On the road: Montana, part 5
Flight over Flathead Lake and Christmas Stroll in Whitefish
I'm back where I was a year ago at the same time: in Montana. Just like then, I'm waiting for “real” snow again. I have three things planned for this stay in Big Sky Country. And then there are plenty of surprises along the way..
Arrival
I had my first big AHA as we approached Glacier Park International Airport: still high above the clouds, but with the mountain peaks of the Rocky Mountain foothills already in view, I suddenly saw - a rainbow! Or, to be more precise: a rainbow circle. Our Sky West plane was reflected in the sunlight at its center. In the first moment, my eyes saw a shark instead of the plane, with tail and side fins.. only the rear fin was missing, so that what I saw could actually be a shark above the clouds.
Here is my snapshot of what I consider to be a spectacular event:
On the farm
I spent the next few days on a small farm near Whitefish, the tourist center of the region, half an hour from Glacier National Park. This far north and a little higher up, the fields and hills here were already covered in snow. I had to strap spikes to my boots to avoid slipping on the icy surfaces in the yard. Two years ago, I had broken my right wrist in an accident like this in South Dakota, and that would be the first and last time. Now I had to walk across the yard twice a day to bring hay to the pasture for the two horses, Trinity and Commander. Experience with horses? Zero. Luckily, I didn't have to do much: weigh the hay, stuff it into two big blue plastic bags, carry them past the chicken coop to a spot that was free of horse droppings and dump it there. Trinity, the 12-year-old black mare, walked alongside me and cheekily plucked tufts of hay out of the bag. Although she came very close to me, I didn't feel any fear. The owner had explained to me beforehand how best to behave around the horses. I learned that because their eyes are on the side of their heads, horses can see almost 360°, with the exception of a blind spot in front of their nose and another blind spot directly behind their hindquarters. That's why you should approach horses from the side. Maybe they don't really like being stroked on the front of the head because of the blind spot in front of their nose. I'm told that horses much prefer it when you touch them on the shoulder.
Then I learned how to drive an ATV in the snow. ATV is the abbreviation for all-terrain vehicle, with four wheels and wide tires, but without a roof. Also called a “quad”. The feeling is more like being on a motorcycle than in a car. I hit a tree a few times on the bumpy paths, some of which sloped down the hillside. ATVs are robust, and after a few days I got the hang of it.
Whitefish
Whitefish, the tourist center, is only about ten kilometers away from the farm. The Christmas Stroll takes place there every year at the beginning of December. A kind of Christmas market for which an entire street in the town center is closed to traffic for one evening. Visitors then stroll past the stalls, zo one of the open galleries and stores or to the Bulldog Saloon. Its guest restrooms are adorned with a plethora of pin-ups on doors and walls - heterosexually gendered. So the women's restroom has photos of topless athletes with six-packs and tight-fitting pants, and the men's restroom.. well. A visit to the Bulldog Saloon is highly recommended for this curiosity alone.
Out in the cold, everything is family-friendly. Many young fathers have their kids in tow. Every time I see steam rising from a mug, I think: Glühwein (mulled wine)! But unfortunately it's only coffee every time. I also don't see any freshly roasted almonds and chestnuts. And I miss Zuckerwatte (cotton candy), which I used to devour as a child at the Nuremberg Christmas market. Piece by piece, I bit off the sticky white mass until all I could hold in my hand was the oversized wooden toothpick around which the absorbent cotton had been wrapped. In Whitefish, Montana, there are “only” roasted marsh mellows, which are as popular in the USA as cotton candy is in Germany, but I just can't get excited about them. There's something else I'm missing at the Christmas Stroll: “Zwetschenmännla”, or Plum Men. The head of these small edible figures is represented by a walnut and the body by figs - only the arms and legs are embodied by plums. Two wires form the framework and the figure is clothed with scraps of fabric. In addition to the chimney sweep, there is hardly a theme that is not represented and there have long been “Zwetschgenweibla”, or Plum Women. Last but not least: Nutcrackers. Who else knows them? The colorfully painted wooden figures whose lower jaw can be folded down. Then you put a walnut or hazelnut inside and, snap, you close the lower jaw with a lever - and crack the shell.
But Whitefish also has something for my inner child. Visitors can bowl on an ice rink, try their hand at axe throwing and marvel at the many colorful pastry creations of houses and landscapes at the gingerbread contest.
The whole thing is a fundraiser for “affordable housing”, there is a section for adults and one for teens. Visitors can buy a ticket for 5 dollars to vote for the winners. There are three categories: a) most distinctive to the region, b) most creative, c) most technically challenging. The winners receive a gift basket at the end. At the award ceremony, one woman says they spent a day building their gingerbread house, another says it took four days and one boy even “weeks”. They are all applauded enthusiastically. I think it's a very nice custom.
With my visit to the Christmas Stroll, I ticked off the first item on my to-do list for this stay in Montana.
Flathead Lake
And now I'm about an hour's drive further south, near the village of Somers on the north shore of Flathead Lake. It is the largest freshwater lake in the USA west of the Mississippi and is the size of Lake Constance. Three countries lie on the shores of Lake Constance: Germany, Austria and Switzerland. And the lake has a number of smaller tributaries in addition to the Alpine Rhine. Montana always lies on the shores of Flathead Lake and it has two tributaries: the Flathead River and the Swan River, both of which flow into the lake near Somers and the neighboring town of Bigfork. I could now see all of this from the air in the truest sense of the word. And this is how it happened: The master of the cat I'll be looking after for two weeks was once in the Air Force and now shares a small Cessena 175 privately with five friends. Yesterday he spontaneously invited me on a trip. My first flight in a single-propeller plane. Pretty tight. Wonderful view of the lake and the mountains. THE surprise of the day. And one of the pleasant side effects of my nomadic life. In passing, I learn that Bigfork - population today: around 5,000 - was the first town in Montana to have electricity because of the dam that was built nearby. In my online search for an article about Bigfork, the AI also provided me with an entry about a town that was supplied with electricity even earlier: Walkerville, a small silver mining town about 200 miles southeast, is said to have had electricity as early as 1880 - eight years before Montana became a state in 1889. In this respect, Bigfork can still be considered the first town to be electrified in the US state of Montana. Both are okay for my flying experience. It was a fantastic little adventure. A big THANK YOU! to Lee, my pilot and host.
Flight over Flathead Lake
We fly along the northern shore of Flathead Lake, across the mouths of the Flathead River and Swan River, over Bigfork and the dam, with the Rocky Mountains in the background. Video ©Rebecca Hillauer
This text was first published in German on my website.
My other travel reports about Montana from 2023
It occurs to me that I actually forgot to translate my first travelogue from July 2023 into English. :-((
