Reunion at Whitefish, MT

Whitefish, MT
Whitefish State Park


We're on our way into Northern Montana to spend a few weeks in Glacier National Park with some of our great Class of 2014 Friends!  Yeah!  Bad news is the smoke is still hanging on.  Boo!

 

We are with Lee & Trace of Camper Chronicles and Mario & Ellen.  Since Trace's birthday had just passed, Ellen and I decided to get her a little gift and decorate up their site.  Ellen did a great job picking out the decorations.

 

Of course we have balloons and flowers!

And a birthday tiara!

 

It was unfortunate that they ended up with a very long driving day dealing with a flat tire, but, it did give us plenty of time to get things ready!

 

 

Since Lee's birthday was also in August, we got him this cute bear shirt.

Lee just LOVES bears!

 

Mario & Ellen's rig.

 

Our campsite.

Lee, Steve & Mario getting the grill ready.

Me, Trace & Ellen

The Gang.  We decided to take turns cooking dinners.  Boy did we eat well!

 

 

 

Whitefish Lake is really pretty, but not with all this smoke.  A little about Whitefish State Park.  The park itself is beautiful and has a lot of trees and bushes making the campsites really private.  BUT, the train runs right next to it.  It was about 50 feet right behind the trees of our sites.  And that trains runs almost 24/7.  Sometimes there was only 5 minutes between trains.  L O N G trains.  All day all night.  Good thing I wear earplugs at night.  Unless you LOVE trains, I would not recommend this campground.  Our Verizon was good and strong, but no AT&T.  It's a small campground, very clean and just minutes outside the cute town of Whitefish.

We were in campsite #22.  We fudged a bit knowing that we can usually get into a site that is marked for 35 feet.  But I also check it out on google satellite view and I call the campground itself.  We made it in nicely, but had to park the truck across the way.  The Montana rate if you are a local is $18 per night.  If you are out-of-state it would normally be $28.  That's for no hookups.  Kind of pricey!  We chose to purchase the Montana State Parks Pass for $35 which gave us free entry into Montana parks as well as a $10 discount per night on camping fees.  A great deal considering we'd be in a few campgrounds in Montana.  They have a few threaded water faucets spread out, bathrooms, but no dump station.  There is a nice, free dump station that has fresh water also at the Cenex Gas Station in Town.  Good deal!  Also refilled our propane there.

Steve & Hurley getting ready to jump in.

Hurley sure loves him a good stick!

There was a Farmers Market one evening.  I think the whole town shows up for this.  Hard to find a place to park and it was pretty crowded.  But for good reason.  Great choice of food trucks, some of the most colorful, fresh fruits, veggies and flowers.  Even the crafts were different.  There was a booth selling dinosaur bones and fossils.

 

 

The colors are just amazing!!

Bagged salad greens with edible flowers.

 

                            Rainbow Chard

 

 

Everyone enjoying themselves and listening to some music.

 

Some pretty flowers for our table.

 

After a hike with Ellen and some shopping downtown, I had a chance to get Trace away from work and on the lake for a little kayaking.  She and Steve still work fulltime, so we don't get as much time with them during the week.

Some ducks enjoying themselves.

 

The water is a very pretty emerald green.  Very clear too.

 

 

 

 

For dessert one night I served some Lemon Sorbetto into some lemon rinds that I halved and scooped out the inside and put a raspberry on top.  Very refreshing!

 

Later we will be venturing into the West half of Glacier for some exploring and hiking.