Cutest cabins in the world?

Words and photos by James Kingstone

I had hoped to meet up with Tami Sauer who works with DesignR1 as a partner for the creation of specialised management reports. She is known to all the ACCs as The Report Goddess. I figured she was out of town (which proved correct) but I was very happy when she called me early this morning to say "let's meet at 1pm in Whitefish town centre". Tami lives on a Ranch south of Kalispell and was up in Whitefish training people to use ACT! That gave Garrett and me time to relax and deal with emails and blogs and still we had time to visit a customer of DesignR1 in Kalispell called Montana Institute of Massage Therapy. Christy and Teresa were a tad shocked at my entrance in full leathers but soon recovered and posed bravely with the pirate look-alike behind the R1. We rode up Hwy 93 to Whitefish and stopped at a little cafe on the corner to meet Tami. They had no coffee filters and no milk so I just sat there. It was the noisiest street corner in the world! Every one of the 8 million passing 400 tonne trucks was empty so the metal flaps clanged at death-level decibels. Throw in the odd Harley with straight-through pipes, a couple of pre-70s V8s dragging their exhausts and hey bingo...shouting match that looks like you are fighting when you are politely chatting. Garrett took some unflattering arty-farty shots of us reflected in his helmet and after tips on routes to ride we said our goodbyes and headed for the much-vaunted Glacier Park.

South on Hwy93 then left onto Hwy40 and 25 miles later we entered the park with it's attractive wooden shops. A very friendly attendant at the petrol station told us that the road through was closed after 16 miles due to snows that fell LAST WEEK. This has been a brutal winter in America and the car park still had 10' of snow on June 19th and the east side of the pass still had 100' drifts (YES! 100 feet deep). We were dumb enough to cough up $12 for the 32 mile trip past a lovely lake. Mosquitos greeted us at the road block. This may be the greatest scenery on earth (according to all the people we spoke to) but that is obviously after you reach Logan's Pass. Garrett was well ticked off as he HATES backtracking. Anyway, nothing for it but to return to Whitefish and head north to Eureka (that name cracks me up...I picture some old prospector in long-johns jumping up with his gold nugget) and the Canadian border. Garrett had forgotten to zero his trip meter so when he signalled he needed petrol after just 85 miles I was quite concerned. He was, of course, showing 130 plus miles and said he was having minor panic attacks. We had a good laugh and the lady at the shop recommended Grave Creek Cabins as a place to stay. Brilliant. 2 miles later we were sorted and with a display of extraordinary hospitality in the form of fruit and cheese and crisps settled in to the cutest little cabin in the world. I want one. NOW! Garrett and I both had north-woods boyhoods full of cabins and camping so this cabin just blew us away. Please excuse me uploading all the photos of it but I think this sort of thing is the best of America by far. In one of the shots Garrett is throwing a fit about the 3 hours and 82 miles wasted in the park. Tomorrow we hope that the border guards aren't TOO neurotically paranoid so that I get to see my brother and nephew in Calgary. Everyone I talk to likes that city.