Our time in Montana is drawing to a close (we head to Idaho on Friday), so I wanted to make sure we filled our last weekend with a bit more Montana beauty. We put about 200 miles on our truck again on Friday, but all of them were paved. And I think all of them were lovely! Our destination – Flathead Lake – one of the largest natural freshwater lakes west of the Mississippi.

We came up Rte 28 from the west (bottom of map) and drove the entire circumference of the lake. The drive TO the lake (almost 50 miles) was lovely in and of itself!


But when the lake came into view – Oo-la-la!


We made a couple of stops along the way – either at fishing access spots or pulling into some of the many state parks that dot the edges. Each little mini-stop was full of delights!
A panorama from one of the fishing/boat access areas –

A glimpse of just how clear the water is –

Lakeside camping at one of the state parks –

As the road continued around the lake,

we stopped at a pull-out that seemed to have a little access to path down to the lake.

Look, there’s a dock down there! With Gary shaking his head, I traipsed down the path with my Croc sandals on (only slipping a time or two and never with any bodily injury) and was greeted with this beautiful view-

Seemed like a random place for a dock, but no one asked me. 🙂

This area is also known for Flathead Cherries. Along the Eastern shoreline there are a myriad of cherry orchards, and we finally gave into the temptation and purchased our own bag.

Which may or may not have been empty by the time we got home. Just sayin’.
We enjoyed a great lunch out at one of the many lakeside eateries, and finished up the drive in style.



As we drove home I was once again struck with the the pioneer history of this area. Seeing these random shacks, still standing in the middle of a field, makes me wonder-

Original homestead?

Cattle drive shack?

???
We passed an old barn that I tried unsuccessfully to get a good clear shot of (always a challenge in a moving truck with traffic behind us), but when I cropped it down, I really liked how it turned out.

Oh, the mystery of the history!
It was, to be sure, a great day!
Saturday was a bit quieter. We stayed around camp, which had just said good-bye to their last batch of summer campers. The summer staff took the opportunity to have some end-of-summer fun

by getting the director’s car up on the dining hall porch. (Not so sure he was that thrilled when he returned from his board meeting, but at least they cleaned it out before they moved it, and got his wife’s permission.)
That evening we gathered by the river and got to witness the baptism of one of the summer staffer!



It is so exciting to see the Lord working mightily in the lives of these young people! Not to mention all of the lives that were touched throughout the summer. 

This morning all of the staff left for their end of summer staff retreat, so it’s especially quiet around here today. But the sun was shining as we drove to church

and we were blessed to be worshiping outside on this glorious Lord’s Day!

And it didn’t hurt that the worship service was followed by a picnic and some great fellowship!

So that about wraps up our weekend here at Camp Bighorn. We did get a couple of chores done over the weekend (let’s be real – mostly I was sewing!), and as the week progresses we’ll be tying up loose ends and finishing up our SOWER assignments.  Seems like we just got here – and soon it will be time to move on down the road!

Thanks for stopping by – hope your weekend was blessed also!

PSSST – there are a couple more Flathead Lake photos HERE if you’re interested!