Tag Archives: Flathead Lake

Posted in Holiday observations

2015 Reviews, Previews & Predictions

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by Bob Sparrow

Eagles

The Eagles backstage – me, NOT!

–  For me 2014 started here with the discovery, or rather the re-discovery, of ‘The Tape’ – a mysterious offering from dearly departed, best friend, Don of Saudi Arabia, which has turned into an allegorical journey in search of . . . ? More discoveries are coming in 2015.

  •     –  Last year’s backstage cocktail party with the Eagles turned out to be more of a nose-bleed seat and a hot dog in the balcony, but their music was still magical.

–  I watched a car salesman, beaten and bloody, slink into his manager’s office with his tail between his legs as Linda drove away in her new 2015 Chevy Yukon

–  In 2014 I learned that Samoans, by any other name (even one as misleading as Caramel deLites) are still my favorite Girl Scout cookie, although I understand I’ll be paying more for them in 2015 – what a surprise!

carly scott

Missing woman turns into a homicide

–  The case of missing Carley Scott, to which I was introduced by a hitch-hiker I picked up on the ‘Road to Hana’, turned into a homicide when Carley’s jawbone and burned clothes were found by police. Ex-boyfriend, Steven Capobianco has gone from a ‘person of interest’ to being charged with murder.  Trial is set for sometime in 2015.

–  An economic forecast: I predict that 2015 will find Reverse Mortgages moving Forward.

–  Independence Day (not the 4th of July!) revealed our founding fathers to be just as quirky as some of today’s politicians, which is no easy task!

DSC01224

Trekking the Himalayas

–  If my adventure to South Africa in 2013 was the ‘Trip of a Lifetime’, then my adventure in Nepal and the Himalayas last year was the ‘Trek of a Lifetime’ – it was a spectacular journey! I’m glad many of you could join me vicariously through my daily posts. I am now frequently asked, “Hey, where are ‘we’ going next?” Stay tuned.

–  It wasn’t as foreign, but just as beautiful – that’s the trekking through Glacier Nat’l Park, Yellowstone, and Alberta, Canada and our visit to neighbors the Nelsons at their second home on Flathead Lake, Montana this past summer. You’re all probably wondering if after our encounter in Jackson Hole, WY, if Sandra Bullock will ever leave me alone . . . more on that later.

2014-07-24 20.08.47

Is she still stalking me?

–  Earlier this year, while making a fool of myself at some of our ‘local’ tourist spots like Venice Beach, the Western White House and the Queen Mary, I missed my induction into the University of Utah Athletic Hall of Fame – it’s just as well, it turned out that they had plenty of ‘red shirts’ to clear the dishes and sweep up after.

–  Twenty fourteen concluded with a tribute to, and a debate with, my favorite sister, my favorite writing companion and simply one of my favorite people on this planet.  If you’re a regular you know she writes so well from the heart, while I tend to write from somewhere around the elbow, but whatever your preference, I predict much more of the same coming from us in 2015.

–  A big thank you to our regular readers in 2014 for enjoying our writing enough to encourage us to keep on doing it. Truth is, we’d probably do it anyway, but you need to know that your comments, your ‘sharing’ and your subscriptions make it a labor of love for us. Thank you so much!

2015

Bob & Suzanne wishing you an adventurous 2015!

If you’re not already a subscriber, we encourage you to become a ‘bird watcher’ in 2015 and follow and ‘share’ our adventures and observations.  That’s at least a resolution you can keep!

Hope you make 2015 matter.

Posted in travel

Luxury on Flathead Lake

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by Bob Sparrow

Wild Horse

Flathead Lake’s Wild Horse Island

We were all feeling a little puny the next morning, but breakfast at the ‘Running Bear Pancake House’, (Drinking in the buff, eating running bare, what’s next, a game of naked Twister?) sustained us for the scenic drive through Butte and Missoula into Polson, Montana on the south shore of Flathead Lake, where there are plenty of taxidermy shops, but by the time we got there the only animal I wanted stuffed was me. With Linda’s father on the mend, she flew out of Minnesota into Missoula and we picked her up on our way through.

Nelson's

Nelson’s lakefront home

Mike & Tanis, neighbors and owners of a beautiful home on the lake where we were staying, were terrific hosts; they had cocktails waiting for us when we arrived and then prepared a delicious barbecued rib dinner that we enjoyed while sitting on their deck watching the sun set over the lake. After dinner we stepped down to their lakeside fire pit where Mike put on a fireworks show from their dock. We then just enjoyed the billions of stars and movement of satellites in a pitch-black sky on a perfect evening – amazing.

