Our land is in Flathead Valley which includes Bigfork, Kalispell, Columbia Falls, Polson, and Whitefish. We stayed in Whitefish (where the ski resort is). They are all relatively close to each other…maybe 10-15 minutes’ drive between each. We ate at local restaurants and all in all, just had a great time running around getting to know the area better. It is not a bustling metropolis, but that is what we wanted: Peace. However, we were told that Californians are moving there in droves….20,000 people had moved to the Flathead Valley in 2020 alone. In fact, our closest neighbors on our property are from California. They are from the Lake Tahoe area and have 4 kids, 3 Nigerian goats and two horses. They are really nice people and I look forward to being their neighbor. We went to our property first thing when we arrived….just as the sun was setting. The winds were crazy (kinda like Nebraska) and a cold front was blowing in. In the morning there was snow on the ground and it snowed off and on all day. We took the morning to travel to Glacier and go hiking. Most of the park is closed during the winter because there is something like 80 feet of snow on many of the inside roads. (not exaggerating…) So only 11 miles were open, but you can hike any of the trails on foot or snowshoe. No one was there but us, so it was so peaceful being able to walk through the forest in the snow. I even found a tree with a girl’s face on it! Lake MacDonald had the beautiful clear water with the colorful Montana river rocks, but the snow made us not able to see the mountains on this day, which was a bummer, because we knew they were huge and right there….just behind the snow and clouds.
Messina Musings 