A couple of weeks ago Steven and I went on a little spring break trip. We didn't go to Mexico, or Hawaii, or Southern California, or Florida (like all of my students did...). We went on a road trip to Whitefish, Montana. How adventurous are we?!? The most, actually. We knew we didn't want to pay to fly anywhere, and we also knew that we didn't feel like driving far enough for warm sunshine (though I desperately wanted warm sunshine!!!). We originally planned to go to Tahoe (I've still never been there) but our timeshare resort in Whitefish was only an 8 hour drive as opposed to the 13 hours it would have taken us to get to Tahoe. And what a beautiful drive it was!!!
As we passed through Idaho, I was struck by how strange it was that we were on a "sideways" road trip. I've never gone on a road trip that required me to cross a time zone before. I've driven up and down the west coast more than a few times but there was just something totally different about the west-east drive. Montana has a lot to offer when it comes to a scenic drive: rivers, fields, lakes, wildlife, mountains, farms, old broken down barns and other buildings, etc. I loved it.
Our condo in Whitefish was pretty nice. It was an older building, which I was a little uncertain about when we first arrived, but it was very specious and they had a well equipped kitchen! Of course, I cooked ahead of time to minimize my time in the kitchen but it was still nice to know I could have done some real cooking if I wanted to. The hot tub was right outside our door and we had a wood burning fireplace with a free tub of fire wood! These are the two features we enjoyed the most. Our one complaint was that the shower was really short. Like ridiculously, hilariously short. It was a very relaxing vacation with lots of board games, hot tubbing, and listening to Harry Potter while sitting in front of the fireplace.
Whitefish is about a 45 minute drive from Glacier National Park so we drove over there on our first day. We weren't really sure what to expect. We knew we wouldn't be able to drive very far on the the Going to Sun Road (it isn't completely plowed until sometime in June or even July) but we kind of thought we would be able to go for a hike. No such luck. Well, not for this fair-weather hiker anyway. It was cold and the weather wasn't very nice. Plus, we were told that most of the trails were all pretty muddy if not still covered in snow.
We decided just to drive as much of the road as we could and get out and walk around a bit here and there. We stopped at Lake McDonald first and had our lunch at the end of the dock. The water was impossibly clear and it was very, very quiet out there. A beautiful spot for a picnic.
Note the rain clouds slowly approaching...
We're so cute.
Steven said our heads couldn't touch in this photo because he wanted to try to get the mountains behind us a little bit. It only kind of worked. The clouds did an excellent job of thwarting our plan.
Crystal clear lake and a perfect reflection. The lake was so still and peaceful.
Down at the dock by the Lake McDonald Lodge. It isn't open at this time of year but that's as far as the road was open for us to drive on (about 10 miles from where we started at the other end of Lake McDonald).
Skipping rocks. Of course. Can't waste an opportunity with a lake so smooth and about a zillion little flat rocks around.
And here comes the rain. SO glad we weren't on a hike at this point!
I've always wanted to take a raindrop picture!
Much more impressive splash from the huge rocks Steven was throwing into the water.
Aaaaaand a feather. Check out the color of these rocks though. Aren't they cool? They seemed really bright in person.
At this point in the day Steven and I were more than ready to head back and jump right into the hot tub.
The next day we took some time to go into town and do a little birthday shopping and grab lunch. And on the last day of our trip it was sunny and beautiful! But cold cold cold! I really wanted to see Glacier in the sunshine and Steven was kind enough to agree to drive back there... just for a few beautiful photos.
I was so glad we had gone a couple of days before as well because this day was really windy and the lake itself was so much more beautiful when it was still.
However, the snow capped mountains are much prettier without clouds covering them. We went back to the condo for a little hot tubbing that afternoon -- it was so sunny we even got a little tan! It was 39 degrees out and we were in a hot tub and we got tan. Pretty cool.
And then it was on to the next adventure. Being the amazing wife that I am, I decided to surprise Steven with a little rock climbing trip as an early birthday gift. He's really gotten into climbing during his months working at Stone Gardens this past winter and I figured he would think it was pretty cool to do some outdoor rock climbing in Montana. I sort of thought I was going to get laughed at when I e-mailed the guy asking if he was doing any climbs so early in the season but he was excited about it and we ended up being his first rock climbing group this year (one day after the ski season closed).
Surprisingly, at this stage of the game I wasn't even nervous. Just feeling a little silly after wiggling into that crazy tight little harness.
Steven was pretty stoked and Link, our rock climbing expert, was glad to have a trustworthy person to belay him.
I don't know if you can tell from this picture but the top is way up there. At least, it seemed pretty high to me. Also take note of the portions of the climb where it looks like the rock is just flat. As in, nothing to grab onto to pull yourself up.
I really didn't want to take my turn. It was difficult right off the bat. I didn't understand how you could just grab or step onto a tiny little ridge in the rock and have it hold you. I just kept feeling like there was nothing to reach for.
Here's my view from part way up! There were a few times throughout the climb when I was really really nervous.
I even asked to come down, more than once, and they wouldn't let me. I got a little panicky but I didn't cry. It wasn't that I was afraid I would actually fall all of the way down but I definitely felt responsible for keeping myself on the rock and there were moments when I didn't think I could possible do it any longer. I did finally make it to the top though, where I promptly shouted, "Okay, I did it! Can I come down now?" They had to remind me to take a moment to look around.
My view from the top!
I couldn't turn around and look straight down, that was too much for me, so I just took a photo.
I made it! I guess I'm glad I reached the top but I do not ever want to go rock climbing again. We can go horseback riding, or white water rafting, or scuba diving, but no thank you on the rock climbing.
Steven loved it. He took a few turns and I got to belay him once.
Apparently my helmet was crooked the whole time but Steven never told me because he thought it was cute.
They talked me into trying again. It was a little easier the second time, at least this beginning part, but I chose to come down before I reached the panicky part again. I wanted to end on a good note. Plus, the sun was starting to go down and it became more and more difficult for me to hang on as it got colder.
I love my husband.
Oh my goodness! Look at those hands! Oiy. I couldn't believe how dirty the rope was. What I should have taken a picture of was my knees! Being the inexperienced climber that I am, I might have used my knees more than once to try to get up on a ledge or steady myself or whatever. I knew that probably wasn't the way I was supposed to do it but at the time, I was just committed to not falling. I still have bruises on my knees! I couldn't wear skirts or dresses the first week back to school and when I wore one this week one of my students asked, with great concern, "Mrs. Lentz! What happened to your knees?!?" Oh dear.
On our way home we stopped in Medical Lake and had dinner with some of my dad's family. We had planned to stay the night but once we were that close to home, we decided we would rather just keep driving and sleep in our own bed that night. We were so glad we did! Steven was awesome and drove the whole way. We got back around 1am and it was nice to have the whole next day to just clean up and unpack and get ready to go back to work. Fortunately, I still had the weekend before having to go back to school. We had a lovely little trip. It was just nice to get away together for a few days and relax. I'm voting for someplace tropical on our next vacation though : )
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