Saturday, July 6, 2024

Glacier-Waterton: arrival in Whitefish

It was a very early morning today to catch my flight from Toronto to Chicago in order to make the 9:45 am flight from Chicago to Kalispell, Montana. There are not a lot of flights to the official airport of Glacier National Park. Both my flight to Chicago and my flight to Kalispell were completely full. The flight to Kalispell contained a large group of senior citizens on a tour.

Upon arrival at the airport, I picked up a chicken burrito and matcha latte at the "On the Fly" grab and go. It was expensive but a good size and filling (I almost didn't finish it).

My bicycle in its Samsonite suitcase arrived with the main latch broken off. It's only the second time that I've flown with it (the first being when I purchased it used in Minnesota and flew back to Toronto last summer). It was disappointing to see the irreparable damage. Fortunately, nothing seems to have fallen out or been lost.

My friend's bicycle had been stranded in Denver since yesterday, when it didn't arrive with her flight. Thankfully, it arrived today. Then, we had an expensive UberXL to take us and our bikes the 15 minutes (10 miles) to our hotel in Whitefish. 



With a population of 8900, Whitefish is a small town built around the Whitefish River. We reassembled our bicycles and took them for a test ride around bike paths near the river. Many people were in the water. Tubing appeared to be a popular activity. There were also kayaks, and, people outside picnicking in the beautiful 80 F degree weather.


For awhile, we enjoyed the large, shaded outdoor area at Bonsai Brewery. North, east and west, the mountains (or maybe these are foothills?) define the horizon of Whitefish. Then, we headed back to main road to our hotel.

Later in the evening, I took a walk to the 24-hour supermarket and then to find the perfect photo of the mountains. It was a beautiful evening! The long summer days meant that the sun didn't set until 9:40 pm. 

As I started back toward the hotel, a young buck with velvety horns eyed me from across the road and then continued grazing. The clouds in the sky turned light pink to darkish pinkish-purple above me. A beautiful first day in Whitefish!




1 comment:

  1. Nice photos! Sounds like a good first day. Too bad the latch broke off on your bike suitcase. Are you still able to keep it securely closed? Did you talk to the airline about it?

    Nice horse sculptures!

    Mom

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