Bicycle Adventures
As per my previous tour write-up, I will be including a small number of photos in this article, but the main photo album can be found online at:
Glacier, Banff, Jasper Tour Photo Album
After an overnight stay at the Renaissance Hotel at Vancouver International Airport, and a two part flight (Vancouver-Seattle then Seattle-Kalispell, Montana) I arrived at my pre-tour stay - Kandahar Lodge at Big Mountain, Whitefish, Montana, the pick up point for me for the tour.
Big Mountain is a famed ski location in Northern Montana (this I gleened from the multitude of pics on walls around the place celebrating the ski culture and famed skiers) and hence Kandahar is ski-lodge style accommodation. Here's a pic of the external view:
Lovely place with lots of wood and stone, big comfy rooms, multi-levels, and best of all, a magnificent restaurant and in-house bar!
The restaurant - the Kandahar Cafe - is sneakily styled and about the size of your typical cafe, but that's where the similarity ends. This place is a hidden treasure, although not hidden to the locals: when I booked into the Lodge I was told that if I wanted to eat at the cafe I'd have to book as it was 'quite popular'. Book I did, and the earliest I could get in was 9:15pm! Back to the restaurant in a sec.
So, after settling in to my room, doing the bike unpack and setup again, showering and generally cleaning up, I wandered down for a look at the outside of the place and surrounding environs, and then a more detailed snoop around the interior. My snooping revealed a tiny little bar called 'The Snug' which was just that (fits maybe 12 people seated) and I sat down to have a beer and a pleasant chat with the barman, a congenial and friendly fellow. 5 beers later, and feeling even more congenial, I trundled over to the cafe and waited a few minutes for my alloted seat.
Without going into great detail (I'm not a food critic!) I had the best meal in over ten years at this little place. The menu list was select but extremely interesting, the food was gourmet and the wine list was eye-popping: had THE best glass of Pinot Noir ever. And the service was first-class too! A true dining experience. If you are ever anywhere near Whitefish, go to this place: you won't be disappointed.
So, filled by my meal and cruising thanks to me alcohol intake, I investigated the night time views from the grounds of the Lodge. A clear sky revealed a multitude of stars and a dark backdrop of surrounding peaks. A light chill made the air crisp, the promise of a blue-sky day tomorrow. A bunch of squirrels played about the place - clearly they had triumphed over the deer as the abundant fauna in this region! All was quiet and I returned to my room feeling positive about the upcoming tour - after a start like this that couldn't be better!
Next, Day 1 of the tour, wherein I meet Doug, one of our guides, and tell him he sucks (only to find out later it's another guide Brandon whom I'm meant to tell sucks), am introduced to a family on the tour of which the teenage son is my upcoming room-mate (aarrgghhh - teenager!), and the group meets and the tour starts in earnest.
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