What would you do?

I wonder if I will ever catch up with the list of pictures I have waiting for me. Here's hoping.

The last post spoke of returning home for a 10 day refresh. Do a little work, a little unpacking, grocery shopping and repacking and we will be off again.

BUT in the middle of this 10 day stop at home was also the August Long Weekend. Because I had some business to attend to south of the border we hopped in the car for a whirlwind trip to Montana. We left Thursday evening and returned home Saturday evening. It was a-mazing! I think we'll do it again and again.

This trip was a highlight because we traveled prepared to tent! And when you aren't hitched up to something then you can travel the Going-to-the-Sun route. I have to say, "It was Heaven, and close to it too."

 There were switch backs, drop off ditches and narrow road ways.

 The scenery was breath taking.

 There's no stopping you if you start the descent off the side of this particular portion in the road.

 The waterfalls were also nice to see along the way.

 A little bit of wild life. Big Horn Sheep (I believe).

 Our Happy Travelers

 

 Special Thanks to the Driver for keeping us on the road.

 And it's always fun when we have the glimpse of a bear.

 Logan's Pass 2012

 A View Straight Up

 When we got to the bottom we were in an amazingly dense forest. Our travels had us up on that mountain seen beyond the trees. It's hard to believe it's even possible.

 And One more Kids group shot.

Our travels brought us to Kalispell for the night. We knew we wanted to camp on our favorite lake. However, we had not forseen the fact that the sites would all be taken by the time we arrived. We then, drove back into Kalispell to check on hotel availability (thinking all camp sites would be taken). We came to find out that all hotels were also booked. Good job Canadians! We all think alike.

Rather than traveling to every campground to confirm 'no vacancy' we decided to get adventurous and join the rest of the RVers in the ...
Walmart Parking Lot. It seemed like something we could do (if we had only brought our trailer. Ugh!!) We discussed whether we had ever seen tents in Walmart's parking lot before. As we drove in, Ryan states that he remembers seeing really wide medians with lawn (which would be perfect for placing our tent). Just then, the sprinklers pop out.
Things were really stacked up against us. None the less, we maintained composure and found an great position on the vacant lot to the south of the parking lot. We set-up the tent, rearranged a ton of baggage around in the vehicle and transferred the kids over to the tent for the night. Chase and I slept in the back of the Suburban.
In the morning we awoke and began packing up. But not before we ran into friends, who have been sure to share the story of finding us tenting ... at Walmart.

I am so disappointed I did not think to take a picture before we had everything packed up. None the less, I'm sure we'll do it again - if only because it's what kids keep asking to do again.

Here is what our camp site would have looked like.

As we traveled along the lake we stopped to pick up a property flyer for a sale listing. A little old man came quading up the road and yelled over to me, "My house is for sale too!" I visited with him for a few minutes and he asked us to follow him to take a look at it. So that's what we did. Which is why the next chapter of our weekend away is titled: Weekend At Bernie's.

He toured us around his place, he let the kids use the bathroom and swim off his dock. If only we had met Bernie a day earlier - we would have camped on his land.

In the first 5 minutes he had me convinced to buy.
Here's his view West

Close Up of the view West

The view North

And the View East

It was a wonderfully unplanned day.

The nostalgia of Bernie's place made us want to stay forever.

Maybe someday.

Then we were back on the road for home.

Two days of wonder and amazement. We will definitely do it again.