A Finish to the Great Vacation

June 27-28

Saturday Delores and I are doing something we really enjoy doing -- SHOPPING!! We decided to make this the day that we checked out some of the great places I have found while I've been here.

So our first stop is Kalispell, where they have a fairly large farmers market. As with most of these markets, they tend to be more of a craft fair, with a few home grown vegetables and some flowers. We did see many great fun booths, and I spent some time talking to a photographer who was selling her pictures and had put together note cards with the photo's. So I got the scoop on how she made these, and I might just give this a try. I don't have the greatest camera equipment, and if I was still doing horse photography, I would probably have a fancy digital camera with a great telephoto lense. But I do think I've taken some decent pictures. So if all I ever do is put together note cards to give out as Christmas presents, it will be a fun project. I love doing photography, and sometimes it is hard to take a bad picture with all this beautiful scenery. We'll see what happens.

One of the booth's we particularly liked was one where they were making freshly deep fried mini donuts. They were SO GOOD!! It was like the Lay's potato chip commercial -- "you can't eat just one". So we both ate a lot more than "just one".

Then it was on to Whitefish. There are many cute shops in Whitefish for just about everything. We found huckleberry fudge, huckleberry syrup and jam. Lots of art stores with some very lovely pieces (most of them too expensive for me, but very nice to look at), and many clothing and t-shirt shops. And of course, there is McKenzie River Pizza Company for lunch. This time, no pizza. We decided we needed to eat healthy, and had a great salmon ceasar salad.

It was back to Bigfork, but not until we stopped at this great place I'd had passed many, many times on the way to Glacier Park. I was waiting for Delores to fly out as I knew she would love it as well. It is probably an acre of this guys front yard which is filled everywhere with chainsaw carved bears, mooses, buffalos, beavers, horses, etc. They also number of small buildings filled with just beautiful rustic and adarondack furniture, from benches, beds, night stands, coffee tables, hickory rocking chairs, etc. It was called Glacier Rustic Furniture, and of course, Delores and I both had to buy something. She got a bear carving which was actually a planter. And I bought something I didn't need, but just thought was too cute to pass up -- a chainsaw carved horse (picture attached). It was fun just to walk around.

Our last stop was this wonderful pottery store I found in Bigfork. All of the pottery (includes plates, bowls, mugs, vases, pitchers of all sizes and shapes, honey pots, etc.) is made by Montana artists, and they have horses, bears, buffalos, cats, etc. on them and of course for those who don't want the animals, they have more plain pottery done in the most beautiful colors. The owner told me that some people will build their entire kitchen around the pottery they find in the store.

So it is time to get ready for our evening activity -- RODEO!! Polson, MT has a big PBR (Professional Bull Riders) competition and rodeo. We went with my friends Jane and Jack, and we had a great time. Poor Jack had been baleing hay all day, so I do think he was tired. The best part of the rodeo was at 7:00 before the rodeo started at 8. It was for the kids. The first competition was for the little kids, and they were TOO CUTE. These little 5-8 year old boys (by the way, they don't allow girls to compete -- not in the kids section or the regular rodeo) dressed up in their color coordinated cowboy outfits with the hats, vests, chaps, etc. I don't remember exactly what they called this particular competition, but they put these little kids on sheep, and they rode them like the big guys rode the bucking horses or bulls. Except that the sheep didn't buck -- they ran. And they actually didn't run that far, because when the kid's weight shifted (like to come off), they tipped the sheep over and the sheep fell down. It was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. There was actually one child who was 3, and when they opened the gate (they used the bucking chutes), the mother was holding the little kid on the sheep. You can imagine how long that lasted -- about 1 second. But I'm sure the kid had a great time.

Then the regular rodeo started. They had bareback riding, saddle broncs, barrel racing, team roping, steer wrestling, and the main event -- bull riding. The bull riding cowboys have to be the crazies of the rodeo. At least when the cowboy comes off the horse, the horse doesn't come back to try to kill the cowboy. And we did see a few cowboys barely able to walk off, even with help of the cowboy clowns. They took some beatings out there.

And let me tell you about the cowboy clown at this rodeo. Most people know that the rodeo clown has an important job -- he draws the bull away from the cowboy. So it is a dangerous job. But in many cases, they also entertain the brown. This one clown was voted the "entertainer of the year" for rodeo clowns. And this guy was just a hoot. He had more stories and jokes, which he used to entertained the crowd with between events. But the best bit was when he came out as the Village People doing a dance to "YMCA". Let me see if I can describe this. He had 4 dummies dressed up as 4 of the Village People, and they were attached to these poles which controlled the movement of their arms and legs. He was in the middle as the Indian, and he had the poles attached to his legs and hands, so when he moved, the dummies moved as well. It was one of the most ingenious things I have seen. When they first came out into the arena, the dummies looked so real (from a distance), that I almost thought he had 4 other guys with him. He did a dance and even did the "YMCA" movements. We all laughed so hard we almost fell off the bleechers.

It was a great evening. And when we left at 10:00, it still wasn't dark. It gets light out here at 5:30 in the morning (actually the birds outside the apartment start to sing at 4:45 AM), and at 10:00 at night, it is just starting to get dark. Makes for a very long day.

June 28

Our last day in Montana was spent packing and cleaning, with a trip to Seeley Lake. Delores had not seen this part of Montana, and she said she does like just driving around seeing what there is to see. This is a beautiful drive when we enjoyed. We also managed to find one of the homes I found on MLS using the GPS system. It was a cute log home on 2 acre lot (although I think a great deal of the lot was going down this very steep hill when was basically not usable). And the log house was really fairly small -- all priced around $210,000. Originally I thought I really wanted a small space, but now I'm thinking -- not so much. I think maybe I do want around 1,500 sq. ft. (what I have now). So I enjoyed looking in the windows and walking around the house, but too small for me.

Seeley Lake is a beautiful spot, set inbetween the Swan Mountains on the east and the Mission Mountains on the west. But I did notice that on this side of the Mission Mountains, there was a lot of snow left at the top of the mountains. I asked one person about the weather, and she did say it was colder and had more snow on this side of the Missions. She said the town was open, roads were plowed, and the kids all went to school. But that many people come for the summer, buy a house and spend the winter, and the house is up for sale the next spring.

So another voice heard from in the never ending discussion -- to live in Montana in the winter or not.