Warning

Sign I read before the wild horse approached me

After breakfast the next morning the eight of us headed out in the ‘Nelson Navy’, a speedboat and two Seadoos, to Wild Horse Island on Flathead Lake. Driving a Seadoo is as close as I get to riding a motorcycle – it was a blast! Mike had lowered our expectation for Wild Horse Island as he told us that in all the years he’s been going there he’s never seen a wild horse, but he did affirm that it actually was an island. We arrived, docked the watercraft and took a hike in-land around the island. There in a meadow we saw six wild horses. Mike was in disbelief. I got fairly close to try and take a picture and one of the horses, a paint, started walking over to me. I stood there a bit frightened, as I’d never been around a wild horse, much less have one coming directly at me, so I didn’t know if she was going to break into a charge, raise up on her hind legs and clobber me or start counting by scraping her hoof on the ground. Where is my bear spray I thought, and does it work on horses? As a good reporter, I kept videoing as she got within three feet of me. It turns out these horses were more ‘beggars’ then they were wild, as she stood there face to face with me looking up with those big brown eyes that seemed to ask, “Got anything to eat?” I didn’t, so I backed away hoping not to piss her off for not offering her an carrot or something. Further down the trail we saw a herd of long-horned sheep grazing on

I think I'm on a motorcycle

I think I’m on a motorcycle

the hillside and eagles nesting in the trees.

This place was a real natural wonderland. The ride back on the Seadoo was even better than the ride over as the lake was now calm and smooth as glass, so I was able to get that Seadoo up to 40 miles an hour. Wheeeee!

We left the Nelsons the next morning and headed for Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park.

 

Posted in travel

My Real ‘Next Adventure’

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by Bob Sparrow

yogiSince returning from Nepal, I have been asked a number of times about my next adventure; it seems some of you folks take a perverse pleasure in watching me bust my ass in some far-off, third-world country. I am indeed embarking on my next adventure and no, it’s not to Yemen, Somalia, Syria or the Antarctica “just before they close it for the winter” – but thank you Sister Suzanne and several loyal subscribers for your amusing, albeit life-threatening, suggestions. I’m trading in that 26-hour, back-wrenching, butt-numbing flight, for a short hop within the U.S. borders this time. And while this trip may not be as exotic as traveling through Nepal, I’m hoping it will provide a unique look at the spectacular beauty of my favorite part of the country.

I’ll have more company on this adventure, as it will be with couples from ‘the ‘hood’, affectionately, or maybe that’s ‘infectionately’, referred to as the ‘Hoodwink Hikers’. The ‘Hoodwink Hikers’ include our ‘Trail Boss’, Patrick (my Nepal companion) and his wife, Pam; long-time close friends, Mark & Kathy; the comic relief couple, Bob & Jeanne and Linda and me. We are headed to the ‘Intermountain West’ for some hiking and hijinks, not necessarily in that order.

WC

‘The Harvard of the West’

Our plan is to fly into Salt Lake City (home to my son’s and my alma mater, Westminster College, or as we alums like to refer to it, the ‘Harvard of the West’), take the beautiful drive from Salt Lake to the Old West town of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which sits in the shadow of the Grand Teton Mountains. We’ll spend a couple of days cavorting in the surrounding environs then head to Yellowstone Nat’l Park. Once we’ve seen ‘Old Faithful’ and Yogi Bear (or is that in Jellystone Nat’l Park?) we’ll continue north to join another couple from the ‘hood, Mike & Tanis, who have a second home on Flathead Lake in Polson, Montana. We figure to wear out our welcome there after a couple of days, so we’ll be heading further north to Lake McDonald, which is in scenic Glacier Nat’l Park, where we’ll do some hiking. Some will hike and some will take a tour bus on the picturesque road over the Continental Divide called, ‘Going To The Sun Road’ (sounds long . . . and hot!). We’ll then journey on to Many (pronounced Manny) Glacier for a night.

Jackson Hole

Exclusive Hotel in Jackson Hole

Our final stop will be so far north that it’s south . . . south Canada – a place called Prince of Wales in Alberta, where we’ll stay in a majestic old ‘railroad hotel’ in the Canadian Rockies. We will then drive back to Kalispell, Montana (assuming they will let us back into the country) and fly home.

That’s the plan, but anyone who’s been following our blog, knows that sometimes we deviate from the plan – and with this group of deviates, no plan is safe. Connectivity permitting, I’ll try to post what we actually do and maybe even include some videos, if my son shows me how to do that before we leave. Hope you tag along and enjoy the trip. As always you’re welcome to send me your comments while you’re sitting comfortably on your couch at home eating Bon Bons and I’m busting my ass on that Draconian-sounding road to the center of our solar system.

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