In twelve days, Landon turns the BIG 3-0, so I surprised him with a vacation at the Historic Tamarack Lodge just outside of Glacier National Park in Hungry Horse, Montana. The place is just full of fun history! If you like history.
The family-owned lodge was built in 1907 as Glacier Park's Visitor Center and dismantled and moved log by log to Hungry Horse in 1949, where it became a restaurant for travelers. Now decorated with family heirlooms and stuffed bears, bobcats, and deer, it serves as the centerpiece for a variety of cabins. We rented a little two bedroom cabin a short walk from the lodge and right across a greenbelt from Star, the family llama, who likes to nuzzle your cheek.
Hungry Horse itself has a story too. It was named after two draft horses, Tex and Jerry, who wandered off from a logging operation in the winter of 1900. They were found a month later, alive but all scraggly and ... wait for it ... hungry. There is a statue commemorating the two namesakes in the middle of the small town.
And then of course, there's Glacier, one of Landon's favorite places on earth, only 8 miles away. It's the perfect 4 day weekend for a social studies teacher.
But he's turning 30. Mourning the death of his twenties, as he puts it. I wanted to make it extra special. So we packed up and left this morning at 7:30 and I gave him directions to a cute local cafe in Missoula for lunch. It was actually directions to the airport where his parents were waiting on the curb. Might be the best surprise I've ever pulled off. For all my boys. The kids were as shocked and ecstatic as Landon!
After the hugs and exclamations, we really did hit up the Catalyst Cafe, which started as the very first espresso stand in Missoula over twenty years ago and now serves amazing food as well. After lunch, we crammed all seven of us, luggage, and food for the weekend in the Pilot and headed out for another two hour drive. Big Dave even crawled over duffel bags and car seats to watch Alvin and the "Chick-munks" with Trenton in the back! For half the drive, we hugged the shore of Flathead Lake, the largest lake west of the Mississippi and a stunning sight.
We're all about the unique and the anecdotal this trip!
So we finally arrived at the cabin around 4 and immediately headed out to enjoy the outdoors. There's a nice little quarter mile walk to a pond right on the lodge's property and the boys got to throw rocks and search for pine cones. Paradise.
Then on our way back, we found this super cool, rusty old tractor. These are the moments I wish I could snap my fingers and conjure up a professional photographer and adorable, coordinating outfits in three sizes ... seriously the pictures one could take with this tractor ... I made a feeble attempt, but they were done posing and just wanted to drive the darn thing. Gosh mom.
And here they are pretending to be very determined farmers with very serious farm work to accomplish ... ended up being my favorite one.
Then we made a quick stop at the lodge itself, which fascinated the adults, while allowing the kids to experience the simple joy of a hammock chair.
And this is only the first day. Oh the memories that await us tomorrow!
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