ALMOST THERE

May 16

It's my final day of driving, about 6 hours. And I am stopping in Missoula on the way to Bigfork so I can get my favorite pizza -- McKenzie River Pizza. Yum!! I thought about shopping when I arrived -- it's a beautiful, sunny day and people are everywhere downtown. But I really wanted to arrive at my new place in time to see the Preakness. I had a feeling the filly would win, and she didn't let me down. The fillies don't usually race against the boys unless they have a better than average chance of winning it.

Now, when I say I have a view from my porch, I am not kidding (see the pictures). This lovely log home sits on a steep hill overlooking Flathead Lake (largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi), with pine trees, hummingbirds (this little one keeps buzzing me), and nature all around. It is just beautiful and a great place to unwind. I'm so glad to be in Montana again -- just feels like home.

The apartment is very cute with a little living room off the front door, complete with french doors into the kitchen where we have a dining table, and what I'll term as a "reading nook" with an overstuffed leather chair and a uniqiue, handcrafted floor lamp. Of course, this entire area has become my "office".

Surprisingly, the bedroom is the largest room in the apartment with a huge walk-in closet. And both the bedroom and living room have windows that look right out at the lake, so again, it's a wonderful view.

So my project (after rentals, of course) is to go through all the local "travel books" that the owner has supplied and make a list of all the things I can find to do and see. And there are a lot of them out there. I'm excited -- everything from finding hiking trails, to booking a helicopter flight over Glacier, to taking a boat to Wild Horse Island (in the middle of Flathead Lake -- told you it was big).