Libby Top Ten List

It's our last day in Libby and with Erik at work finishing up, I am sitting here with espresso in hand to complete our top ten all-time favorite things of this pretty little City of Eagles.

So, without further ado, here we go...our Libby Top Ten!

10) Libby Cafe - C'mon, that Apple Cream Crumble pie will go down in history!

9) Kootenai Falls and the Suspension Bridge - Ok, yes, technically these are two different things but since they share a parking lot and trailhead, I figured I could get away with it.

8) Riding the STOKR - Ok, people, don't get carried away, this is Erik's pick. For those non-cyclists out there, it is a 2 day bike ride and stands for Scenic Tour of the Kootenai River. 100+ miles later, Erik came riding home hungry and tired with a big grin and lots of stories to tell. I, on the other hand, elected to sit by the creek and read a book. You decide who the crazy person is!

7) Old US Hwy 2 Interpretive Trail - We stumbled upon this trail on our second day in Libby. It is the old highway from Libby to Troy that some hardy folks carved into the mountains in the late 1800's so they had a place to drive their Model T's. Geez, I'd have a hard time riding my mountain bike on portions of it so how they got those old cars up and around some of those corners is beyond me. The sense of history and being able to see pictures of the road in its heyday and to see how little sections have changed today is really neat. There are still wheel ruts in the granite roadbed and the old handcarved granite curbs and metal guardrails meant to keep the speeding hooligans on the road. Surrounded by cedar forests with glimpses of the Kootenai River below it truly is a beautiful trail.

6) The donuts at Rosauers - Ok, I'm blaming this one all on Erik! (Lori, do you see what I'm up against?!)

5) The Panoramic Cabinet Mountains - Libby is surrounded by one of the most beautiful mountain ranges I've ever seen. Ok, the Missions and, of course, Glacier still capture my heart and, yea, the Alps around Brienz, Switzerland can make you pause but, wow, those Cabinets are a sight to behold. I can't count how many times I've been out hiking, looked up and stopped dead in my tracks. Absolutely breathtaking!

4) Sitting by the creek at the end of the day - I think the picture says it all.

3) The miles and miles of endless wilderness and hiking trails - What an amazing feeling it is to know that I could start down a trail and keep walking for weeks and never see another person. While poor Erik was working, the dogs and I did our best to check out as many trails as we possibly could. And for a budding trail runner, it was the ultimate joy to be able to get out and huff and puff, sweat and curse, fall down, roll around, stumble to my feet and keep up the asthmatic wheeze and know that no one had to witness my humiliation. In all seriousness, the twists and turns through this mountain paradise actually made me a better runner as I just had to keep going to see what was around the next bend in the trail.

2) Red Dog Pizza - So, you make the turn where you see the sign saying "Yaak" with an arrow pointing the way, wind up through the forest past some old homesteads and you'll come upon this nondescript wooden building on the right at the bend in the road. No sign out front just a neon "Open" in the window. If you can figure out where it is, you will be able to experience pizza nirvana! Thank you, thank you Sara and Marci for sharing the secret!

Sara, Marci, Bob, Erik and me preparing to dive in

And, now, for our NUMBER ONE pick.....drumroll please......

1) Site #13 at Woodland RV Park - I know, I know that doesn't seem very exciting but you really had to be there. We fell asleep to a gurgling creek every night, played drunk frisbee on the grass after having our famous homemade margaritas, hosted dog parties almost every day, watched deer, pileated woodpeckers and various other wildlife stroll right by our windows, and enjoyed our morning coffee under towering pine trees. It really was a little slice of heaven!

Now our time in Libby is drawing to a close and I have to say I am a bit melancholy about leaving. I do want to send out a warm hug and big thank you to our new found Libby friends: Sara and Jay, Marci and Bob, Jeff, Leslie, Jim and, of course, Bodie and Diesel (Woodland Park's resident canines). We do hope we'll cross paths again!

Now, I'd better go and finish packing......next stop, KETCHIKAN!

Our First Houseguest

Nadia and Her Huckleberry Flapjack

We've been on the road for awhile now and, though there are MANY things we love, one of the things that we don't love about our gypsy lifestyle is not getting to see our friends and family very often. Since I'm a horrible phone and email communicator, it makes it seem that even more time and distance separates us from our loved ones as we cruise on down the road.

Well, imagine our surprise when we call up our good friend Nadia to see if we can crash with her for a couple of nights for a whirlwind trip to Missoula, and she says that she was hoping to come up to Libby and get a taste of motorhome life! Are you kidding me?!

We had such a great time and, though it was MUCH too short, Erik, I and the dogs thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I can't speak for Nadia as she elected to sleep on the full-size pull-out in the living room which happens to come with her own half-bath and the luxury of falling asleep to the babbling brook outside...and the snoring of three dogs inside but I'd like to think it wasn't too traumatic for her.

It was a couple of sunny, sparkling days of good food, good wine, a paddle on the river, a misguided trail run (sorry about that, Nadia!), beers at the VFW Club (yes, I stayed home and manned the fort on that one), and even a quick paddle on the Kootenai River. Oh, and the event that topped off the stay for Erik? Nadia's suggestion we do a tour of the local diners and see which had the best breakfast. We only made it to two (Henry's and Libby Cafe) before we ran out of steam but what a blast!

Thank you, Nadia, and we'll keep that pull-out warm for you just in case you do decide to make the trek to Ketchikan. We miss you already!

Libby Life

Kootenai Falls

Hey there blogger fans, Susan and I have been getting adjusted to our latest move to Libby, Montana a few weeks ago and are both really enjoying life in another rural town. We took a couple of weeks to decompress after our winter assignment in Quincy, CA by traveling to the beach and then on up to Montana. Our friends Kay and Terry were kind enough to host us for a week and I picked up a few shifts at Community Medical Center. It was good to see my old coworkers again, but it wasn't long before we had to get on to Libby.

Libby is nestled at the base of the Cabinet Mountains and I must say that they are some of the most magnificent mountains that I have EVER seen. The entire area is an outdoorsmen's paradise. We have had the chance to get out into the backcountry, but the snow level is still too low to get up to the high lakes. The bears are starting to wake up and have (thankfully) not run into any yet. We have seen tons of deer, a few elk and lots of smaller critters.

I'm working at Libby Care Center, the towns only SNF. It is the best nursing facility that I've worked to date. The staff is great and the facility has a great rehab space. It makes working there a real pleasure.





Kayaking the Bull River