There

This is actually us leaving, but is looks just like when we arrived.

When we got to the station, it was cold and overcast, and we stood there dumbfounded for a minute or two, and then I saw Theresa. Theresa is the aunt of one of my great friends, Sari. Years ago, Sari and I headed out to the peninsula of Washington state, where Theresa and Mike were living in a little town called Port Angeles. They were headed out of state for a job interview and Sari had offered to babysit their boys, Connor and Sam, and I tagged along for the adventure. It was a typical Sari weekend, full of extra adventures and good times, and it seemed like a lot longer than a few days at that time. I had all these memories of this weekend, and I knew Theresa and Mike were stellar people, and their boys were awesome, and I had sat around and listened to their great and extensive CD collection, but to be fair, they were out of town, and hadn’t had a chance to develop the same fondness towards me. (just give them a chance, right?!) When it came time to call them, and ask them for a stay, I was good and excited.

Housing in East Glacier (welcome to summer!)

Theresa brought us back to their trailer, which is situated in the town of East Glacier, and was about a block away from the station. They had this huge tent set up for us, with three beds in it, complete with a table with kids books on it. Flashlights, blankets, towels, it was all there. The Hilton of tent accommodations. We went inside to hang out for a little while, and Theresa cooked us up some soup and grilled cheese, and coffee, and juice for the kids. This was my first insight into the fact that we were possibly dealing with a spoiler. On the little tables by the couch was an assortment of chips, cheetos, and a trail mix with a healthy dose of M&M’s. When you stay in places you don’t know well, you sometimes worry that your kids will get hungry and start acting crazy and you won’t know what to do about it. Well, I soon realized that in the house of Theresa, that would not be a problem. The kids were right at home, she had dug up some games and toys for them, but it was the clear plastic inflatable lazy boy chair that was the real hit. They liked to wear it on their head, and it was the target of many a game. After lunch, it was decided that Theresa and Mike were going to head to Kalispell to deal with some things, and the boys were headed to work, so we wandered over to the East Glacier Lodge to see what was happening in the world of Glacier Park Incorporated.

Freakout on the plastic chair

You may or may not know this about me, but back in the summer of ’95 I took a job with Glacier Park Incorporated. I was a waitress at the Many Glacier Lodge, in Glacier National Park as well as a cabaret actress/singer for the American Cabaret Theater’s production of “Summer Loving” which was performed in the basement. I have a lot of mixed feelings about the Park, as you work this job for this giant corporation, but it is masked by summer job euphoria and natural beauty. Maybe that is what makes it so dynamic. When we walked into the lodge, you could see the young fresh new staff, working their jobs. The handsome strapping bellhops, the indifferent college kid pushing a silent floor cleaning machine, the crazed alcoholic restaurant manager racing through the lobby, the tired kids in the gift shop, and the general sense of boredom of everyone there. It is so beautiful, and what a majestic lodge, but lets be honest, this isn’t exactly the train travel heyday. No organized events, (dance lessons in the annex!)(shuffleboard at 2!)(ice cream social in the basement!), just nature and nostalgia. They even had the weather forecast set to 100 years ago to the day. The jammers are cool, and I thought we should take a jammer ride over the Going to the Sun road, but my cheapness

Sleeping in the lodge, or have we just been shot?

overtook me when I saw the price tag: $225 for the four of us. With no gig in sight, I decided to skip it. We fell asleep on the couches, and kept sending the kids out to do various tasks. Take a picture by the tee-pee, take a picture by the mountain goat, etc, and it was kind of fun to send the kids tearing through the hotel, as I know from personal experience, that there is no one in charge of preventing things like that. Maybe an over ambitious housekeeping manager, but probably not. Hanging out there did not make me long for summer loving. I am glad to be done with that part of my life, although to the summer loving experiences credit, I know lots of people that ended up married after that summer. It certainly does serve its purpose as a segue to adulthood.

The lodge limo for train riders

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around town, asking for gigs. No one bit. I mean, not even, “can we play outside your restaurant for tips for people who are on a wait?” I mean, nothing.
Luckily, Connor and Sam, who are now 18 and 16, are pretty good with the music, as is their dad Mike, and they were on to this lodge in Essex (about 20 miles away) that was having a music festival. We called up the guy, and he put us on for July 4th from 2-4.

Montana earth vehicles are fun!

