West Coast Trip

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

Paradise Canyon Golf Resort – Lethbridge Alberta Canada (5316) May 9-16 2014

This is a Gold Crown rated RCI resort, and I agree with that rating.

We were in Unit 397A. Upper unit with garage (with opener). This was not the unit on our RCI reservation, but we liked this unit, so did not care. The upper units have the garage. They are not lock-outs. It was very quiet. There are 22 units in this resort. All of the timeshares are in a row a little ways from the clubhouse. The community also contains stand-alone homes and condos. Resort had outdoor pool, tennis and, of course, a nice looking, well-rated golf course. There were no planned activities.

It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom (shower tub combos in both). Master bedroom had queen sized bed and second bedroom had 2 twin beds.
There were 2 flat screen TVs (none in second bedroom) and a DVD player in living room. Excellent free internet (had own router). We did not try cell service, but saw there had been some complaints about lack of reception.

There was a large stackable washer/ dryer, which worked great. Kitchen contained the normal appliances, but had limited kitchen items. There was no garbage disposal or ice maker.

There was a sofa, love seat and side chair in living room. Leather material. There was a gas fireplace in living room. There was an older gas grill on patio, which is in front of house, off living room. Unit was nicely decorated and clean. You got a mid-week clean up and towel exchange.
We loved the great views out back of golf course and the deer groups visiting each night and morning.

There was no sales pitch. Jim and Mike, in office, were great. Got a call from Jim a couple of weeks before arrival and also a follow-up email. Each morning a local newspaper was delivered with a little note on it. Check-in and check-out were easy and quick.

If we ever traveled back to that area, we definitely would stay here again.

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

Everytime we checked out, I said we'd have to come back because there was more that we didn't get to do.

We've felt this way everywhere we've gone. Not a bad thing, IMHO. Except I had to make it a rule we try to do one new place a year, because otherwise we'd spend all our time at places we've been.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

Lethbridge AB to Whitefish Montana

There were a couple of ways to cross the border from Lethbridge, but we decided to cross at Carway, going route 5 to route 2 in Cardston. On our way to Cardston, we saw free roaming cattle right beside the road. Cardston looked like an interesting town to explore and if we ever go back that way, would like to visit it. Route 2 becomes US route 89 in Montana. We stopped at St Mary to go into Glacier National Park. Only a mile of the Going to the Sun road was open. The visitor center was not yet open, so we decided not to stay.
Route 89 was very picturesque. There was snow piled along the road in some places taller than our car. (Remember we are snowbirds that spend the winter in Florida!) We needed lunch so decided to drive to Browning. On the way to Browning, we saw free roaming horses in the road. Not too much in Browning; decided to eat lunch at the casino.
We left Browning and headed west on US Route 2. We saw gorgeous scenery including several waterfalls. We found several geocaches that hadn’t been found for over 6 months because they had been covered with snow.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

Whitefish and Kalispell Montana

Whitefish is tourist town with many restaurants and several neat stores. Not junky stores, but more upscale. We never had a lack of places to eat. We enjoyed walking around the downtown area. It is very picturesque with the mountains and the lake.
On Sunday, we visited a small church that was on the road to the resort. Very nice, friendly people who seemed used to having tourists visit.
Kalispell is about 15 miles south of Whitefish. It also has a neat downtown; more old timey. In town has a small mall that has a Herberger’s and Penney’s department stores and a few smaller stores. It is attached to a hotel.
North of town are 3 shopping centers close to each other with lots of big box stores; Costco, Lowe’s, super WalMart, super Target, REI, Best Buy, etc.
Kalispell had hundreds of Munzees, which was a nice surprise. Although we found lots, we really didn’t touch the surface of munzees to capture. For some reason, we didn’t do very well geocaching here. Found a few, but probably did not find more than we found.
We drove to Glacier National Park one day. We stopped at the visitor center, which was busy, and drove the first 14 miles of Going to the Sun Road that was open.
I personally loved this area and would like to return some day.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

The Edelweiss

The Edelweiss – Whitefish Montana (1772) May 16-23 2014

This is a Silver Crown rated RCI resort, and I mostly agree with that rating.

We were in Unit 202. End unit on middle floor. This was the unit on our RCI reservation, and we really liked this unit. This unit was not a lock-off and it was all on 1 level (some units are 2 levels). It was very quiet. There are approximately 49 units in this resort, but, per staff, only about half are timeshares. This is one building in a very large ski resort with various types of accommodations. We were there in what is considered quiet season, between ski season and summer activity season. The only thing open at the resort was a small convenience store attached to the office, an indoor pool and hot tub in another building which was about a 5-10 minute walk from the Edelweiss. In season, resort has many restaurants, stores etc. In winter, there is a hot tub in The Edelweiss building. There were no planned activities.

