Glamping

S'mores at the fire pit!

So I am sure you have heard the term. Glamping. Glamorous Camping. Well, I don’t know the exact definition and perhaps it means different things to different people. But where we are right now, well, THIS is my definition of glamping.

We got up Saturday morning and were excited to make our 90 minute trek to Polson, Montana. We each went for a run and Shawn showed me a path that should give me just the distance I was looking for. My warm up got a little more warm than anticipated when I was running through a neighborhood near the campground and some scary looking dog started chasing me. He was in a yard that I assumed would have a shock collar and he would stop. Nope. In an instant he was literally on my rear and I was convinced he was about to take a bite. I had my earphones on but could still hear him barking loudly and thankfully noticed his owner running after him. I have mentioned I am not really an animal person. I should clarify that. I am not really a dog person. I married into two labs, whom I genuinely love, but not like a real dog person probably does. I have grown to know them and their personalities and they are sweet and loving and I will miss them one day. But I am still not a dog person. When I was 4, we lived in Vermont. We actually lived in Vermont for 4 years. 2 years in Burlington and 2 years in Montpelier. I can’t remember which came first anymore, but I know I was around 4 years old and Rene’ and I were at a neighbor’s house and they had a dog. A big one. A german Shepard. At this point I loved all animals. I remember laying my head on his back and gently stroking him. The next thing I knew, he had whipped his head around and literally bit my head. Teeth into my skull. Blood and all. I remember Rene’ freaking out and dragging me home to mom and dad with tears streaming down my face. That was the end of me and dogs. Especially ones I don’t know. (Rene’ actually has a german shepherd right now – that’s an even longer story as to why she has that thing – and if I ever need to go to her house, I literally throw her stuff on the steps and run.) So needless to say I got a better work out than I expected once I saw Coujo. It was needed anyway.

Before hitting the road, I headed into “town” to go to the Verizon store. Shawn and I keep getting texts that we are almost using all of our phone plans and we are only a few days in to a new billing cycle, and Shawn keeps getting a SIM card error on his iPad. We have no idea how this stuff works because our phones have always been through work, so I figured we might as well go to Verizon while in Missoula. I haven’t seen a Verizon store in a month. I drove alone, listened to ‘Call Me Al’ loudly in the car with the windows down, and loved every minute. Verizon was quick and easy and as usual, the western peeps (don’t think I can call them mid-western out here!) were super nice. Turns out I can’t keep my GPS on for 5 hours a day every day. And Shawn’s SIM card just needed to be cleaned. I was a little embarrassed when he took it out, blew on it and put it back in and it worked. We didn’t even know where the thing was. Oh well – it’s fixed!

The drive here was a breeze as Jude napped the whole way while the kids watched the newly purchased Lego movie. We knew that the place we were coming was supposed to be nice. It is listed in the top 10 of all luxury RV resorts in the country and as our last planned stop on our journey, we were saving the best for last. We pulled in and we were not disappointed. There are little things you learn to really appreciate when you start RV’ing. Nice, easy hook ups, large, wide pads to park on, good pic-nic tables, etc. Well, this has all of that and then some. We have a pergola, a grill/outdoor kitchen, table and chairs and a huge field behind our spot for the kids to play, a fitness center, putt putt golf, playground, pool, hot tub, etc. And our spot overlooks Flathead Lake and some beautiful mountains (need to look up the name). It is the largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi and it is simply breathtaking. The water is so blue, it is almost Caribbean like. Even my in-laws, who are full time RV’ers, said it is the most beautiful RV park they have ever been to.

The one mess up is that we realized we are still about an hour and half from Glacier National Park. Oops. So since we are here for 5 nights, we decided that today we will just explore Polson, the town we are in, and tomorrow we will make a day of it in Glacier. So last night we grilled out some BBQ chicken with some locally made BBQ sauce we got here at the campground store (it was delish) and today we checked out their cute little downtown and the Kerr Damn, which was spectacular. We are hoping to take some sort of boat ride on Flathead Lake while we are here. I have never seen such beautifully clean lakes in my life and would love to see them up close! We grilled out again this evening, made smores in the fire pit and walked around and admired the amazing Montana skies. I swear you can see forever. And with the sun not really setting and getting dark until almost 10, you get to enjoy so much of the evening. Don’t even get me started on the perfect weather!

The kids have had a blast running around and playing here outside. It is so fun to watch their imaginations at work all day. Even though we have a cable hook up here, and have had one at 1 or 2 other campgrounds, the TV is fuzzy (of course it is) and of the 10 channels we get, none are kids channels. So it has been fun watching them play together and find their own entertainment. We still have a ways to go before we can claim any kind of relaxation (aka sitting and relaxing in a chair while they play), but we feel like we are finally getting somewhere. The other night we took them to dinner at Outback and Macy and Luke wanted to sit on the same side of the booth. Shawn and I looked at each other like, wait. We need to cut their food. We need to quietly tell them to be quiet. We need to pull them back off the floor when they start to crawl under the table. We need to quietly tell them to be quiet again. We need to fuss at them for playing with their food and not eating it. But no. They sat there, ate their food, and sat in their seat. The whole time. Even Jude in the high chair at the end of the table was well behaved. It was almost enjoyable. We are most definitely making progress.

Glacier National Park is supposed to be an amazing place so we are really looking forward to covering some ground over the next few days. Once we leave here, we start our trek back home. We don’t have a route or any reservations yet, so we will just be playing that all by ear. While I don’t want to drive forever each day, I also don’t want to take a month to get back. My hair is getting grayer by the minute. If anyone has any ‘must see’ spots between Montana and Virginia – let us know! And P.S. – I can’t thank you all enough for reading and commenting, etc. It has been a great outlet for me and one that makes me feel connected to everyone from afar – something I have needed on this trip! :)

TTFN!

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