Bryn flew back to Missoula from Denver Sunday. Her first stop was PetSmart because Percy chewed through his soft carrier. Our solution is a hard plastic carrier which, so far, he has been unable to destroy. Shawn was watching football until Bryn landed. We met up and drove north to Columbia Falls, Montana. The drive was beautiful as our route took us along the eastern edge of Flathead Lake. We got to enjoy nice views of the mountains and lake. Our campground was nice, though next to a very busy road. It had the cutest little car and trailer sign to advertise the campground!
It was a pretty quiet week of work. We worked out at the camper (running and lifting the weights we brought) and worked extra each day so we could take off early Friday. Shawn did some errands in Kalispell but otherwise we enjoyed staying put. Wednesday night we went out for dinner in Whitefish, which was a nice childhood throwback for Bryn, who used to ski in Whitefish as a kid.
Friday we left our campground just after noon and drove to Apgar in West Glacier. They allow primitive camping (or dry camping with no hook ups or electricity) for a small fee. We set up quickly, grabbed our snowshoes, and left for Huckleberry Mountain Lookout Trail. We had seen a review on AllTrails about too much snow at about 4 miles into the trail and we thought it would be the perfect time to try out the snowshoes we purchased right before we left. What fun! There was just enough snow to test out our new gear for a bit and we had so much fun! Friday night we had planned on playing Gloomhaven, but unfortunately forgot to take it out of its storage spot which is blocked when the slide out is in. So instead we ate and snuggled up for Star Trek. No complaints!
Saturday we slept in and did a short but scenic hike along the west Shore of Lake McDonald then hopped in the car and drove to Polebridge, a very small 'town' in the northwest of the park. We took some pictures, got cookies and hot chocolate, then headed back to the camper.
We broke camp and were on the road shortly before 3 pm MDT. Our plan was to drive as far west as possible so that our drive to our campground Sunday wouldn't be too burdensome. We were boondocking Saturday night anyway, so it wouldn't be a big deal to just park and immediately go to bed.
Well, what an adventure we ended up having! Between realizing we'd gain an hour of time via crossing into PST, a stressful, winding drive through a mountain pass in northern Idaho, and itching to do something for Halloween, we decided to go party after we parked. Our first plan was Spokane, but our target Walmart there no longer allows over night parking. So we pushed ahead and ended up in Moses Lake around 9:30 PST. We parked, leveled the camper, and off we went to Ten Pin Brewery/Casino/Bowling Alley. What a night! We donned some simple Halloween outfits and had a few drinks and a shot at the bar before deciding to bowl a few rounds. Shawn won, but it was very close every time. Bryn tried to chase him down at the end with a Turkey! It was an exciting end to the night.
We awoke Sunday crusty-eyed and hungover, with dead phones and quite a few hours of driving ahead of us. No regrets! Bryn went across the street to get some Starbucks to fuel our first leg while Shawn prepped for leaving.
Sunday concluded with a rainy, windy drive through a mountain pass and a SOAKED set up. We realized when we arrived at our campground that we wouldn't be able to use Starlink because of the tree coverage so we cleaned the trailer and packed up our laundry and work stuff. Monday morning we got up early to get to a Starbucks in Burlington, where we knew we could comfortable work for the morning.
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