Frayed Tempers

Bob got the idea of staying in Kalispell for our second to last night in Montana, so that we'd have easy access to Flathead lake for a day trip tomorrow. I, on the other hand, thought I'd rather see if we could add a night to our already booked reservation for tomorrow night. We'd been unable to book last week's Pine Lodge this weekend, and there'd been no cancellations when we stopped by to check. On to Best Western Rocky Mountain Lodge, where I'd booked a room for Saturday night. I was NOT impressed, and had no interest in staying one night, let alone two.

After a couple of phone calls (no luck finding a room), we booked Red Lion Inn, located in a shopping mall in Kalispell. It's central, but that's all you can say for it. I swear I smell old smoke in this place but no matter. It's a place to rest up but we were sniping at each other a little as we lugged our stuff into the room.

I immediately go on the Internet, determined to find a better place than the Best Western for tomorrow. No time to shop around, because I had to cancel BW by 6:00 p.m., so I took the first "good" reservation I could find at Grouse Mountain Lodge. An Expedia booking. Looks good to me.

Bob is resting and I'm dealing with my pictures, not many today. I think we're both a little tired and ready to go home.

--> Eureka, Montana

Cafe Jax: a good place to eat in Eureka.

I would happily have settled in for another day at last night's Prestige Inn, even though the pool was only fair. But we pressed onward toward Eureka. The scenery was pleasant enough, but traffic was heavy and the drive was not amenable to the use of "cruise". Bob is doing all the driving, and today was not what I'd call a good road day.

Stipped at the Duty Free (one cigar, a bottle of Johnny Walker Red, maple leaf earrings) and crossed the US border shortly after noon and made the short hop to Eureka for lunch. The Café Jax is unassuming from the outside but it has a good menu and very personable wait staff. Summer students have returned to school so the servers worked hard to keep up with a steady stream of customers. The restaurant was still full at about 2:30 when we slid behind the counter for our meal.

Heather, our server, told me quietly that she is "not a very good waitress", but I thought she was delightful. The former owner of the restaurant sat down beside us and we dissuaded him from his plan to take Amtrak to New York City -- maybe one way, we said, but not round trip. I felt energized for the last leg of the trip.