Polebridge... Mar 3

Montana. Never thought I'd be up here.  We are way up north in Whitefish visiting Dove's friends Arctic Hair (shortened to AH here) and Bobcat.  They're pretty awesome and so handy & "outdoorsy". Makes my "city girl" side shine bright, although I'd love to learn the ways of the "outdoors".  I have a ways to go in order to go all out and do things like backpacking for a month at a time or hiking the Appalachian Trail. I've always wanted to do those things and just have to start small and work up to it.  So, AH and Bobcat are definitely inspirations to me that normal, cool people can be crazy in love with the mountains. Sometimes my bubble of the city makes me wonder if all "outdoorsy" types are kinda whacky or just really different from me.  Dont tell anyone I said that.

On the drive up from Washington, through Idaho, and into Montana. Beautiful.

Look at this bark! What kind of tree is this?

Yesterday the four of us (plus 3 dogs) drove out to Polebridge, which is part of the spine of Glacier National Park. We met up with Cougar, who is an artist living out there with his wife.  His kids are grown and out of the house and now he spends time creating pottery & paintings in his studio that he built near his house. He has an active garden and used to have chickens, but grizzly bears ate them over the past year.  He ended up killing a grizzly this past summer because it was attacking the cabin, where his grandkids were. He is very regretful for having to take the bears life, but needed to protect this family.

this is the town's store

view from the store

this is Cougar's studio, where he holds classes in the summer and works  on his own art.

AH, Bobcat, and Cougar in the studio

me and Cougar in the studio

This is the bath house he's building. It's not done and we climbed up to the top to get the view.

The view.

The view down to the studio from the bath house.

These trees, lodgepoles, spring up after a fire because their seeds are heat-activated and fires spark them into life.
There was a fire across a lot of Polebridge back in the 80's and now these trees are everywhere.

Dove failing at the "funny faces" photo.

Another view from the bath house. That's Bobcat down there snowblowing a path.

THIS path.  It was 18-20 inches deep.

20 inches of snow is the perfect beer cooler.

my new friend Rusty found a home in my jacket for most of the day.

Another day in Montana, then off to South Dakota.  I'm starting my job search back in Philly. If anyone knows of a job opening for a graphic designer, preferably for a non-profit or some do-gooder type of organization, let me know. Applications are ready to go!  Heh... real life...