If you think about the normal patterns of most people today, a large chuck of each day involves staring at an LCD, whether it be a smart phone, computer or TV screen. For me, a simple roadtrip offers an escape from that pattern. Staring off into the distance brings a certain peacefulness and a chance to reduce the noise and just breathe.

Door to door, GNP is about 300 miles from my house. I chose to use a bit of I-90 on the way towards Montana to shave some time. I quickly crossed into the Mountain Time Zone, and immediately lost that advantage. Oh well. Otherwise, the drive through the mountains of North Idaho and the NW corner of Montana offers many interesting routes. I had never driven through the Flathead Lake area, so I decided to give that a try. I also skirted alongside the Mission Mountain Range of the Rockies. Even the smaller ranges in Montana are impressive.

Since my timing was very near the end of the season for the park, I was hoping to see some vivid color changing of the leaves. That turned out to be an unfulfilled hope. Maybe I am jaded by too many blindingly bright seasons of color changes in Wisconsin. There were a few stray colors, but it seemed to be mostly the invasive trees at the edge of the forest, rather than any primary section of the forest.

The last time I visited the park, it was in mid-July and the weather was perfect. Still plenty of snow on the peaks and a perfectly blue sky. This time, not so much. A thick band of storm clouds settled in right on top of the park, hiding most of the view about 6000 feet. Visibility was about 25 feet on the road. With the huge cliff alongside the road, it was a bit un-nerving. Work crews had already been through adding 20 foot tall poles to the edges of the road to aid the snow removal crews in the Spring.

By the time I reached the bottom of the Road To The Sun, of course the sun was out, the rain had stopped, and the weather around Lake MacDonald was just fine. I had no intention of trying to wait it out and head back up the mountain. I figured I’d spend the rest of the evening seeing what Whitefish nightlife is like.