The Mountains Are Calling
Billy and I made a journey back to MT in February to hit the slopes and visit our friends and family. It was the week of Billy’s birthday and we thought that it would be fun to celebrate the same way that Billy has celebrated most of his birthdays…with skiing!
Mile - 7773
Quote of the Blog - “To appreciate the beauty of a snowflake it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” - Aristotle
Song of the Blog - I Got Soul - Jameson & The Sordid Seeds
Our trip started out a bit chaotic. We left STL very early and had an extended layover in Denver. We decided to head to the United Club for a few hours, because I had a couple of free passes. They were doing construction on the United Club closest to our gate, so we ended up at one that was quite a distance away. I had convinced myself that we were boarding at a certain time, which happened to be when the flight departed and not when it boarded. We made it to our gate just in time to see our flight pushing off of the tarmac. United was unable to get us on a flight to Kalispell on the same day, but were able to change us to Missoula. We switched our rental car over and were happy to be able to get to MT on the same day. They delayed our Missoula flight and changed our gate a few times. We just so happened to be walking past the last Kalispell flight, which we earlier were told was full. Billy insisted on asking if there were available seats and our luck was improving because there just so happened to be 2 seats and they were boarding at that moment. We swiftly changed our rental car again and we were headed to the Flathead Valley after all. We made bets on whether our luggage would arrive in Missoula or Kalispell and we were lucky to find it waiting for us when we arrived. It had actually made it on the flight that we missed earlier! We arrived in Kalispell and headed straight to the Remington Bar to get a drink from the best bartender in Whitefish (Billy’s brother) and hang with our friends the Moore’s and the Carpenter’s. Walking in to the bar to hang with good friends, kind of made us feel that we had never left.
The next morning we were off to Whitefish Mountain Resort for some skiing. It was very special for Billy because it was his first time back on skis, since his knee injury from April 2021. He hopped back on the skis and was immediately back to beating me down the hill. Our plan was to finish our ski day at our favorite mountain watering hold, the Bierstube! Billy headed down to grab our rental car and I went to the stube with the Moore’s. Shortly after grabbing a beer, I received a frantic phone call from Billy that he had lost our rental car keys. I started making phone calls to the rental car company. It is safe to say that you never want to lose your rental car keys. Apparently, they rarely have spares and you would need to pay for a tow back to the company and the replacement keys. After chatting with many people from the company and losing hope, I see Billy rounding the corner in our rental car! He had dropped the keys near Chair 8 and the lifty had brought them to Lost and Found while he was still standing there. We once again had a lucky break! Next we went to the Moll’s for happy hour. We were supposed to have met the Moll’s for dinner on Friday, which I had of course messed when we missed our flight. It is always wonderful to catch up with them and now it requires a little more coordinating since they live in Seattle and we no longer live in Whitefish. If the stars align, we will be picking up a contract closer to them late summer! Next on the agenda was dinner at the Conry’s! It is always so good to catch up with them and reminisce about the so many fun(ny) memories that we have had with them.
We ventured up to the mountain to ski on Sunday morning, but not before picking up Little Miss Cadence to join us for some runs. She is such a talented little skier and I am pretty sure that we were holding her back! We then met up with a few more friends in the afternoon and braved the infamous Chair 4. It has broken down many times throughout the season this year, but the company who built it were in town, so we thought it was a perfect time to test it out. We are happy to say that we reached the top with no incident and it was super fun to be able to ride a chair with more of our friends at one time. We then met the Conry’s at the Hellroaring Saloon for beverages, then went to Billy’s mom’s house for dinner. It was fun to be able to have a nice chill night catching up with Billy’s family. We had heard that the aurora forecast was high, so we picked Ashley up and went out for an Aurora hunt. They were not as vibrant while we were watching, but we at least were able to spot them for a bit.
The following day was like many before, Billy and I went up to the mountain to ski and apres. We went to dinner with the Moore’s that evening, which I have to say is one of the activities that I miss most about leaving Whitefish. It is pretty tough to build good friendships when you move every 3 months, so it makes you even more thankful for the good friendships that you do have. Fortunately, we keep in good contact with the Moore’s sharing memes, gifs and the Flathead 411 news with each other via group texts and video happy hours, but it is so much better in person Also, they were kind enough to supply us with lift tickets while we were in town and we are so very thankful for that. After dinner, we headed back to the Seefeldt’s, but not before scoping out the Auroras again. While there was too much cloud coverage to see the auroras, we were able to actually hear the northern lights. This is not like anything we have ever experienced before. At first, I thought it was a drone and Billy thought that it was the birds, though it was midnight. The dogs were going crazy and it truly was a wild experience!
Next up was Billy’s birthday! We went to the mountain to ski and then made another stop at the Hellroaring, the taphouse and eventually to the Bulldog for dinner. Thanks to all of our friends that joined us to wish Billy a happy birthday! I am sad to say that we captured no photos from that night, but that must mean that we were having a good time and living in the moment. We followed The Bulldog up with a late night at the Remington. We are not as seasoned at this game as we used to be. Keeping up with the “locals” is a tough match. So much fun though!
Our last morning at Whitefish was spent at brunch with Billy’s mom, Doreen, at our favorite breakfast spot in town; The Buffalo Cafe. I seriously miss being able to breakfast at the Buffalo on a regular basis. It has always been one of my favorite weekend activities. Their food is not only amazing, but you also just feel at “home” when you walk into the Buff. It was also so special to spend time catching up with Doreen.
A big thank you goes out to the Seefeldt’s for letting us crash at their house! I so enjoyed having the opportunity to sit around in pjs, drink coffee and catch up with my friend Ashley before hitting the ski hill each day. There are not too many people that come into your life that can simultaneous be your co-worker/boss and one of your best friends. We definitely have a special kind of friendship, of which I am so thankful!
And that is a wrap on our Whitefish trip. We are so thankful to have spent some time hugging and catching up with friends and family. I am sure we will be back in the fall, if not before!