Montana at Christmas; and the Elk are amazing

One of the last things I remember was singing 'Play me Some Mountain Music'.

That was New Years Eve 2004.  The end of our week in Montana.  I drank a lot that night.  I'd like to say it was the last time, but it took 5 more years of binge and solitary drinking before I finally hit my bottom, got on my knees and asked God for help.  Been sober since.  Awesome God!

I left off with Christmas stockings last time...  We landed in Kalispell, MT on Christmas Eve.  'Close to midnight' is a time of day we would generally arrive at our destination for every trip we took for the next 8 years!  A tradition I hope we keep!  Here's why:

  We picked up our rental car, and I asked the navigator (my wife... she's great at it!) where we were headed.  "Down here, take a right, 2 miles, take a left, go straight, stop sign, take a right, take a left here... NO here!  There it is!  Yay!  Let's check in; I'm tired"  Me, too, Babe.  Me, too.
  We get the keys (cards), drive down the road at the resort our agent found for us (Meadow Lake, Columbia Falls), park, grab our gear (thank you Jethro Gibbs), pile in to our 'room'  that turns out to be a one-bedroom suite with a full kitchen , deck AND a real fireplace!  Thus began our career as hotel aficionados.  We put the stockings by the fireplace ("don't look!"  "I'm not looking"  "Don't look Babe!"  "Okay, Okay") brushed our teeth and hit the sack.
   So... here's the reason why we hope to keep our 'middle of the night' arrival time... We wake up, look outside and........ W O W !  We are awestruck by the absolute beauty of our surroundings!  And we haven't seen the mountains yet!  It's like the slate of life is wiped completely clean.  Nothing is familiar because we couldn't see anything other than the road and buildings on the way in.  Everything is brand new!  Carpet of white everywhere we look!  There is NO thread to connect us back to where we started!  uh... except the cell phone... so I shut my phone OFF!        You on vacation?  SHUT THE PHONE OFF!!!!!  Especially if you're married to it!  (You know who you are!  At least your travel mate does!  Ask!)
   It's Christmas!  Check out the stockings, grab our ski stuff and head to Big Mountain Ski Resort in Whitefish.  By the way, our Concierge gently warned us to keep to the main roads because the recent snow has made the side roads VERY slick...  Cool, will do, thanks, see you later. ...  I saw a side road on the map that cut the corner, so as my wife tells me not to do it... ... ... An hour later, the resort maintenance guy has us back on the road.  Remember the rules my Dad gave us? #1, Don't do it.  #2 Don't do it again...  I've been pretty good at keeping #2 since then...
   One of my things-to-do is to digitize our pics pre-2008...  Gotta find 'em and when I do I'll post a pic of the undercarriage of our rental.  Amazing we didn't need to do an insurance claim!  Proof that God had my back even BEFORE I got on my knees!  It's called Grace.  We get it more often than we recognize.
   Finally made the mountain.  A view from the lift:

Big Mountain Express quad near summit.
  Lift may be renamed now, as ski area name changed  in the last few years

There was a GIANT herd of elk in a field on the way to the ski area.  60, maybe?  SO cool!

Start small, but out of your comfort zone... for some, the front door...  GO!
Peace be the journey!
timlambert.travelspy@gmail.com