Golf and Nature in Big Sky Country

Wow, so summer hit just after the 4th, and we have obviously been out enjoying it seeing as I haven't updated this in over a month! So, I'm just going to rewind, and catch up in a series of new entries.

The weekend after the 4th, we packed up and drove to Columbia Falls, MT and met up with my family to spend a week at the Meadowlake Golf Resort. My family has history in that area going way back before I was born. In fact, my Dad lived in Big Fork in the 70's after he graduated from college. One morning, we had breakfast at The Buffalo Cafe in Whitefish, owned by one of my dad's old buddies from back in the day. It was while we were there that Charlie (the owner) told dad that a bar in Big Fork still had a picture of their group of guys at the "Not Enough Chicks Party". The story goes that apparently it was only guys that stuck around for the winter, and all of Flathead Lake froze over that year. So the guys got together and had a huge party out on the frozen lake, but it was all dudes, so it is forever commemorated as the "Not Enough Chicks Party". So after breakfast, we all trekked down to the bar in Big Fork to take a look at the picture. Here it is:



















Dad is right smack dab in the middle, with a mustache, flannel shirt, and aviator shades. You sure were rockin' it Dad! :-)

A couple years after this picture was taken, dad left Montana and went up to Alaska to teach. Which is where he met my mom, and they got married 3 months later! They spent 10 years teaching in bush Alaska, but the year that I was born, they bought some land back in Montana on Swan Lake not far from Big Fork. That year they took sabbatical and built a cabin on the land. It was at this cabin that I spent many of my childhood summers when we came back from Alaska on summer break. On the trip this summer, we went back to the land, and much to our surprise it was still there! Here's what it looks like today:































At any rate, enough with memory lane... we also went up to the magnificent (there really isn't any other word to describe it) Glacier Park, golfed a lot, and even did a bit of fly fishing. Apparently that part of Montana isn't the greatest for fly fishing, but Noah and I at least got some expert instruction from my brother. So hopefully we can try our hand at it over here in Washington in the fall. Here are a few random other pictures from the rest of the vacation.