Off to Montana

Back to a recap of our vacation.

Coeur d’Alene, Idaho

Just over the border from Washington, Coeur d’Alene is a very nice vacation spot. We got to see the hotel and eat at a nearby shopping center. We got to see the lake from the car but didn’t have time to see any sites. It looked like they had a nice play area by the lake, definitely worth checking out if we go through there again (hopefully with better planning).

Mullan, Idaho

This is a little town of about 800 with a tiny downtown. They did have a small park and museum in the town center. When Andrew started saying: I WANT OUT NOW, this is where we stopped rather than going on another 10 miles to the next rest stop. We checked out the tiny museum and the kids had fun climbing on the stuff in the park. A brief but necessary stop along the way.

Darby, MT

When we first arrived at my dad's it was late in the evening so we headed out to a nearby resort for dinner. Here is Dylan taking a look at the bear in the dining room.

On our first morning at my dad's house, the kids were up and busy. My dad kept them entertained by taking them out to feed Buck the horse and explore the creek and pond. They came back in their pajamas, wet, muddy and happy.

In the evening, we grilled sausages and hot dogs on an open fire and then made s'mores for dessert. Gina and Andrew had fun turning marshmallows into charcoal though it was a little stressful keeping Dylan away from the campfire.

Here is Gina swinging on a rope that my dad put up in a tree.

While on the trip I discovered that I needed to put some money in my checking account. So where do you go when you are far from a city? It turns out there was an ATM where I could deposit a check in a little town called Stevensville, about 35 miles from my dad's house. Far, but not as far as driving back to Missoula. So we left the big kids with Boppa and took Dylan with us to Stevensville (the same town where SF mayor Gavin Newsom just got married). After driving 45 minutes to deposit a check that took all of 2 minutes, we had time to explore the town. We ended up at a very nice cafe and had a delicious lunch and then bought pastries and freshly made bread for the next day.

On our third day in Montana, we visited Big Hole Battlefield Museum, a memorial to the people who were killed during the Nez Perce Indian War in 1877. Our visit to the museum coincided with a visit by a member of the Nez Perce tribe and so the kids got to hear some of the stories that are told by the tribe, handed down to each generation. Andrew and Gina were fascinated by the stories, while Dylan was not about to sit around so I only caught pieces of the stories, mostly involving Coyote and other animals of the area and how the Nez Perce came to be. They both said that they really enjoyed listening to the stories.

Then we went to a swimming pool filled from a mineral spring at a nearby resort. Dylan walked around the shallow area while Gina and Andrew tried to swim a bit. I really should have gotten them into swim lessons before vacation so they would be more comfortable in the water. I’ll have to remember that for next year.