Progress is being made!

The airless sprayer has a learning curve. When we got there, Amber was dealing with a bit of dripping; so we brushed out the drips, followed her around the house, got the first coat on. Then she went back 4 hrs later and applied a second coat. Now that she had the hang of it, it was easier to apply a lighter coat. Looks awesome! We just need to do a little touch up. Next project, the cedar shingles that go on the front peak.

Summer Project

In between hiking and park hosting, we also volunteered to help Amber paint her newly acquired home. It's a well-built, mid-century home. Just needs a little cosmetic help. It has been a real learning experience for all of us.
Now we know which sander to use, what kind of stripper works best, and have met most of her nice neighbors.
Located on a lovely tree-lined street, across from a park. A diamond in the rough!

Stay tuned for the "after" pictures!

Thursdayfest in Kalispell

We finally got around to stopping at this event...usually on our way home from Amber's, and too tired and dirty to stop. But today we made a point of changing duds and cleaning up, and stopped to see what it's about. There's a band and lots of food, and you can make an evening of it, if you want. We just grabbed some kettle corn and headed on home. It was so hot! I think the Whitefish farmers' market has more to offer. Glad we investigated!

Big Mountain and the Danny On Trail

A day off again....we chose to hike the Danny On trail, up on Big Mountain. The trail is named after a silvaculturist (ecologist) who worked for the Forest Service, also a well-known wildlife photographer. He died at the age of 55 in a 1979 skiing accident on the mountain. Summer activities on Big Mountain also include an alpine slide, zip line, mountain biking, walk in the trees, and riding on the ski lift. The trail is 3.8 miles one way, with some side trails you can add on....elevation gain about 2000 feet. We took the lift back down.

Looking back from the trailhead to the Kandahar Lodge complex, and up the ski run...which, by the way, is always where we are hiking.....up, of course!

Some of our scenery on the way up.

In addition to our trail, there is a bodacious mountain biking trail on Big Mountain.

Darrell stops for a look at the view.

The thimbleberries are not quite ready for picking.

Looking down on the trail we just came up, and the view from the top. It's hazy, partly due to cloudy weather, and partly because of fires south of us.

First time in a ski gondola......

Trying to get some pictures on the way down through the raindrops.

The view from the gondola

After we got down the mountain, we saw the alpine sliders waiting in line.

After our hike, we decided to go exploring. The road around Whitefish Lake turns into a dirt road, and 20 miles later, we came upon Upper Whitefish Lake.

Improvise, adapt and overcome......

Darrell's latest new "toy" is a power washer for the park. The roof of the privy was full of pine needles and moss, so he decided to give it a try. Worked well, except he had trouble getting up high enough, and we had no ladder....so.....
And I also discovered a new skill on my cell phone. I can draw arrows and circles!