18.-24.06.2007: Bigfork - Whitefish - Glacier NP We set to work early on Monday getting the carpet up in the lounge. Andrew and Rosemary were having a new Cherry wood floor put in the next day, so we had to get the carpet up. We spent 6 hours moving furniture, pulling up the carpet, taking up the nail boards, pulling up the underlay and pulling out hundreds of carpet staples. Rosemary and Kirsten took stuff to the dump afterwards whilst Helen and Andrew finished the top step of the stairs which was just riddled with staples in the most awkward positions. The men turned up the next morning and started work on the new floor. We went for a short walk to the other side of Echo Lake and took photos of the bald eagles. Kirsten walked straight past a snake without even seeing it until Helen told her. She got a great shot of mother bald eagle carrying a fish to the nest to her young who are as big as their parents already! On Wednesday Rosemary took us to the local golf course for a treat. Kirsten has never played before. (Well she's played crazy golf but that doesn't count!) Rosemary hasn't been playing long and Helen hasn't played for 16 years! Rosemary and Helen were trying to show Kirsten how to hold a club and swing etc even though they are hardly qualified to teach anyone! Of course, the first hole was over water and Kirsten lost her first ball, but it is her first game! Fortunately, Rosemary had told us where the "old" balls were so that we wouldn't lose any of the good ones! (Wise woman!) Helen was amazed to find out that she could still hit a ball. In fact, she was hitting the balls too far and had to keep selecting shorter irons! Rosemary was playing really well but then we had some grumpy old men behind us on the course. So we stopped to let them through but then they walked off to a different hole! We had great fun and managed not to lose too many balls over the 9 nine holes. (4 lost between the four of us!) We stopped at the 9th hole and went to the restaurant for lunch. That evening, we went along with Rosemary and Corrine to the first part of their kayak course. Tonight was the safety session and on Saturday the group will be going for an all day kayak over to Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake. We really admired the two of them who are both in their late 60s, and were there with everyone else, rolling out of their kayaks into the water and learning how to climb back in. Amazing! It was great entertainment and Kirsten made a photo and video record for them so they can keep laughing about it in the future! On Thursday we went along with Rosemary for another hike with her group. This time we did a great loop walk towards Six mile peak, across a saddle and then down past Hall Lake. A total of 10 miles and about 2,000 ft elevation gain. We saw wonderful flowers and waterfalls on the way. The men doing the wood floor weren't due to start until later that morning and wouldn't be finished until early afternoon. So Rosemary thought we could go on the hike and get back before they left. Unfortunately, she thought the hike was only 6 miles but it turned out to be about 10 miles and took a lot longer than we thought. Consequently, she was trying to get everyone to pick up the pace. They all walked pretty fast but in the end it was to no avail because the men had got to the house early and finished at 2-30pm. We didn't get back until after 4pm. That evening, Rosemary went out with former colleagues and we went back to the steak restaurant with Andrew for another great steak! Later Andrew and Helen got out their violins and serenaded the rest of the houses on the lake. It isn't called Echo Lake for nothing! On Friday, we started cleaning the large amount of windows in the house. They had rung up a cleaner to come over but he didn't bother turning up, not once but twice. So we said we would do them. We only managed to do the basement windows and the kitchen and dining area ones because we had to leave at 6pm as we'd been invited to Corrine and Walter's. As soon as we got there, Max, their chocolate Labrador, stole half the bread off the kitchen counter and disappeared into the lounge to eat it!!! We'd made a potato salad and cinnamon rolls to take with us which we ate with sausages, salad and the rest of the bread! Then we went for a lovely boat ride on Flathead Lake in their pontoon boat. Some of the properties on the lake shore are huge and most are worth millions. We certainly had our eyes opened! When we got back, Walter gave Rosemary and Corrine some new gloves for their full day kayak trip tomorrow. (The best gloves "West of the Mississippi!" - a phrase that is constantly used here!) Corrine thought she had a pair with two right hands until it was pointed out to her that one was inside out!! On Saturday we got up early to say goodbye to Rosemary who was going on her kayak trip. We were leaving today so we would be gone by the time she got back. Andrew took us for a drive in his 1966 Mustang convertible! We practiced the "Royal wave" as we sped along the roads, turning heads wherever we drove! It was also a great day for riding with the top down and Kirsten's hair got blown all over the place in the back! We drove along a scenic road and stopped at Sandy's house who is one of the ladies in the hiking group we had met. Everyone had been telling us about Huckleberries which are local berries that grow wild in the area. We had never tried them and she gave us a pack of frozen berries. Her freezer was packed with them!! We said goodbye to Andrew and thanked him for the wonderful time we had spent with them. We will see them in Álamos over the winter and we will be there next year for the next MCT production. We drove to Kalispell and got an oil change, did some shopping and then drove to Whitefish to see Lisa. She is an artist we met last year in Southern Mexico on a beach we were staying at. We gave her a lift down to Playa Azul. We got there at 5pm and met two of her friends, Nancy and Peggy Sue. Lisa had prepared grilled salmon, salad, a really good potato salad and some yummy dips with rice chips. Then we went to our first "Block Party" - where the road to a whole block of houses is turned into a party with live music, barbecued food, drinks and even a skate board ramp! There were lots of young people there and we felt quite old but Lisa's son was there and the "moms" were allowed to go along! Afterwards we went to the marina and Peggy Sue took us out on Whitefish Lake in her new, very flashy, speed boat. There was quite a difference to the pontoon boat we had been in the night before! We were out on the lake for about an hour and had a look at more expensive lake shore properties. One was worth over $8 million! It was very peaceful when Peggy Sue switched the engine off and we drifted on the lake for a while. Then we sped back off to the marina. Great fun. After breakfast on Sunday, we started watching a DVD that Lisa had made of her trip to Tibet in 2005 which looked wonderful. She is moving to Costa Rica in October so maybe we will meet up with her again there. (We have since looked at her website and she really is a very talented artist - see Vida Nueva webside). We went to Sportsman in Whitefish and tried on loads of hiking boots. This time they had the right colour but only one pair in our size which Kirsten took. Helen bought a pair that was one half size bigger. We thought that Montana didn't have sales tax until we looked at our receipt and found out that Whitefish is one of the few towns in Montana that does have sales tax! We said goodbye to Lisa just after midday and drove east to Glacier National Park. We drove along "Going to the Sun" Road which is still only partly open. There was serious flooding and avalanches last November which took out part of the road and caused a lot of damage. They have been trying to repair it but the whole road may not be open until the beginning of July. After 29 miles from the west entrance the road is closed at the Weeping Wall. This is where waterfalls cascade over the rocks on one side of the road and you can actually get a free car wash! We walked along part of the road to take a look at the wonderful views and then took Winnie for a wash!!! There was so much water coming down over Winnie that it made a tremendous roar and Helen was a bit worried that Winnie would get a dent or two! But he ended up getting quite clean - at least we managed to get off most of the bald eagle poop!! We stopped at various places on the way down the road and then did the short "Trail of the Cedars" which is mainly a board walk. We left the park at 8-15 pm and drove east on Highway 2 to get around to the east side of the park.