The Stelzle's Trailer Travels: July 20-22: Ashley Lake, MT

We said goodbye to Canada on Monday, July 20th and crossed the border in Eureka, Montana. We were looking forward to hanging out with the Gilbert's and very excited to see Logan in Missoula after that. We met Lorne and Lisa Gilbert back when I worked at Turley. They would drive all the way down from their home in Calgary to pick up their wine allocation. Scott and Lorne got along from the start and Lorne would bring him Canadian beer whenever they came through. Last time they were in town, they came by Venteux bearing beer gifts and we got to talking about our upcoming trip. They invited us to visit them at their property in Ashley Lake, MT and they showed us the most amazing time! We met at Moose's Saloon in Kalispell, a classic great old bar complete with the swinging saloon doors, before heading out to the lake. Ashley Lake is beautiful....it's the most amazing green, crystal clear water and very private. Lorne and Lisa have a trailer there and their property is awesome. We spent the first afternoon going on the SeaDoo and then getting a wild ride on the tube. This was a first, first of the day for Jake. His second first was going snorkeling. He loved it! But, really the most exciting event of the day was Clover taking her first swim. She has always been afraid of the water. But after seeing us in there, she finally went for it and swam all the way out to us....we were so impressed....and boy was she hyper after that! Lorne and Lisa grilled some amazing ribs for dinner and then they surprised Jake with a bag full of novelty candy. Lorne is an artist when it comes to building bon-fires. Jake got to stay up extra late because they also had a huge bunch of fireworks planned. All this plus a fair amount of booze throughout the day made for a very late evening and a bit of a hangover for me the next day. Scott and Lorne went waterskiing the next day. Scott hadn't been on skiis in about 10 years, but he did great. We had another great dinner, this time lamb chops and another fantastic bonfire that night. It was a great time for all of us and we had so much fun laughing and getting to know Lorne and Lisa better. I'm telling ya...these are good Candians! We all had an absolute blast!