Whitefish, MT
Tuesday, September 10, 2024
Our day began in Hungry Horse, Montana. Last night, we camped at a boondocking spot near the Hungry Horse Reservoir with Andi’s cousin Laura and her husband Shaun. It was a quiet, peaceful place to stay — and it was free!
The only noise we heard were some side-by-side UTVs driving on the road around 9:00am. Yes, the same road that we drove our RV up yesterday looking for a campsite! No wonder it was such a bumpy crawl up the mountain — it was an ATV trail!
Andi had calls early this morning at 7:00am and 8:00am, so he got up early and made a make-shift table outside to work. I offered that we could make Aden’s bed into a table so he could work inside the camper, but he said he preferred to take his calls outside.
While Andi worked, I got the kids up and dressed and then we did school inside the RV.
Around 10:30am, the six of us — Andi, Tory, Aden, and I + Laura and Shaun — left the Hungry Horse area and started our drive to Whitefish, MT. Along the way, we stopped at the Hungry Horse overlook to see the dam. Andi had childhood memories of visiting here as a kid, and our family also came here in 2019. I asked Tory and Aden to recreate a photo we took of them five years ago in this same spot. It wasn’t quite the same since we don’t own electric bikes anymore, but the comparison proved its point — the kids are growing up!
While Aden leaned against the wall, he must’ve laid against a nest of spiders. Andi said, “Come here, Aden, I think you have a bug on you.” Ah! OMG, you have a lot of bugs on you Andi screamed and backed away. Aden whipped his sweatshirt off so quickly. It turned out to only be a family of daddy longlegs — nothing harmless — but it had Aden moving and shaking!
We snapped a few photos of the Hungry Horse Dam, and of our group together. We’re so glad Laura & Shaun decided to meet up with us in Montana. So excited to travel with them for the next few days!
From Hungry Horse, we drove to Tally Lake Campground in Whitefish, MT about an hour’s drive away. We didn’t have a camping reservation, but hoped we could score one for the night. Pete, the campground host, was a friendly guy and helped us to our site. “I can help you with a view,” he said, “but getting a north-facing view for your Starlink satellite might be a problem.”
A few he surely delivered — what a campsite!
The best part was, we had the whole campground to ourselves — literally. There wasn’t another person there. Compared to Whitefish where there are plenty of tourists, Tally Lake was a breath of fresh air.
I made quesadillas for lunch and Laura contributed a spinach salad. The six of us sat at the outdoor picnic table and ate our meals while enjoying the gorgeous view surrounding us.
After lunch, we decided to go for a hike. There was a two-mile hike not far from us in the campsite, and that sounded like the perfect challenge for the six of us. Today was a Top 10 weather day! It was a beautiful day to be outside in nature, going for a walk in the woods.
We hiked for about two miles, and worked up a good sweat. There were no camping services at Tally Lake, so Laura, Andi, Shaun, and Aden decided to shower off in the lake. They said the water wasn’t too cold! It was definitely crystal clear. I enjoyed watching an immature eagle dive into the lake for his lunch. Aden found a cool crayfish exoskeleton while walking along the sand.
Around 4:30pm, the six of us piled into Shaun’s pickup truck and drove into Whitefish for the Tuesday night farmer’s market. It’s a treat having a vehicle to drive instead of having to take our entire RV into town. We visited the Whitefish farmer’s market the last time we were here in 2019, and remember it being so magical. Still, five years later, it remains a great place to buy produce, listen to live music, and grab dinner on a Tuesday night in the summertime.
Andi had the kids pose in front of the Amtrak sign in Whitefish. He remembers taking the train from MN to Montana as a kid to visit their friends Joan & Mark.
None of us were quite ready for dinner, so we decided to walk around the shops in downtown Whitefish for a while. We browsed through a few stores before stumbling upon a food truck court. Everyone agreed they could find something to suit their fancy here, so we decided to stay for dinner. I ordered a lamb sausage gyro from the Sausage Queen food truck. It was just OK; it tasted more like a bratwurst than it did like a lamb gyro. Andi and Aden split a meal and some egg rolls from the Chinese food truck. Tory picked a meat and bean burrito.
The six of us enjoyed our meals while listening to live music. What a gorgeous night it was to be outside on a patio enjoying food & family time.
We finished our evening in Whitefish with a stop by the local grocery store for ice cream. Aden and Tory picked out a pint of Ben & Jerry’s to split, and then the six of us returned to our campsites at Tally Lake. What a fun day in Whitefish to kick off our journey with Laura & Shaun. Looking forward to the next few days traveling with them.
