Didn’t really know a lot about Whitefish, but the pics online of the place looked inviting, so thought a birthday trip there would be an excellent idea! And it was!
I think I mentioned before that have slight fear of bears! I have watched and read plenty of educational material on how to act if you encounter a bear. Unfortunately I think all my rationality would blow out of my brain and I’d either freeze or run LOL…
Didn’t help that the first thing I see at the Kalispell airport is bear spray for rent!
The airport is small and it’s the nicest airport I’ve been to. The rental car desk was downstairs and the lot with the car was a 3 min walk away. Very convenient not having to take some shuttle bus to a place to pick it up after flying…
Checked in to the Airbnb right in the city and went eating and checking the town out. It’s small, but pretty. Plenty of places to choose from when it comes to eating. Decided on this food truck park called Thirty Eight with live music. Crab bowl with no lame imitation crab and tacos. Couldn’t decide and was fomo-ing. Then ice-cream for dessert at Sweet Peaks, but it was more icy than creamy 🙁
Went to a store to pick up some stuff for the hike the following day. Had to pick some new flavors of Maeve chocolate I’d never tried. If you see this chocolate, buy and try it. It’s the best! They even had Swedish ginger bread cookies!!!
I had booked a group hike with Glacier Guides Montana Raft since I was too freaked out by the idea of hiking alone in bear woods! Meet up time was at 7am and since I need coffee first thing in the morning, I bought this strong ass instant coffee the night before at the store! 300mg of caffeine should do the trick, right? And apparently formulated for NASA in 2018, so I thought it would be good enough for me too LOL!
It was dark and lonely on the streets when I left at 6.20AM…
I met at their office with the group. Got our lunchpacks and jumped in their van for a 2h drive to the Glacier Park. The start was from a hotel, which I don’t remember the name of, but they had beautiful mountain and lake views. We had a short talk about bears with both guides carrying bear spray. Basically they said a bears thoughts were not “look, a human, let me eat it”… And they had never needed to use their bear sprays. OK, felt pretty relaxed after hearing that!
The hike was about 15km in total there and back from the glacier. The nature was impressive!
We finally reached the glacier with super clear water. Surprisingly you were allowed to swim in it. Pretty hot after the hike I took a quick dip. Needed to show the rest of the group what we Finn’s are made of! Cold, but so refreshing! After lunch in the sun and drying up.
This was an awesome hike! My joints were hurting pretty bad after, but so worth it! Outdoors gives you an appetite and dinner was at this cute little restaurant called Piggyback Barbecue. Probably some of the best ribs I’ve ever had!
Since it was my birthday weekend, I couldn’t drive by Clydesdale Creamery without having this sugar bomb! WOW, it was almost too much. But only almost! They also have a Clydesdale (giant horse breed) farm that you can visit and stay at. If I had more time I would’ve gone there too…
Soaked in the hot tub which was under a giant tree in the back yard of my Airbnb after, and it was a perfect ending to the day!
Saturday was my birthday! Happy birthday to me 🙂 Started by getting coffee at Folklore and enjoying it in front of the fireplace…
Dressed to impress!
More coffee in town and some shopping. I’m good at treating myself 🙂 Spotted these cute doggos on the town too…
Then went to the City beach. I’m like a kid when it comes to water. Had to get in and do another quick dip 🙂
Dinner was at the Whitefish Lake Golf Club at their restaurant. The smoked trout for starter went down faster than I could take a picture of it. The steak was great even though the presentation could’ve used some creativity 🙂 They gave me an ice-cream dessert with a sparkler 🙂
Since it was still light out I checked out the neighboring downtown of Columbia Falls. Not much there and definitely happy I chose to stay in Whitefish instead. Beautiful sunset by the river and thankfully no bears 🙂
Finished in the hottub again and it was definitely the highlight of my Airbnb with the fireplace and heated floors 🙂
My flight wasn’t until the afternoon on Sunday so started with caffeine at Folklore. Great coffee spot!
Then a short hike at Swift Creek Loop Trail. But first – Rent bear Spray! Convenient station where you could rent bear spray per day.
I think I can admit it was probably not the most enjoyable hike in my life. I was just on a constant lookout for bears hahahaa… Luckily there were people on the trail, so I hoped the bears would go for quantity! Needles to say, no bears. But so many other animals. Big woodpecker, what I think was a chipmunk, some hairy larva and only had time to catch a pic of the snakes tail. Snakes don’t bother me at all!
Stopped for a coffee on the way back to town at Crema which was excellent and just next to the parking lot this deer was grazing 🙂
Hungry again and went back to Thirty Eight because they had a BBQ truck from Texas there on Sundays. Baked potato with brisket and some huge rib, both smoked to perfection!
Could’ve easily spent a couple more days here. Can really recommend Whitefish if you enjoy nature, hikes, skiing in the winter and perfect little cute town with everything you need! And bears….
Still good to come back and hug Hunter. Angel’s friend looked after him and from the pictures she sent me, he lived like a king while I was gone 🙂 Only the best for Hunter!
What I planned to look like for my birthday… But that didn’t happen! Maybe next year when I turn 50 🙂
Lots of other stuff to tell you about, but it will have to wait until Sunday 🙂
Catch ya’ later!
XXX Puma
