One's destination is never a place,
They say "you need to get lost to find it" when talking about Polebridge, MT. Well, we found it today! The tiny community of Polebridge is just outside Glacier National Park and is totally off the grid. They now have solar panels. Polebridge is 22 miles from the Canadian border, and has a saloon, a few houses, and the famous Polebridge Mercantile.We drove for over an hour going higher and higher up the mountain on improved and not so improved roads.
And then we went around a corner and there was the mercantile.
Inside we found super friendly people and all kinds of things including delicious looking baked goods made fresh today. They employ 25 people!
Of course, we bought some goodies. Outside we sampled our two huckleberry macaroons. I took a bite and could not believe how wonderful they were. Ray had enough self-control to wait until after the picture to taste his. After he did, it took great self-control from both of us to not go back into the Mercantile and buy two dozen more. Of course there was a long line of people trying to move about and check out. If the place had been empty like when we entered, we would have bought more!
We bought four of the famous cinnamon rolls. Two were for our hosts - they told us that if we went to the Mercantile to be sure and have the cinnamon rolls. One of our hosts was having a procedure today and will have heart surgery Monday. We thought rolls might be a good way of saying we care.
We also bought two snickerdoodle cookies - sorry no picture but they were good - and these two meal rolls. I'm not sure what they are called but they have potatoes and cheese and I'm not sure what else. We'll have them for lunch tomorrow.
We had driven past a couple of interesting buildings on our way so we stopped to take photos on our way back.
These flowers were nearby.
About 4 miles from the Mercantile, on our way back, we stopped at Home Ranch Bottoms.
Ray was talking to the master BBQ guy who is also the chef.
This neat bar is in the small dining room. The girl on the left and the guy behind her were working for the University of Montana in Glacier National Park. They are doing some study on trail usage. The girl is from Russia. We had a neat visit with them and the bartender/waitress who told us the place will get busy in July!
We enjoyed BBQ ribs, grizzly beans, coleslaw, and potato salad. Everything was made on site and delicious.
When we finally got on the road again, w stopped by this creek.
You may be able to tell from the pictures that its been a cloudy day. We are supposed to have sun tomorrow but we still have the smoke/haze from the northern Alberta, Canada fires.
It's been a fun, new adventure kind of day. We did talk on the way back and decided that the feeling we got when we were visiting this remote area and the people feels like the years we lived in a tiny mountain town. #GreatMemories
This so reminds me of a couple places we stopped at while in Alaska 10 years ago. An hour on a dirt and gravel road and suddenly you find a little camp/bar/lodge with the best food and people. Always fun to remember. Enjoy your time there.
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