Today I woke up to clear skies and sunshine -- at last!  To my amazement, the lodge really was nestled at the foot of snow-covered mountains.  Who would have guessed?  I was so inspired by the ghostly storytelling of last night that I wrote up two stories for the book before getting down to mundane tasks like dressing and packing up. 

After breakfast, I spent the morning at the Lakes of Two Medicine.  First stop was Trick Falls, renamed Flying Eagle falls after a Blackfeet warrior-maiden who used to lead the men on war parties against other tribes.  A plucky gal! 

Then I visited the historic chalet at the middle of the three Two Medicine lakes, where President Franklin Delano Roosevelt had once given an address to the nation from next to a very broad very lovely fireplace.  Yes folks -- that little chalet is where FDR's radio addresses became known as Fireside Chats.  They have a lovely store there now, and I picked up some huckleberry chocolate, since huckleberries are a big deal in this part of the world. 

I wandered outside to photograph the magnificent mountains around the lake, and then took a two-mile hike out to the beaver meadows and back, hoping to see moose.  I kept seeing large patches of dung that I thought might be moose droppings, but turns out they were droppings from a grizzly bear!  Glad I didn't know that until after I returned from my hike.  The beaver meadows had lovely pools of water and long tall grass full of flowers and glamorous peaks six-ways to Sunday.  I decided to build a house there, but the park rangers wouldn't let me!  Still, now I know where my dream place to live is:  In a mountain valley like that one! 

Suddenly tired, I sat under a small pine tree for some trail mix, huckleberry chocolate, and water.  I couldn't help noticing the claw marks all over the tree as I perched myself upon its roots.  Some bear had been marking this spot!  On my way back to the car, a partridge flew right by me and then perched curiously on a fallen log a few feet away.  We studied one another closely, and then she wandered casually off.  Must have decided I was harmless. 

It was a long drive to Great Falls, with no attractive restaurants that I could see, so I ate graham crackers and peanuts to tide me over to dinner.  I passed a dinosaur museum and interesting looking rock shop in the teensy tiny town of Bynam and paused for a break at Choteau, the location of Egg Mountain where the maiasaurus nests were located so many years ago -- transforming the field of Paleontology.  i visited the little museum next to the information center, and took a look at their saurian display.  As I stopped to use the facilities at the information center, they advised me to go back to bynam and look at the museum there.  Since it was only 13 miles, I took their advice and backtracked, only to find the museum closed.  Frustrated, I jumped in the car and started to drive off.  Then I did a quick right into the parking lot of the rock store, which advertised fossils and more on its small sign.  I'd backtracked all this way, I might as well see something, and the store looked kinda cool. 

The store owner must have been watching from his farmyard across the street.  He came hurrying across the road, saying he'd seen me hit my brakes and decide to stop.  A senior man in his seventies, he unlocked the door and ushered me into a large, one-room store full of fossils and amazing rocks on display.  The most amazing thing was the way he allowed me to grill him about all the wonderful fossils he had for sale, patiently explaining them to me: Where they came from, how they were identified, etc.  In the course of a most pleasant interlude, it turned out that he was a paleontologist who used to lead tours up to Egg mountain, and that his wife was the one who discovered the first nests there, though another Paleontologist later claimed credit for the discovery. (Who knew the world of paleontology was so cut-throat?) 

I came away with a head full of knowledge and some fun fossils to show my family when I get home.  (Did you know coprolite was fossilized dino dung? Can't wait to show my nephews!) My hotel in Great Falls was easy to find and had a fancy inner courtyard with a lovely pool and hot tub, surrounded by a creamy red brick.  So now I know where my dream house would be located (if Glacier would let me build there) and what my pool/spa would look like.  Nice!