July 8 - North to Eureka

Today we decided to head north and west of the cabin. We drove to within a few miles of the US/British Columbia border. We were surrounded by national forests the entire way. It caused us to ponder. How does a forest get the national forest designation and what is the advantage of the designation? As we turned back south, we decided to follow Lake Koocanusa. Koo is for the Kootenai forest, can is for Canada, and usa is for USA! We followed the lake for 67 miles and there was more north of where we started! I am continually amazed by the number and size of the lakes in Montana. Minnesota, land of 10,000 lakes, has nothing on Montana. They are so clear and a beautiful turquoise color.

We decided to take a National Forest road to cut back east. We had gone for about a mile on this one lane gravel road that we would have to follow for about 30 miles or so, when we questioned our judgment on this decision. Now, we tend to be somewhat adventurous (the sons would probably disagree ;) ) but this was a little too much. We turned around and went back to the highway! A little farther down the highway, we finally got to see a moose. She peeked out of the forest, saw us speeding down the highway, and turned and ran back to the safe haven of the forest. My trip was complete! I had seen a bear and a moose along with the deer, mountain goats, and long-horned sheep. I watched for bears our entire trip to the Smoky Mountains. I watched for moose our entire trip to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. Again, confirmation that Montana has it all!

We then drove to Libby, MT. It looked like a nice little town. Bigger than many we have seen, but small enough to be quaint. The towns in the area are very pleasantly not too touristy. I can’t believe I got touristy past the spell-checker! From Libby we went over to Kalispell and then up to Columbia Falls.

We stopped in Columbia Falls at our favorite DQ. Now, if you remember, Hubby can’t pass up ice cream. But our purpose was two-fold. I also needed to check-in on my online class and do a little homework. And DQ has free internet access. Hubby worked on updating the blog while I did homework. By the time we both finished, we realized what a sight we must be. Two middle-aged people and their little dog, sitting in a mud and dust covered car, in a dark parking lot with their faces lit by the glow of computer screens! Fortunately, no one called the local police. Maybe Columbia Falls is so little that they don’t have any police. Not sure. All I know is we chuckled about how we must have looked all the way back to the cabin!