Here are the notes I am taking while Molly and I are on a road trip through Idaho (briefly), Wyoming, and Montana, October 2018.

Part 1 is here | Part 2 is here  | Part 3 is here | Part 4 is here | Part 5 is here | Part 6 is here | Part 7 is here

OCTOBER 13, 2018

ESSEX, MT

Essex is where our caboose living has been. This is our abode as of this morning:

We heard it rain last night but we didn’t expect to wake up to a snowy wonderland!

But first, back to the caboose. It was a charming idea, retrofitting a caboose as tiny house.

Overall, it was nice; there was a stove and fridge and microwave and ample space in the kitchen so that Molly and I could kick back and cook (and draank the wine) for a couple nights. The main bedroom was a paradise, and right outside we could sit on the deck, bundled up, watching the sunset. But the sleeping platform (bedroom #2) was a bit nightmarish. The ladder going up was STEEP and once you were lying down, there was only about 18 inches between your nose and the ceiling. I would bump my knees on the ceiling when I bent them (I’m 5’4″). Not to mention a whole lot of houseflies were living up there, enjoying the warmth. Molly and I swapped nights to be fairsies; it was a shame as both of us were looking forward to separate bedrooms for a change. I recommend the caboose experience, but be warned — that sleeping platform is a real challenge. And be sure to choose a caboose farther in from the main road. It wasn’t bad, since we were in the off-season, but I could imagine the steady streams of cars would be distracting.

The main hotel is charming, cool and had a great gift shop. Important, because ALL I DID WAS BUY SOUVENIRS everywhere I went.

We wanted to do some last exploring of the Park before heading to civilization for our last night, but we were wondering about the snow and how difficult it would be to get back to the Park. Well, AGAIN because we are US and MAGIC, the snow magically disappeared and the Park presented herself in her autumnal glory – yet again!

Again, I was huffing and puffing on the inclines, but this time it all had a special wheezy quality. And thus a suspected respiratory infection has begun. I’m going to be a lot of fun on my business trip I’m taking in 3 days!

And that…was that. We honestly could not have seen more of the outskirts of Glacier National Park — we did all we could.

And so it was time for civilization, (more) shopping, and some perfect Americana attractions.

This is our third visit to a vortex – we went to Santa Cruz’s Mystery Spot years ago and through Sedona about three years ago. Now it’s on — the quest to visit all the (kitschy awesome) vortexes (don’t call them vortices!!) in all the land.

This one was special. The tour was great, the special powers of the vortex were convincing, and it was a nice little forest walk, to boot. No Sasquatch were sighted but the guide said they have been “very active” in the area. (Saw a great magnet later in the day with an illustration of the classic Bigfoot and it says “I have nothing to prove to you people”)

    

We spent quite a bit of time shopping in charming Whitefish, then on to Columbia Falls, which is our destination for the night. We celebrated by eating dinner at the Nite Owl and I had my own personal party of two porkchops, a bunch of Molly’s Tater Tots and a piece of coconut cream pie before my gastric system started screaming.

Next to our uneventful motel is a ceramist’s studio, Montana Earth Pottery. The artist (Judy Howell, I believe her name is) has been there since 1981 and has a super cozy, two-cat studio. Come over and I will serve you a treat in my brand new bison bowl!

We’re getting sad that tomorrow we are going our separate ways. I made the mistake tonight of checking my work email, whu-whuuuuuh. This is what devastation wi-fi can inflict upon a girl.

Wrap up tomorrow!

Part 9 is here