Queen of Bliss, Joeann Fossland

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Kalispell To Many Glacier-Week Three The Great Northwest Vacation

The drive from Paradise to Kalispell took us along Flathead Lake for almost an hour. What gorgeous scenery. In my Missoula e-PRO Class one of the participants said there are over 150+ listings on the lakefront and none has sold in the past 6 months. Seems what I am hearing as I travel, is that the under $200,000 and first time homebuyer market is getting busier in most areas, especially in the last 60 days, but the higher end market buyers are still on the sidelines.

We ate a nice Father's Day dinner at Famous Dave's BBQ in Kalispell.  It was tasty and then we swam and enjoyed the Jacuzzi at the hotel.

After an e-PRO Workshop in Kalispell where 7 out of the 8 attendees sign up, we took off to stay in the Glacier National Park Many Glacier Hotel.

We had planned to drive the famous Road to The Sun, but 12 miles of it are still not open due to snow. All of the mountains still have lots of snow and this is the second time in 2 weeks we've been in snow! How amazing for June for us desert rats.

We drove some new roads as we went on the perimeter drive around the park to get to the hotel

On Route 49, suddenly the cars in front of us stopped  and we could see cars stopped coming the other way. We thought perhaps an accident, but then saw others out with their cameras. There was a large, brown mother bear and cub about 100 feet from the road ambling through the woods. The motorcycles behind us weren't as entranced and as they revved their bikes and passed between the cars, the bear ran off. We also saw deer twice on the side of the road. Last week I forgot to tell you on the drive back to Paradise from Poloson , a deer ran into the back of my car...thankfully, this time  the deer stayed off the road.

The weather was very blustery. Raining hard with a strong wind, we thought it would change to snow at our altitude but it never did. One of the original railroad hotels, Many Glacier Hotel was built between 1910-1914. Many Glacier Hotel is situated on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake and rests at the base of Mt. Grinnell. This Swiss-themed hotel has 214 guest rooms and offers a fine dining. We had hot chocolate followed by a trout dinner.  Red bus tours, boat cruises and David Walburn evening entertainment are available at this extraordinary hotel. Our cozy room on the 4th floor with a lakefront view. There was no cell phone reception, no internet, no TV's but the views were inspiringly breathtaking.

A Weekend in Paradise (Montana) Week Two The Great Northwestern Vacation

We are still taking roads less traveled and enjoying the scenery and seeing what's going on in the rural towns in the Northwest. From Walla Walla for 4 hours through beautiful green rolling hills. Wind turbines dotted the landscape and cows and horses were everywhere. We saw a deer off the road ambling up a hill and lots of hawks overhead.

We crossed into northern Idaho to go to the beautiful town of Coeur d'Alene so I could share e-PRO with more cool folks! My buddy Christina Ethridge brought her hubby, Chuck, whom I had never met; so, it was fun to connect in person. Christina is a social networking maven and it is easy to see why she is attracting success! It was Triathlon weekend in Coeur d'Alene...so we choose after the presentation to drive on to Quinns Hot Springs Resort is near Paradise, MT

We stayed here 2 years ago and LOVED being in Paradise!

We had a cabin reserved right in front of the playground. Wireless made my work easy. We never figured out how to make the satellite TV work, so everyone got some reading done.

 

chipmunkat Quinns Hot SpringsThe chipmunks were friendly and sly. At the pool, we watched one go right into someone's pool bag and then scurry off.

On Friday, I go to Missoula and then Polson for 2 ePRO montana cowsWorkshops. The drive was breathtaking. Montana is soooo pretty. I think I could live here. We are still trying to figure out the name of the black and white cows.

 

 

Being in one place for 3 days was a nice break from the fast and furious pace!