Kalispell, Montana

June 8, 2009

What a nice town! We had heard that Kalispell is a neat place, and have not been disappointed, especially in the Spruce Park on the River RV Campground, a beautiful spot on the Flathead River. The Flathead is a wide, rushing body; at least it is in early summer, fed by snow melt. Our campground is owned by a wonderful lady who grew up on the premises when her parents were the owners. They still live on the site and take great pride in it, as evidenced by the bountiful flowers and original wood carvings. We got to visit with the couple one evening as they were driving the grounds in their Cadillac Esplanade. It is such a wonderful place; one of the employees was planning her wedding here for later in the summer, under the spruce trees beside the river. I got all the details, but no invitation.

The town is a small city – Wal-Mart, Dodge house, mall, downtown – all we needed after several National Park gigs. All of this is set against the Rockies, and protected by them. Temps here do not get as extreme as at St. Mary. We had a lot of work to catch up on since we had not been near a sizeable town since Salt Lake City.

Our highlight of the city was the Conrad Mansion. The original owner and builder was a post Civil War self-made man and city founder who put himself into every aspect of the construction but died only four years after its completion. It was home to his wife, four children, mother and mother-in-law for many years after. Interestingly, there were no grand-children and except for Alicia, the youngest, the children died young. Alicia lived in the house, saving everything until the 1960’s, when she sold the estate to the city. This lady was so exacting, she even saved receipts from the original construction in 1895, toys, clothing, and furniture are still intact. All of these artifacts are exactly what makes this such a fabulous tour and glimpse into the life of privileged at the turn of the twentieth century.

Another day-trip was to the west side of Glacier NP. Again we could take the Sun Rd. about 12 miles because of the avalanche. The west side is very different, hardly any snow remained, the mountains are less rugged and it is more forested. We headed up a trail to a small mountain lake. I am so slow on an uphill climb that it is a drag on anyone else, so I turned back and enjoyed the lodge Russell reported that the small lake was well worth the hike. So was the McDonald Lake Lodge! Original tourists arrived by boat, so the front entrance is lakeside, next to a rushing creek. We did drive in as far as possible, but failed to find any place to park. This had not been a problem at St. Mary! We did relax a bit at a cataract in the river – more breathtaking stuff!

We enjoyed the drive from Kalispell to Coeur D’Alene, especially the beautiful Flathead Lake community and moonscape terrain west of it.

NEXT TIME: Flathead Lake