Montana - Day 1 & 2

 How do you know you have really good friends? Because when you contact them only a couple of weeks in advance and ask if you can stay with them for a week, they say yes. The Osbornes never fail to be fantastic hosts in spectacular places. And their new home in Bigfork, Montana lived up to expectations! 

Only an eleven hour drive away, we only had to stop for gas once and made it there in time to eat at their weekly Wednesday night community meal hosted at their church, Bethany Lutheran. Not only did we get to eat good food and yummy local homemade cherry pie, we also got to catch a bit of the worship/prayer time (led by Shawn). 

Unfortunately, we did arrive too late to get our Going-to-the-Sun Road vehicle pass for Thursday. So instead of going to Glacier, we spent the day hanging out with Shawn, Karen, Lydia and their nephew, Mason. 

After breakfast, we wandered around downtown Bigfork for a bit and then hiked a couple of miles along the Swan River. It was quite busy but very easy trail, and it was enough to work up an appetite for a roast beef & horseradish sandwich at the cafe where Karen and Lydia work. Yum! 

After Karen got off work, Shawn dropped us off and we floated down the river for a couple of hours. It was the perfect relaxing and refreshing way to spend the afternoon and see some of the area.

There was also a fun spot to stop and swim and give ourselves a mud spa treatment. And since the water was so warm, it was glorious! On the down side, it turned out my tube had a slow leak and we had to stop and inflate it multiple times. On the bright side, I didn't have to swim or share one with my hubby... LOL

When we got home, we enjoyed a delicious taco dinner courtesy of Lydia, got our passes for the next day at Glacier, and played some cribbage and Quiddler.