Spring Break: Best dams, snow, Nucelus Ave., etc. Ever!

I remembered something. I haven't been updating this blog with any recent life updates. Only simple photos of banal and interesting things with equal attention. I like to notice the smallest of details, but can't grasp the "big" things. For instance, yes, I noticed today's date and it told me I have exactly one month until I read my thesis in front of a crowd, a little over a month until I'm done teaching (for the moment), until I hope (!) to hear from a potential employer about how they can't wait to live without my oh-so-highly-marketable-skills, and until I pack up and move to Chicago. But, all that scares me too much. So, I'm here to report on the details.

I spent the last day and a half, our (last?) Spring Break, traveling north from Missoula to Glacier National Park (closed for the season, mind you). We drove into GNP (Going to the Sun Road area, saw some deer, met many closed gates, and promptly left because my gas tank read E.) T & I stopped in Bigfork, Polson, Whitefish, Kalispell, St. Ignatius, Columbia Falls and Hungry Horse, in no particular order. We saw every small town from here to Flathead Lake and to East Glacier. We shopped at antique stores all over, even though we're the least antique-minded, poor graduate students you'll find. In Polson, we ate at a small restaurant called Irene's, where I noticed a small rock in the patio "rock garden" area painted with the word "smoking". I'm not sure what that meant, but I assume it meant to say "No Smoking". We ate Elk burgers in Hungry Horse, and bought Moose-skin moccasins from the 75% off March Madness sale in Bigfork. We watched Tombstone and Mr. Deeds on cable in our Hungry Horse cabin. We stopped at gift shop after gift shop, in search of nothing at all. We spent more money than we had, drank more coffee than we should have, and hung out with a couple of friendly pets (hunting dogs) along the way.

But, really, the highlight was the Hungry Horse dam. A special place. With a lot of concrete in the middle of nowhere.

The visitor's center was closed (no surprise there), the bathrooms were stinky, and we drove across the dam to a rutted parking lot on the far side (then drove back again.). On this viewing wall, we found a The Best Damn Toy of All Time.Oh, and if you're not tired of the dam yet, we have video.

And in SomewheresvilleAlongtheWay, MT, we ran into this casino/bar/grille, featuring the most versatile archaic slang word in the English language. From the OED, "sawbuck" can mean:

1. a. = Buck n.⁷

b. In full, sawbuck (pack)saddle. A pack-saddle shaped like a sawbuck.

2. slang. a. Ten dollars; a ten-dollar note. Also double sawbuck

b. A ten-year prison sentence. Also double sawbuck s.v.


And, finally, the best alternative name for "Main St." anywhere. In Columbia Falls, MT. How joyous.