Rocky Point Hike & Whisky Tasting

 July 20, 2014

Restless sleep last night. AC didn't work and left the windows open. Must have heard 4 trains pass through and smelled the smoke from the fires in Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia. Hopefully we'll be able to close the windows and have the hum of the machine to lull us to sleep and keep the room cool. Just not used to all this quiet!

Heading for our last hike at Rocky Point with the trailhead at the Fish Creek Campground. Supposed to be a 1.9 mile round trip but with a 350' elevation gain. Not sure this flatlander can do that big of a gain but we'll see.

Hanging back from the dust and kicked-up stone to preserve the rental cars windshield.

Rocky Point was a nice easy 1.6 RT with a Nature Trail of .7 loop added to the end. We made our way out and up half of the Nature Trail before it started to rain. With the rain coming down, we turned back to the parking lot but were happy with our 2.5 hours of hiking (well, a few stops for pictures, as you can see) for today.

A reminder warning.

And so it begins...

After A Rain

Wild Huckleberries 

Storm Sky Building

Red Rust Killing the Plant

Ocean-Spray

Nodding Onion

Pine Cones Forming

 A short stop at the Glacier Mercantile and back to our room to finish off the burrito from last night after we warmed it in the microwave in the kitchen downstairs. Do a little blogging and playing with our photos too before heading back out again. We met one of the owners of Glacier Guides Lodge and sang the praises of Jennifer and Don who manage the place. We also complimented him on the lodge design and the beauty and comfort of room 12.  He said that 12, 1, and 6 were his favorites since they had extra windows because they were on the corner ends.

We looked up some of the flower names for labeling our pictures and will do more tonight. With full tummies, we headed for the whiskey tasting at the red barn which is Glacier Distilling. What a fun experience as we each tasted 4 different whiskeys, bourbons, and liqueurs which meant we each got to taste 8 items.

Front bar entry with 4 glasses of Rocky Mountain Caesar similar to a Bloody Mary but topped with more than a celery stick because it had a pickle, pepperoncini, olive, and  

My 4 whisky blends 

Melodie's 4 whisky blends

I enjoyed the cherry liqueur called Daughter of the Sun and purchased a bottle to ship along with Melodie's 3 bottles. There's no way we would get them on a plane! I then ordered a drink called Fisherman's Direct which uses this same liqueur shaken with fresh basil and adds equal amounts of orange juice and ginger ale to finish it off!  Yum!

Melodie had the Tuscan Brown Bear which was made with Galla, espresso coffee, and brown sugar topped with whipped cream.

Kendra, our bartender, rang us up and boxed our distilled spirits for shipping through UPS tomorrow in Columbia Falls, our last stop before the morning plane on Tuesday.

The back room of the distillery

We packed our suitcases and readied ourselves for one more day in Montana. Everything seems to fit and it's a wonder! We'll wear tomorrow's clothes on Tuesday to eliminate the need for getting back into our suitcase again. We're giving Jennifer here at Glacier Guides all of our leftover food items, styrofoam cooler, paper towels, and bear spray to pass on to the next people who may need it in their hikes.

I'll miss this cool summer weather. It's about 70 degrees right now at 7:30p local time as we sit on the porch outside our room. Sorry to see this journey end but will be happy to be back home with family once again.  One more day and we hope for another wine tasting.

Off to dinner then back to relax until bedtime.