Whitefish

After arriving on July 3rd in Whitefish Montana, we had days of unwinding, cleaning, unpacking and settling to do after the 2 week journey north from Puerto Vallarta. Here's where we are from an ariel view on BING MAPS <----click there to see the map

The Beisers' residence

We're in the guest house next door...

the back yard

Moonshadow II, Moonshadow II, Duchesse here! over

We made it! Whitefish Montana, where we will hang out for the next couple of months, is the final destination for now! Today we traveled from Bozeman, MT to Whitefish, MT in about 7 hours, 10am - 5pm. Here's the days travels on the MAP.

Moonshadow II is the name of the cruising family here in Whitefish that we got to know while in the Caribbean. Cruisers know and call each other on the VHF radio by their boat name. And that boat name actually becomes our new identity. No one knew us as the Leshers. We were the Duchesse family.

And now after 6 years since we last saw Moonshadow II in Grenada, we are all reunited again on land here in Whitefish, their home town. Moonshadow II cruised on and off with us during 2003. They took a year and a half off shipping their boat south to Florida, sailing in the Caribbean, and later returning to their home here in 2004.

For this post I thought I'd go down memory lane in 2003 as we were...

Moonshadow II family on board in Grenada, 2003

Duchesse in the Bahamas 2003

The Duchesse family 2003

Trick or Treat in Grenada 2003 with the Moonshadow II kids and the Duchesse kids...

Austin, captain of our dinghy, and Casey were the trash collectors in the Clarks Court Bay anchorage. Several dozen boats scattered int he anchorage the boys offered to remove their trash on the weekends taking it to the dump on shore. Acquiring small tips, they would end up at the local restaurant counting and dividing the loot!

Kelly and Randi 2003 on a field trip in Puerto Rico

Austin and Casey at dinner in Trinidad

Ken, Casey, Austin and Randall aboard Duchesse checking out the catch of the day. Both families sailed aboard Duchesse for a "quick jaunt" to Trinidad from Grenada and back. We had so much fun we turned the adventure into 18 days of travel and exploration together.

Kelly, Randi, Austin and Casey passing time while sailing on Duchesse.

Beartooth Scenic Highway, simply pristine!

Once we left Yellow Stone, we took the long way. Not being in a real hurry, we drove through Beartooth Mountain on the Beartooth highway. Awesome! A must see if you ever head this way. Driving through Beartooth Mountain you'll see snow covered mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, rivers, alpine forests, lakes, and wildlife. The high way twists and turns folding up and down the mountain sides with spectacular once in a life time views that just take your breath away.

Made it all the way up to the top -11,000 feet elevation.

Saw this gondola along the way up...

Our GPS kept us informed of the elevation.

Before Beartooth we passed through this quaint old town. I didn't realize smokey was still around. Never see or hear of him in PA anymore.

Somehow we always seem to find the candy stores in town. Remember black jack and clove gum!

Inside the candy store.

Here's the MAP of the day's trip from Wapiti to Bozeman which includes Yellow Stone and the Beartooth highway, I think it's right?

Yellow Stone

We drove through Yellow Stone over a period of 3 days. There was just so much to see and do. It was truely awesome. After we left Andy and Sharon's in Wapiti, we drove through the northern part on the way to Bozeman, MT. Here's just a couple pics of what we saw....

Old faithful was right on time. In fact we saw her close up and then we hiked up the mountain for this view.

We got just a little too close!

From Wapiti Wyoming to Bozeman, Montana was just a pit stop before we made our final leg of the trip. It was a LONG day driving but so beautiful everywhere we looked!

Here's a MAP of the trip, Wapiti to Bozeman.