Sunday morning we left bright and early on a roadtrip west bound. Swung by Starbucks in town for coffee and hit Highway 2. The first three hours I spent in quiet enjoying my coffee while everybody slept. The weather was pleasant, the scenery unchanging, and the skies slightly smoky.

We arrived in Columbia Falls, Montana late afternoon, mountain time. We were meeting my brother in law and his wife and kids for the night as they only live a few hours south and we meet up once a year. After checking into our hotel, which was an adorable boutique hotel, we went to get an early evening coffee. Luckily found one open place. Copper mountain coffee. It seems the coffee shops in that area all close really early! I remember last year we couldn’t find anything open in the evening in Kalispell.

After coffee, we ordered pizza to pick up from North Fork Pizza. It was pretty good! They had these things called pretzel knots which were amaaazing. I thought better than the actual pizza!

For the evening, we drove up to Glacier National Park, fifteen minutes from Columbia Falls, and just hung out by the shore of Lake McDonald. The kids swam and had a blast. I had hoped to get some pretty sunset photos, but the skies were too smoky so there wasn’t much.

The next morning, we packed up, checked out, hit up the coffee drive thru and then went for breakfast at a diner. Thankful it was pretty quiet in there on a Monday morning. Diners are typically small and they’re much more enjoyable when they aren’t crowded. We got a few meals of Belgian waffles, bacon, eggs, and fried potatoes to share and they were absolutely delicious!

Then it was off to Kalispell. It was one of my boys 8th birthdays, and I’d promised him some donuts from Krispy Kreme and a Starbucks drink to celebrate! He was so happy!

Afterwards, we went to Cabelas, Dollar Tree, and Target for a few things, then to a park to enjoy the donuts and let the kids run around before getting back on the road. Some final stops at City Brew for a coffee for the road and burgers from Mudman Burger (the best!) and off to the coast!

❤️Bethany