We were very sad to leave our little campground by the river in Deer Lodge! The hostess was great. I asked her what time check-out was, and she said, "Whatever time you leave!" Whew! What a relief not to have to break camp and get out of there quickly. We took our time, got showered, organized, etc. and hit the road for our next and very highly anticipated stop, Flathead Lake.

Grandma's friend, Glenda, has gone to Flathead Lake for a week each summer and RAVED about it. I had never even heard of it. We were anxious to see if it was truly as wonderful as Glenda told us.

At first we were cursing the GPS, since it seemed to be taking us in a very roundabout route. Turned out it was the most direct and by far the most scenic route! We LOVED it. We drove through "Swan Valley" which translated for you means many, many miles of gorgeous rolling pastures with snow-capped mountains all around and alongside a river or lake for much of it. We stopped in Ovando at a little dive called Trixie's and were very pleasantly surprised with our home-cooked lunch. Everything was delicious and the kids loved playing pinball and Ms. PacMan.

When we arrived at Flathead Lake, we really couldn't see much of the lake. We had made an online reservation at what looked like a gorgeous RV resort, Woods Bay RV & Marina. When we got there, to the northeast corner of the lake, we almost turned around and looked for something else. It was not what we had pictured. It was not on the lake, but rather a lagoon. The majority of docks were privately owned, and even worse, some of the people looked scary. However, a huge rain storm was moving in, and we had to pull the trigger. We opted to stay. As I backed in (!) to our spot, our neighbor came over and told us we couldn't stay there because he had friends coming to stay in that spot at any minute. We weren't too happy. He DID help me back into the next spot. We sprinted to get the trailer up, and as we finished, here came his wife with two rum & cokes for us! It was the beginning of what would be our favorite camping so far!

The storm that hit was massive, and the first drops started to fall just as we closed the door to the trailer. I have to brag, we are about to the point of having the entire thing put together in less than 10 minutes. It was impressive! J

We went to dinner right up the street at what appeared to be another little dive, but we are starting to think that Montana just doesn't have bad food. The Woods Bay Grill was a diamond in the rough! The owner's daughter is the cook, and they have one waitress. Everything was made to order, fresh and delicious. Well priced too! As we left, they gave us lots of tips and advice of things to see and do while there. It was such a hit that we knew we would be back.

We had a very quiet night, playing "Moose Farkel" (sort of like Yahtzee), and reading. The kids do not miss TV at all! It's amazing. The girls, as usual, bounded out of the trailer as soon as we got there and immediately made friends with two cousins staying right down the hill from us. They were 9 years old, and loved animals as much as the girls do. They were all in heaven as there were at least 5 dogs romping around without having to be on a leash. One little dog, a Havanese, looked like a miniature Spot…white with a black right ear…and Grandma got homesick.

An interesting fact is that we keep getting to bed so late because it gets dark out here so late! The sun goes down at about 9:35 and there is still blue in the sky at 10:30!!! It has really messed with our internal clocks. We seem to always be the last to bed and the last to get up. Makes check-out a little difficult!