Golden showers and the Cockhouse

All i have to say about Montana is WOW! I decided long ago (never to walk in anyones shadow!?!) that living in the USA was completely out of the question. I mean, for one Americans can be pretty dumb and xenophobic but i was more worried about all the guns. So many Americans stockpile weapons, for what i'm not sure, and you can walk into any hunting shop, fill out a form and in a few weeks you are entrusted with a lethal weapon. I know the UK was having a lot of problems with knife crime in London before we left but here it's all about shootings. I watched a programme about teenage gun crime where kids as young as 13 were taking guns to school and going mental. So as i said, America was always gonna be a place high on the visit list but was never going to be considered as a place to settle. Well, that was until we hit Montana. It was such a beautiful place with a real laid back cowboy feel. The town of Whitefish was awesome! I doubt it has changed much a lot in the last 50 years. The walk down main street reminded me of a town from the old west with it's saloon style bars and shops. My nan would absolutely love it too as every other shop sold cowboy hats and native American artifacts. She loves all that crap. It was crazy cheap too. Food, skiing and lodging all way cheaper than the rest of north America. We looked at the local real estate as well and that was also super cheap. Saw a nice 3 bedroom house on a few acres for next to nothing. It's pretty remote though and is still a long way from any large city.

The ski resort of Whitefish was probably the friendliest hill i have ever been to. All but one person on the chairlifts spoke to us. The snow was awesome too which turned the day into a monumental one. It hadn't snowed there for a while and was quite hard and crusty in the morning but as the spring sunshine warmed the hill the snow softened and it was epic! The hill is surprisingly big with lots of small runs which allowed us to settle in before hitting the main longer runs. All for only $60 too which is well cheap. I don't quite understand just why skiing in the USA is so much cheaper than in Canada. The resorts in Canada have been a little bigger than the average American resorts but I'm not sure that justifies them being around $15 more per day! It was certainly a welcome break to the wallet which is continuously being strained while we are away. Still, we have the money and this is a once in a life time type deal so I'm not too bothered. I'd like to have a little bit left though for when i get home.

Montana also seemed to have way more wildlife. Since we left Vancouver we had seen a grand total of 4 crows on the roads on Canada. As soon as we crossed the border, which was amazingly smooth considering the border patrol had never seen the type of visa we had to get into the USA, we were surrounded by elk, deer and golden and bald eagles. Like proper surrounded too. I had to stop the car to allow a family of elk to cross the road whilst 2 massive eagles sat by the side of the road eating some unfortunate road kill. This will change though as we head north and east through Canada. Last time i was in that part of the world i saw bears and shared a bus stop with a very tame elk. Kate is permanently on bear watch when we drive. It is the perfect time of year for them to be coming out of hibernation and due to the unusually warm weather, i imagine they are already "oot and aboot" as they say in these parts.

From Whitefish we headed back up to Canada and settled in Cranbrook. A pretty dull town which we just used to break up the long drive and also to go to the small resort of Kimberley. We drove there but when we got to the bottom of the hill it looked pretty bare with not much snow. The website called it "Spring conditions" which looks like translates as "No snow." There were a few runs open and some people skiing but we both decided it wasn't going to be worth the price of a lift ticket. Especially since the next few ski fields are the most expensive we will visit. So we decided to save our pennies and head back to Cranbrook.

I was quite glad to leave Cranbrook as it was a pretty boring place but I really enjoyed the drive to our next stop, Golden. I have been to Golden a few times but only as a stop on road trips from Banff to Revelstoke. Last time i was here i found it hilarious as there was a RV park which had this huge billboard by the freeway advertising its showers. The way it was worded though made it look like it was advertising Golden showers, eww!! I also noticed a place called the Grizzly Grill cookhouse but the sign had faded so it looked like the Grizzly Grill cockhouse! I ate there but there was no penis on the menu.

Golden is a really pretty place with the Kicking horse river cutting through the town and the ski resort, of the same name, overlooking us from the mountain. We plan to head up to Kicking Horse tomorrow for a bit of a ski. Usually we would come back and have a nice long soak in the tub but our hotel is the first one we have had without a bath. Looks like I'll be having a Golden shower after all eh?

We are here for a few days before heading back to my favourite place in Canada, Banff. I am so looking forward to getting back to the quiet little mountain town but also because as most ski resorts are getting ready to close up for the season, Sunshine Village in Banff is still getting good snow and will still be open for another 6 weeks!! I can't wait.

Peace

D

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