Lake Time

After our action-packed Wednesday, we were all ready for a leisurely morning, brunch at our now favorite local spot and a day spent investigating the area's mountain lakes.  Since we knew we'd be on the lake from 1:00 until we tired of it, we opted to try brunch at Horn and Cantle, the restaurant where we had our first Montana meal, and the historic ranch that is most enticing to come back to with the whole family.  After a delicious brunch of omelettes and a huckleberry pancake we all shared (the huckleberry is much beloved in these parts), the kids played a game of horseshoes and then we headed out to do the drives the locals refer to as "Around the Block."

Since we had explored Yellowstone a decade ago, and the crowds are notorious inside the park during July, we decided this trip to spend our time exploring the world just outside of the park gates. On yesterday's agenda, another drive alongside the beautiful Gallatin River, of which I never seem to tire of taking photos, followed by the loop into Idaho and back into Montana to see three mountain lakes, the Henry, the Quake (story to follow), and the Hebgen, where we had rented a pontoon for several hours.  While we didn't have nearly the luck seeing animals that we had atop Lone Mountain the previous afternoon, we still enjoyed the lovely scenery, while imagining our own family house sitting alongside Lake Henry, the Idaho lake that seemed most conducive to such family homes.

Gallup Family would fit nicely on that sign.

Or we could get more creative with a title for our lake home

Quake Lake is tragically fascinating.  Formed after a massive earthquake struck in 1959, the ensuing mountain collapse killed 28 people who were camping around Lake Hebgen and blocked the Madison River, forming this lake, named after the event that created it.   A reminder of how the earth can literally change in a moment, the lake is certainly beautiful and the visitor's center informative.  Yet it's difficult to reconcile the loss of life with some of the whimsical choices, such as an iron gate with a design mirroring the seismic activity of the earthquake.  It was an odd little stop to be sure.

Once we arrived at the marina of our final lake destination, we quickly loaded the boat, had the marina operator bark instructions to Dana, as he navigated a rather tight spot with an initially somewhat unwieldy 24 foot boat to get out of the marina and into the open water.  Lake Hebgen is huge, so we tooled around for hours, each taking our turn in the driver's seat, noting fly fishermen, the first we've seen fishing from a boat, a few other boaters out for the day, but mostly just taking in the scenery and enjoying the warmth of the sun.  This was also the perfect spot for more photo shoots, so there were quite a few of those, too.

Around 5:30, the threatening clouds gave way to rain, and we all huddled under the small cover, laughing and trying to avoid the very cold rain.  Dana expertly navigated us back into the marina and perfectly docked the boat, shocking the attendant with his precision.  We arrived at Bucks T-4, in operation in one form or another since 1946, for our much anticipated dinner.   A small omelette and a a 1/4 of a huckleberry pancake only lasts you so long, after all.  The history was interesting, the food delicious (though Dana has concluded that he prefers a good old-fashioned steak made from a cow to one made from a bison), and we arrived back to our place in time to see another double rainbow, which I had anticipated while we all huddled for cover on the boat.

Today we're off to explore the ghost towns.  With just two days left in this part of Montana, we're all suddenly feeling anxious to do more things.  Last night's waiter assured us that we've already done many of the locals' favorite things - hiking Ousel Falls, getting to the top of Lone Mountain, driving alongside the Gallatin River.  He gave us a couple of other suggestions of short area hikes, which we will do tomorrow. 

We're often asked which states are our favorites, and this one is quickly becoming a top contender.  With Whitefish in our future, a destination that has had many locals ooh and aah at how much they love that part of Montana, we're expecting this state to retain its place as one of our favorites.  One thing is for certain; as our amber waves tour closes in on its completion, with our oldest living on her own in California and our baby about to head off to college, I treasure every one of these Montana moments.