I was in school, there was (and this is true) a bike rack AND a hitching post for those who want to ride their horses to school. It didn't get used often, but it DID get used!!

That was then... but now! people actually go TO Eureka! They go for the sake of being IN EUREKA! Can you believe that?

Having spent most of growing-up time in the Eureka area, this makes total sense to me, though. An abundance of beautiful, clear, warm lakes in the summer, never crowded. Mountains for hiking and huckleberry picking.

By the way - have you ever had huckleberries? They are THE BEST berries EVER!! Generally, you can find huckleberry milkshakes, syrups, jams, pies, hand lotion and jelly beans in little stores (and sometimes even Wal-mart) all over Montana and Idaho. (Apparently, they are Idaho's Official State Fruit.)

Here's how I remember Huckleberry Picking (which I loved to do): driving way up a mountain (generally one that had, at one point or another, gone through a forest fire), climbing up a steep slope, trying to get down-wind from bears (who also love huckleberries), wrapping one arm around the huckleberry bush (so you don't slide down the shale) while holding the ice cream bucket...

My friend, Tammy, was the best-ever Huckleberry Picker. She would collect buckets of huckleberries for the day, and then she'd sell them for $20-$30 a gallon!! She supported herself a whole summer that way!

On the other hand, I would come back with maybe 1/3 of a bucket, purple stained fingers, purple stained lips, and scrapes and scratches, after either eating most of them OR dropping them all down the mountain.

In the winter, we have snow mobiling, snow shoeing (which I never did because I didn't "get" that it was recreational - at one point, my parents used it for a source of transportation), cross-country skiing, and down-hill skiing at the nearby Big Mountain, in Whitefish (or Fernie BC - see blog Feb 10, 2013). Oh! and dog sledding. (I only found out about this in the last couple of years, actually - after I went to my first Iditarod in Alaska (see future blog, starting March 3rd.)

Eureka is said to have the best weather in all of Montana. (Is it said by people who live in other places?) We always called it "the Banana Belt" of Montana, and now that I'm researching, I see that that's "official". The summer is almost always hot and sunny (with the best lightning storms!); the winter always has the fun snow that you can go sledding in, or make a snow man - not usually too cold to go outside - it's a Winter Wonderland! the spring is always on time, with fresh air and flowers; and fall is nice crisp air, with changing leaves. Oh! and we have Western Larch, which look like evergreens, with needles, but then the needles turn color and fall off, like leaves.

Also, since we have no pollution, you can see bzillions of stars, occasionally watch the Aurora Borealis, and/or catch a meteor shower.

Near Eureka (ok, about 45 minutes away), but "near" by Montana standards is the West Kootenai Amish Community.

Personally, I find the Amish culture fascinating! They still drive around in horse-drawn buggies. They go to school in a one-room school-house, and they speak German. They don't have electricity or telephones in their homes. They make their own furniture. They make their own candles. You can go up to the community and buy home-made goods (jams, candles, bread, and I think, quilts and furniture).

And, my Mom tells me that nowadays, they also have an all-you-can eat dinner buffet on Friday nights. It's so popular, reservations are recommended. (It kind of makes me giggly that there's a website for this... )

If you are not completely intrigued and feel compelled to take a drive up to the Amish Community. This can only mean one thing: I haven't explained it properly...

So, sometime early in the 1800's, the great explorer, David Thompson came through the area, and because of the native strain of tobacco the Indians were growing, he named the valley, the Tobacco Plains. Eurekans commemorate his visit, annually in April, with Rendezvous Days, where everyone dresses like mountain men and carry muskets. (Not everyone in Eureka is a "character", but there are more than a few REAL characters - I bring this up now because:...well, if you do go to Rendezvous Days sometime in the future, you should know that SOME of the people are not in costume, but those are really just their clothes.)

Officially "founded" in the 1880's by cattlemen and homesteaders, the area was first inhabited for centuries by the Kutenai Indians. In 1904, the Great Northern Railroad came through the Tobacco Valley and "the town of Eureka was born."

Oh goodness - you have to look at this website! The town now looks almost exactly like it does in the pictures! I'm serious - I'm certain some of those buildings are still there! I know that big white building is there (or at least it was there, last time I was on that road...) (There is pavement now, and the sidewalk is concrete, too... and there's not that many horses on main street.)

At 1037 people (as per the 2010 census), Eureka is the metropolis! Taking in the outlying areas (which were assigned to our High School area - Lincoln County High School - GO LIONS!), we include Fortine (population in 2000 was 169), Trego (no data for "Trego" town, but outlying areas - approximate population: 541), and Rexford (105 in 2010.) My graduating class had 63 kids, and we were one of the larger classes.

Well, now that I'm talking about it, I'm feeling a tiny bit homesick...

Sunday, on to Whitefish, MT.