It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom (shower tub combos in both). Master bedroom had queen sized bed and second bedroom had 2 twin beds. Bedrooms were very small. Believe these units are about 26 years old. Everything, except kitchen and bath cabinets, seemed fairly new and nice.

There were 3 flat screen TVs and a DVD player in living room. Free internet that was mostly okay. Cell service worked fine.

There were no washer/dryers in unit, but a pay laundry room in building. Unfortunately, it was on opposite end. Kitchen contained the normal appliances and was well supplied. There was no garbage disposal but had an ice maker.

There was a sofa and 2 side chairs in living room; leather material. There was a wood fireplace in living room that only used pressed logs; one was provided. There was a new gas grill and a charcoal grill outside for all timeshares to share. Unit had 2 small decks with chairs. Unit was very nicely decorated with a western ski motif and clean. Towel exchange was costly; staff recommended that you launder them yourself. Each room had baseboard heat. Do not think there was air conditioning. Building and unit had an odd layout.

When we first arrived there was lots of snow on the ski trails; as week progressed more and more kept melting.

There was no sales pitch. Check-in and check-out were easy and quick. We were contacted by email about 3 weeks before arrival. I sent back a few questions and they were promptly answered.

If we ever traveled back to that area, we definitely would stay here again. We loved the Whitefish area and I loved this unit.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Do you have any recommendations for food in either Kalispell or Whitefish??

[LynnW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LynnW]

Do you have any recommendations for food in either Kalispell or Whitefish??

Shaggy where are you staying? You have to try The Back Room in Columbia Falls which is where Meadow Lake Resort is located. It is 7 miles from Whitefish.

Lynn

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

Lynn, Staying at Wilderness Glacier Lodge. I think it's in the middle of nowhere right near the West entrance of GNP. They have 11 log cabins with a hot tub on the porch. Going Sept 20th for a week.

[LynnW Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close LynnW]

Lynn, Staying at Wilderness Glacier Lodge. I think it's in the middle of nowhere right near the West entrance of GNP. They have 11 log cabins with a hot tub on the porch. Going Sept 20th for a week.

Yes it is in the middle of nowhere but Columbia Falls is closer than either Whitefish or Kalispell.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

Whitefish and Kalispell Restaurants

Our eating habits: We don’t like to go to chain restaurants that we can go to when home. We tend to eat breakfast in unit, lunches out, and dinner sometimes in and sometimes out (depending on where we are and what we are doing.) We also tend to not eat at too pricey restaurants, this time especially since we were traveling for 5 weeks.

I personally don’t like to recommend restaurants unless it was really outstanding. None of these fit the outstanding category, but on the other hand, I’d go back to most of them.

Whitefish (all of these are downtown) Many restaurants close in mid-afternoon between lunch and dinner:

We ate our anniversary dinner at Cooper’s Eatery and Drinkery. It was medium priced. Food was good. Sort of an upscale bar. Had patio seating behind. We ate inside.

We had pizza at MacKenzie River Pizza Company. Good pizza. Seems to be chain.

Had sandwiches at Quickee. Very casual, deli type sandwiches.

We ate at Loula’s twice. Known for their pies. Very popular. Upscale breakfasts. Needed a breakfast place last morning.

Kalispell (Have RCI Platinum and got 2 restaurant.com certificates for Kalispell):

We have a granddaughter named Rebecca, so had to try Rebecca’s Tea Room. If you like a tea rooms, this was a very nice one. Met Rebecca. Had a special that included tea and dessert. Lots of dessert choices. Ask waitress for suggestions because some were better than others. Would definitely go back. On main street downtown.

Used a restaurant.com certificate at Mike and Gabe’s at the Forge. It is located a couple of blocks from downtown and a couple of blocks from the mall. Went on Saturday around noon. They had entertainment.

HuHot Mongolian Grill. Think this was a chain, but had not been to one before. Located north of town in one of shopping areas. Typical Mongolian. Went at lunch time.

Also used a restaurant.com certificate at BoxSeat Café which was in Evergreen Montana (near Kalispell). Probably would not go again. Nothing really bad, but nothing great either.

[shaggy Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close shaggy]

It was fun reading this as I was in GNP in Sept.

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

I need to finish this for rest of trip before I totally forget.

Nancy

[Hobbitess Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Hobbitess]

I need to finish this for rest of trip before I totally forget.

That would be excellent.

Some trips I fill in a daily journal thingie, and those I can usually reconstruct pretty well, and often when I slack off on that, middle daughter keeps her us to date. But without those and pictures, if I don't write it up immediately, it's a pretty hopeless task. So many things I'm sure I'll remember forever... and promptly forget.