When we returned we went on a hike with Theresa and Mike, over to Two Medicine, some great beautiful short hike with a stunning waterfall at the end. On the way we saw a bear, and the kids were totally nonplussed. That is Montana for you, and boy howdy, did it smell good out there. I forgot about the mountain air smell, you just feel your brain getting bigger when you take a deep breath. After that, we found ourselves drinking wine and talking, and Theresa spoiling on the kids, and the kids loving it so much, and just getting to know these fine, fine people. It threatened to end with a bad ’80’s movie, but we just never got around to it. At the crack of midnight, we turned in and slept soundly in our aspen grove camp spot.

Connor and us at Logan's Pass

The next day we joined Connor on his snowboarding trip. He was headed up to Logan’s Pass,

I told you it was cold!!

which is the high point on the Going to the Sun Highway, that runs through the heart of Glacier National Park. What a beautiful thing that road is, and every time I see it, I am so thankful that I didn’t have to build it. I thought we could take the kids out on the Highline Trail a bit, and see some goats, but when we got there everything was covered in snow! They had just opened the road 10 days earlier, and it looked like the visitor center on the top was freshly dug out as well. We took some pictures in the snow, we walked around a bit, then we just came to terms with the fact that we were all really really cold, and we could just as easily wait in the car and eat snacks while we waited for Connor to finish up. When he came back, we headed down the mountain to the Park Cafe. I was really looking forward to testing out their pies, as I hadn’t had a Park Cafe pie slice since I started making pies myself, and I just wanted to compare. I thought we might eat dinner, but somehow the prices had tripled since 1995. My paycheck, however, has not so I heeded the sage advice, “life is uncertain, eat dessert first” and ordered pie and coffee. (still as much as a burger should be!)  When we were leaving, this guy shows up in a red pickup truck, with “traveling piano man” on the side, and he had a keyboard and a speaker. He was a rambling long story that didn’t make much sense, but Connor jumped up and played us a ditty on the piano, and fun was had by all.

Can you find the kids?

That night I showed the kids the movie, “Blazing Saddles” hoping they were old enough to appreciate this gemstone of our culture, but they thought it was boring except for the part where the guys all farted around the campfire. That was good. I forgot about all the racism jokes, and you know, they just don’t get that yet. And that is a good thing. We played some music with the boys, and had a nice old time, till we got kind of tired and pooped out. Theresa had to work that night, so she was off duty for spoiling and wouldn’t be back till the morning.

The next day was our big gig at the Snowslip Inn, so we saddled up and rode down to the gig. Ok, we got in the Nissan, but when you talk about Montana, I think you should always saddle up. It just so happened, that in this same land were our friends, Ron and Ragna and Katla, and they came out with their friends, Jay and Katrina, and watched us play.

We really brought it home at the Shields Music Festival!!

And Connor and Sam and Theresa came out, and the traveling piano man stopped by, so it was a nice turnout.  Local turn out?  Zero. They aren’t stupid, they were all inside peering through the windows and playing the gambling machines. It was super cold, and it threatened to rain the whole time we played, and they had to come out and build a fire just to keep us all warm, and it is the kind of weather that all you can think about is eating french fries. I was beginning to remember why I was always overweight when I lived in the mountains. No fruit and vegetables, lots of meat and potatoes. The gig was a lot of fun, and some of the old codgers eventually came out and gave us a thumbs up, and when we were done, one of the old dudes bought the kids a soda and me a beer because he had been having such a stellar day on the gambling machine.  We had a great time, our friends are so kind and enthusiastic, and the kids all had fun playing, and no one got eaten by a bear.

View of the locals in Montana

That night we watched “Zoolander” together, and the kids thought it was pretty darn funny. Enough to make a mom proud! Theresa spoiled on us some more, and we all headed out at dark to watch the fireworks. Being on the reservation for the 4th of July is something everyone should experience. Fireworks, and I mean Fireworks, were going OFF till all hours of the night, and you know, if you added it all up together, it could have rivaled what Disney spends for their 30 minute spectacular. And we had no crowds! Just us, on a hammock, with 400 blankets on watching the show. It was amazing. We even saw a shooting star, which still manages to take your breath away amidst all the fireworks. It was awesome. Zephyr fell asleep, but perked back up for hot chocolate. Hot cocoa with tons of marshmallows. Yum.

The next morning it all had to come to an end, as Amtrak was expecting us, although Minot was not. (see Minot) Theresa went out and bought us a whole bag of pastries and food for the train, packed us sandwiches, sent juice. What a woman, we had such a good time hanging out with this family. I was sad to leave, yet excited at the prospect of our pending adventures.

Eureka said, “The clouds are so low in Montana.”