Montana road trip wrap-up

Here's the whirlwind finale to our Montana summer vacation:

Kari hadn't been sleeping well so her Mom gave her a sleep-aid on Wednesday night. It worked wonders so I let her sleep in. I woke up early and was making coffee when the phone rang and Cliff came running upstairs to the kitchen. I didn't know it but apparently the phone had rang early in the morning from his security team at the Kalispell airport. This was the morning of the big news in London of the foiled terror plot. He had to run into work employees get settled with the new rules. I sat and watched the news and went through the rest of the pot of coffee before anyone else woke up.
Kari and I took Molly and Olivia to the waterslides and Brad and Jordan met us there. Brad's real estate partner Garret joined us later and we all had a really great time. After an afternoon rest (and aloe vera) we rejoined at Brads for a BBQ. Kari's dad Mike was there along with their cousin Riley and some of Brad's other friends.

Friday morning we met up at the Montana Coffee Traders in Columbia Falls with Brad, Jordan, Riley and Mike. We had some really good food and great coffee. We did a little site-seeing / driving around and our first stop was Glacier Raft Co where one of Brad's friends works. Kari picked up some cool outdoor clothes on sale and then we took off for West Glacier. We went through Apgar and had a brief stop at Lk McDonald. On the way back toward Columbia Falls we drove over Hungry Horse Dam. That night was a big dinner with the Buhmiller family at Gerry & Linda's property at Star Meadows, west of Whitefish. It was a beautiful ranch on some really beautiful property and we had a great time sharing a meal and laughs. Brad suggested we had back to Whitefish to the Great Northern tavern. We shared a few pints and listened to live music. Then we rendevoused in Columbia Falls for darts and huckleberry pie at Brad's house

Saturday morning, Kari, Molly & Olivia got started on their crystal growing project (a Christmas gift). The rest of the morning went by pretty lazy, then we got cleaned up in the afternoon. The memorial service for Kari's Grandma (on her dad's side) was to be held out west of Whitefish at the Streich family cabin. We had been warned the access road was rough, but I didn't really expect to use four-wheel-drive. It was a gorgeous, natural setting, avery nice service and we had some nice conversations afterward over a late lunch. That night, we had dinner back at the Crick home, played some more Spite & Malice afterward, and then started to pack up.

We got up early Sunday morning so we could be home at a good time. We loaded up Rexx and drove to the Buffalo Cafe for breakfast. We got there a few minutes before they opened but it was well worth the wait. We took another quick stop for a huckleberry milkshake at St. Regis then set the cruise control on I-90 eastbound.