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Today we decided to head out for some snowshoeing. After considering a few options in the area, we agreed to go up Blacktail Mountain– the tallest peak on the west side of Flathead Lake.

At the top there was an amazing view of the Valley:

We celebrated after hiking to the summit.

Here are the two besties atop a rock, showing off their fancy shoes.

As we trekked through the forest, there were a few mishaps.

We hiked for a little over three hours and decided to get some dinner at the outstanding Tamarack Brewery. But it was only late afternoon, so we needed to waste some time. What better way than to head down to the shoreline of Flathead Lake? This time we were on the western side. Kyra and Hannah decided to climb on a nearby dock that was maybe twenty feet from the shore. They had to wade through water roughly a foot deep, but keep in mind the water temperature is right around 40 degrees!

Once they reached the dock, they climbed up for a better view of the lake. Note the water level: this is a good illustration of how much lower it is in winter months.

After an excellent dinner, we headed back home and I managed to get a good shot along the Swan River:

Yep, another good day out in Big Sky Country. The girls have informed me that tomorrow is going to be a “lazy day” so they can rest up from all this hiking…

After hiking in Jewel Basin, we decided to give Kyra and Hannah a closer view of the lakes near us. We swung past Echo Lake, and were surprised at the low water level. Here’s a photo I took back in October:

And here’s a photo today from the same spot. The lake is gone!

A bit disappointed in Echo Lake, we went to Flathead Lake State Park and walked around the northeast shoreline of Flathead Lake. There were some cool rocks that are normally underwater (the lake is currently eight feet below “full pool”).

The clouds were “brooding” a bit…

Here are my two favorite ladies.

Hannah snapped a shot of me looking out over the water.

No matter what time of year, or what the weather, Flathead Lake doesn’t disappoint.

Today’s weather was nice, and with Kyra and Hannah visiting we felt like we should take advantage of it. We piled into the CR-V and headed north to Jewel Basin. We stopped at the ranger station to learn about trail conditions, thinking we might need snowshoes. But the rangers didn’t know anything about the conditions, because no one “official” checks on the trails or even the roads in that area of the mountains during the winter.

We drove up into the hills, crawling up an old forest service road that had a thick layer of snow and ice (mostly ice). Eventually we found the road to be impassable, and stopped at a trailhead. According to the map, five miles uphill was a nice lake. We started upward and made it maybe two miles before we hit enough snow that we had to turn back. The trail was becoming hard to follow (unmaintained, you know) and Kyra had only brought tennis shoes on her trip.

At our turnaround point we stopped for some pictures. Here are the three girls.

We had come high enough up the mountain that we could see the vast Flathead Valley spread out before us. In the far distance are the Salish Mountains, with Flathead Lake barely visible in front of them (center right). On the left is the east side of the Swan Range– our house is on the opposite side, probably near the left edge of the photo. In the foreground is Echo Lake and the forest surrounding it. Pretty cool view.

Hannah brought her camera– actually, she brought three– so it was fun to shoot alongside her.

The hike was fun, and we agreed that it’ll be great to tackle it again in the summer when the trail is clear and we can make it up to the lake.

This morning I woke up really early and was surprised at how much light was in the house. Looking out over the lake– which we can see from the master bedroom– I saw an amazing full moon reflecting in the water.

When we were cross-country skiing, we stopped for a brief lunch. Pepper pulled out the food she’d packed, and I sat down beside her. “Where’s your lunch?” she asked. In answer, I dug into my jacket and found an old Lifesaver.

She thought it was so ridiculous that she took a picture of it. Contrast her carrots, blueberries, sandwich, and hummus against my energy ring:

What can I say– this is how I hike.

Open burning started this month, and I’ve seen a few smoke plumes around the valley. While that’s kind of a bummer, it does make the sunsets more spectacular. Here’s last night’s:

You can see a thin haze along the mountains across the lake. And yes, the sky was really that pink.

This is Todd.

This is the kind of stuff Todd makes:

He’s a chainsaw artist with an open-air shop behind a local gas station. Today as Pepper and I were driving past, we saw him working out there and decided to stop and meet him. It’s pretty cool art! Here’s the four-foot-tall bear he’s currently carving:

We agreed it might look pretty good on our front porch. Or this cute little guy (maybe a foot tall) inside the house somewhere?

Pepper pointed out that I’ve had fun with our chainsaw, so maybe I should get into some art. Yeah.

At lunch today, the restaurant had one of those cheesy little hometown newsletters. I saw this list of “things to be thankful for” and enjoyed it.

When I first bought my car, I think I washed it nearly weekly. It was always spotless, inside and out. But over time, as with all things, the luster faded and eventually I was washing it every few months. Then I’d only have it washed when I brought it in for an oil change (the Honda dealership washes cars).

I don’t think I’ve washed it in the past two years or so. It was so filthy that you couldn’t really even touch it. I’d rub up against it on accident, leaning into the trunk or something, and my jeans would have black smudges on them. Pepper and I would grab the inside of the trunk to close it, because touching the back of the car was so bad.

It was 45 degrees and sunny today, so I dragged out the hose and went to work. It took three washings to finally get through the dirt, but the end result was pretty nice. It’s good to see a little shine again.

A few days ago I read an article about companies who sell books “by the foot”. Apparently people sometimes want a bunch of books that just look cool in their homes, but they don’t really care what the books actually are. Since I just unboxed all of my books, I was thinking about books and thought I’d take a quick gander to find out about this crazy business. Sure enough, you can buy books by the linear foot, with various pricing depending on what you’re getting.

For example, you might want a bunch of books by color, so your bookshelf can look something like this:

Or this:

You can buy a whole bunch of books in a single color, like burgundy or black. For those people who have really fancy family rooms, perhaps a collection of “vintage” leather books would be best:

(I admit, these are actually pretty cool. They’re at least 60 years old, and up to 150 years old, according to the web site.)

Or, if you’re a less discriminate buyer, you can just order a box full of random titles.

What a strange business…