What Happened In Montana
Tyler and I made the off-the-cuff decision to go to Montana for a little vacation. We’ve been running pretty hard this last year with changing jobs, selling our house, buying a new one, remodeling it, and kicking into high gear with our youth and college ministries. In a culture that celebrates busyness, that all sounds great. But in reality, we all need a little break sometimes.
I’ve always wanted to go to Montana - I’ve always admired its natural beauty. So we booked our plane tickets, found a place to stay, and boom. We made it happen :) Here’s a run-down of what our days looked like!
Day 1
Day one consisted of travel. We got up fairly early, loaded up the vehicle, and made our way to Minneapolis. We listened to worship almost the whole way there, and that in and of itself was a nice little break! We discovered the song “Talking to Jesus” by Brandon Lake on the way up and fell in love with it - needless to say it was played more than once :)
Once we got to Minneapolis, we had a friend pick us up and take us to the airport. We checked in our bags and then searched around for Chick-Fil-A (we just had to). We sat and played some Catan since we had quite a bit of time. We then ate our Chick-Fil-A which was heavenly I might add, and then we boarded our plane!
There’s only been like one other time where I’ve gotten airsick, but boy, did I feel sick on our landing. I blame it on the mountains. I had cold sweats, nausea, and lightheadedness. But we made it!! We landed in tiny little Glacier Park International Airport and got picked up by our hotel shuttle. We then made our way to The Lodge at Whitefish Lake!
We explored The Lodge and ended up walking a little over a mile from there into Whitefish. We explored a little bit, and I found a $6 spring jacket at a thrift shop! We then made our way to this sweet little Italian place called Ciao Mambo. The music and aesthetic was so fun!!
Next we walked to the Firebrand Hotel where The Lodge shuttle picked us up again. S’mores were calling our name, so we went down to the terrace and roasted some marshmallows over the fire. The night ended with a movie in bed!
Day 2
On day two, we got up after a pretty awesome night’s sleep. We then hit the gym at The Lodge and got a quick workout in. We decided to pay for the bed and breakfast option at The Lodge (which I highly recommend doing), so that morning we enjoyed breakfast in their restaurant called the Boat Club Dining Room.
After showering and getting ready, we walked about 1.5 miles up to Reservoir Trailhead and did a little hiking. We came back, took the shuttle into Whitefish, and enjoyed some lemon-stuffed French toast and huckleberry cherry pie at Loula’s Cafe. It was great!
We were pretty tired after all that in the morning, so we took the shuttle back to The Lodge… and I took a quick nap. :) We then went downstairs and got picked up by our Whitefish Outfitters tour guide! We spent the afternoon with him, exploring Hungry Horse, Glacier National Park, and Lake McDonald. The colors of the waters were insane!! Straight up turquoise, and it was so beautiful.
After the tour, we went up to the room, changed into some nicer clothes, and took the shuttle into Whitefish again. We hit up Wasabi, a trendy little sushi place downtown. I highly recommend getting the Tempress roll!!! Then we went to Sweet Peaks to get some ice cream of course. The ice cream was good, but man, it was expensive!! Little more than a Dairy Queen blizzard here in Iowa ;) We then took the shuttle back and hit the hay for day 3!
Day 3
Day three was our lazy day :) We slept in a little longer, ate breakfast in the Dining Room, and then we grabbed our swimming suits and headed to their indoor pool! April is definitely a slower time for Whitefish, so Tyler and I had a lot of things to ourselves! In fact, we had a game going to see if we could go the whole time without ever riding in the elevator with anyone else. It was just us every time! There was only one family in the pool with us, so we relaxed in there and then eventually got dressed and made our way into Whitefish again.
We spent the afternoon exploring different shops and eventually stopped in at Amazing Crepes for a small lunch :) We shopped around some more and then took the shuttle back. We whipped out the game Catan again (I won), and then went up to the room and ordered room service! That was my first time ever doing that, so it felt pretty special. ;) We played some more card games and then went down to the lounge to watch a special Montana movie they play on Thursday nights! It wasn’t the greatest movie we’d ever seen, but it was still fun :)
Day 4
Day four, a Friday, was our last full day in Montana! We got up, had breakfast, then made our way to complimentary yoga (I’m not much of a yogi, but it was pretty fun!). We went back up to the room and packed up things to head out to Reservoir Trailhead again for another hike. It was a little colder this day, so we didn’t see anyone else out on the trail. I got a little freaked out when we saw a fox scamper across the path… because something had to have been chasing it, right? :) As we were debating whether or not to continue, three bikers came racing down the trail. They were followed by a scary white wolf… or so we thought. :D Tyler and I stood there paralyzed as we saw this big white animal hustling after the three bikers. I then muttered the words to a biker flying by, “Is that your dog??”
She said yes. :)
It was hilarious. After that, we went up a little further, but eventually decided to turn back. We went back for a massage at the spa and then showered and got ready for dinner! We went to the Great Northern Bar & Grill which ended up having really great, reasonably priced food!
Being the ice cream fanatics we are, we both decided we really wanted ice cream again. But the closest Dairy Queen was a 20-minute walk away… and only their drive-thru was open. I called and asked if we could walk through their drive-thru since we didn’t have a vehicle, and they said yes! :D So we made our way to Dairy Queen and walked through their drive-thru. Worth it. :)
After strolling through a park, we made our way to the Whitefish Theater which we had bought tickets for, and we watched an interesting show! We then took the shuttle back home and ended the night.
Day 5
On day five, we got breakfast and then checked out around noon. We had to kill some time before our flight, so we decided to play Catan again, and yes, I won again. ;) The shuttle took us to the airport - we ate some lunch and then hopped on the plane to take us home!
We landed in Minneapolis that evening (luckily I felt better on that landing!), and an Uber came and took us to our vehicle! I had the bright idea of stopping by IKEA “quick” before we headed home. For all those who have never been to IKEA, you don’t just “quickly” stop by IKEA. So after going through the maze, we finally took off for home.
As we were talking in the car less than an hour from home, we ended up hitting a deer. But by some miracle, there were no marks on my vehicle! Praise God. We then needed gas, so we stopped by and grabbed some food before finally arriving home! Kwik Star chicken sammies coming in clutch. :)
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All in all, it was exactly the trip we needed! Sometimes you just need to step away from the routine and take a little breather… and that is perfectly okay :) Don’t be afraid to take that break you need too. Get out and explore. Take the day off. There’s nothing wrong with doing the things we need to do. But sometimes we need to just be. <3
