After a hasty breakfast at C'Mon Inn, I drove up to the National Bison Range Wildlife Refuge on the Salish/Flathead Reservation.  It was a glorious drive with the Mission Mountains rising up before me as I turned into the lane leading to the Visitor Center.  The parking lot was empty when I pulled in right next to a huge display of antlers piled ten feet high around a pole.  That was an interesting beginning! 

After purchasing a ticket to the refuge, I drove a nineteen mile circuit on a gravel road, traveling up and up large mountains and switchbacking my way down again.  I saw several male bison immediately out of the gate, and a moment later saw a golden eagle hunting on the side of the mountain.  Wildlife were slim after that, until I drove to the far side of the mountain and found part of the herd dozing lazily among the pine trees, tail flicking every few seconds to keep off the flies.  OF COURSE they were behind a fence so I couldn't get any good shots. Figures! 

At the midway point, I took a hike to a scenic overlook.  My solitary reverie over the beautiful valley and mountain peaks was interrupted by some tourists who followed me down the path.  One lady looked out over the Mission mountains and said:  "I don't think this is beautiful.  It is just a lot of rocks."  My eyebrows rose at this statement, as I took in the misty-mountains with snow still clinging to the highest peaks, the valley spreading out for miles below them, marked by small farms and cultivated fields.  If this was 'a lot of rocks', I'll take it, I thought as I hiked back to my SUV and drove to the next scenic overlook. 

After switching back down the mountain on a very steep, very nerve-wracking gravel road with no guardrails and a potentially deadly fall if the wheels of the SUV slipped, I reached the valley floor, where I saw some pronghorn sitting calmly in the middle of an immense field, followed by mule deer near a stream and the rest of the buffalo grazing just above the herding pens where they will be gathered together once a year during the roundup. 

Then I was back on the road, stopping briefly at the Ninepipes Wildlife Refuge to gawk at birds and take photos of the Mission Mountains reflected in the lake.  A quick lunch set me up for a nice scenic drive around Flathead Lake and by mid-afternoon I was in Kalispell.  Seeing a sign for the Conrad Mansion museum, I took a right and followed my nose through a neighborhood of tiny houses, to the end of the street where loomed an amazing shingled house that just had to be the place.  The next tour was at 4 pm, so I wandered the garden, talking to one of the staff members who just so happened to be the 4 pm tour guide.  And bingo!  She had a ghost story about the house!  Seems that the final owner -- one Alicia -- (before it became a museum) was once seen by a relative driving passed the old homestead.  She was seen leaning against her father's leather top desk in front of the library window, and she looked just like her wedding picture.  The man did a double take, and when he looked again, she was gone!  

The Victorian mansion was filled with amazing furniture and wonderful stories, and I got some photos of the haunted room and took photos of photos of Alicia, who loved her home so much she returned to visit after death. 

The day concluded with a relaxing dinner and a swim at the pool at the Holiday Inn in Whitefish.  They had a water slide, which I couldn't resist trying out!  Fun!