17-18 June: Whitefish

On Tuesday morning, we slept in until 10:00 or so. We then went to Montana Coffee Traders for coffee and breakfast, where Jeff and I were thwarted in our breakfast efforts for the second day in a row; apparently they've recently changed their hours in a very odd manner. We had coffee anyway. I got espresso, and the barista's response should've had me changing my order ("you mean like a latte?"), but for some reason I stuck it out. It proved to be a mistake. I'm sure they're good with the sweet milky drinks, though! Under different circumstances I would've bought some beans to try them out, but I was headed back into bear country eventually and didn't really need the strong smell of coffee beans attracting my furry friends, nor did I need the added weight.

We ended up going to Knead Cafe for lunch, where i got the Veghead sandwich, with roasted eggplant, zucchini, red pepper, and a ton of other veggie goodness (they had just stopped serving breakfast when we got there) and it was delicious.

After lunch, Candace drove me out to a road from which I could easily walk to Whitefish. I had thought she was driving me to a road that I had in mind when they told me knew the perfect spot, but when we got a few miles out onto the road and Candace pulled over to let me out, I knew I couldn't walk from there -- there was absolutely no shoulder, and there was enough traffic that I'd be a hazard if two cars met near me. So they drove me to the end of the road, which was really a cheat on my part because it was only about 3-1/2 miles to Whitefish. I took advantage of it and walked into and through town to Hilary & Dan's house.

When I arrived, Hilary was sitting on the curb waiting for her ride to work, but I didn't realize it was her. We exchanged a few friendly words, and I walked up to her house. She watched to see if that's where I was going, and then she surprised me, saying, "It should be unlocked." I laughed, and she said that they've had enough new people showing up in town for the summer that she wasn't sure if it was me when I turned the corner.

I had the place to myself for a bit and took a little nap. I woke up in time to go the farmers market, which I had noticed was about to start when I walked through town. I walked back into town and checked out the wares being hawked. It was sort of a smaller version of the Ballard Sunday Market, in terms of the goods being sold. There was a mobile catering service selling food off a small menu, including espresso barbequed ribs, which sounded good except for the ribs part. I opted instead for the walleye sandwich with yam fries, which was wonderful, and the walleye fillet, while sizeable, was nonetheless too small for the roll it was on. Oh well. With a less strong main course, the yam fries would have stolen the show -- they were that good!

After the farmers market, I went across the street to Great Northern Brewing to sample the beers. They were all good, but the scottish ale was tops and the dark lager was very tasty, too. Not wanting to be trashed when I returned to meet Dan and Hilary together, I left relatively early (they closed at 8:00, anyway) and walked back to the house.

I stood around outside the house talking to Karla for a while, and I saw Dan arrive. I chatted with Karla a little longer and then went in to introduce myself to Dan, but he had managed to sneak out while I wasn't looking! Finally he returned, having walked Zoe (their cute and sweet but maladjusted dog), and we passed the next few hours in pleasant conversation while we washed some dishes. Then Dan went to get Hilary from work, after which we chatted for a short while before hitting the rack.

The next day Hilary was off, and we had a nice slow morning conversing over coffee and eventually breakfast -- for me, anyway; Hilary just had more coffee, a decision that she eventually came to regret. Her friend Justin came over and we went to buy groceries for dinner.

Later that afternoon, Hilary's friends Terra and Jess, who are working in West Glacier, came over. They brought their dog, Raindog, an energetic basset hound/beagle mix. They were delightful and entertaining in conversation. Hilary put together a great dinner of kebabs and various types of salad, not to mention chips, salsa, and hummus. We ate, we drank, we joked around, and in general we made merry.

I went to bed late, but happy.