#185 Flathead Lake State Park: Finley Point Campground Polson MT

We couldn't seem to find any great camping places nearby that is and then. finally looked at reserve America which is usually my first choice well as it turns out there was a state park right at the lake Flathead Lake in a little peninsula.

It looked like there was no vacancy but once again I've always found it better to call so when I called the guy said turns out there was a cancellation as we speak and so I asked him to hold it for an hour till I could finish lunch and get the heck on over there and reserve it.

The site was lakefront and we enjoyed the nice view and use of the lake. I saw an amazing sunset our first evening.

We went by on Monday fairly early around 10 and got us some free glasses at the Polson library. I mentioned on Sunday they told us they were giving out 500 free glasses at the library to watch the solar eclipse. We were glad we had come early enough so we got our glasses. By 10:40 they were out. It seemed a lot of people had decided to use the parking lot to enjoy the eclipse. We created a family space with our chairs and beverages and prepared for an eclipse.

The whole event got me thinking about something that I think it's funny.

I will parallel the entire eclipse event to how some women experience sexuality.

You hear about it and then there's this big build-up for a whole year then you get closer and closer and you hear about and there's so much excitement and then finally you get to the day when it finally happens and then in two minutes it's all over.

Everyone knew when the eclipse would arrive so we set up beach chairs and got comfortable. For me, I sat in my chair, donned my eclipse glasses, and reclined so I could comfortably stare at the sun for the whole event.

When it reached near totality the air temperature was eerily cold for about 10 minutes then warmed back up as the sunshine reappeared. What a fun experience.

There was another thing that I noticed as I sat there out in a parking lot of the library with probably five hundred people. There were kids and older people and just every kind of people. They're chatting about their gardens and their dogs and this and that. There are kids writing on the parking lot with chalk. Making pictures with construction paper. A guy is selling hot dogs but nobody's talking about hate or which race is better. We're all just chilling that's a wonderful unifying thing.

At one point during our visit, we saw a sign on the side of the road that said pick-your-own cherries. As I took a left turn to where the cherries were I saw a rafter of turkeys. That was a pleasure to see. We pulled in and talked to the guy and he gave us each a bucket and said you pay by the pound on the way out. It's kind of fun unless you do it for a living, and he mentioned that this was about it that as they were very ripe and wouldn't last much longer. We were glad to be there and there were ladders here and they are already set up against the trees. I went up and picked the bucketful and the girls got some. Later I took these cherries and made a pie cobbler and different deserts. I kept the cherries around as a dessert in the freezer for quite a while.

We stayed at the Flathead Lake Campground for 3 nights. We decided for our next stop we would visit some friends in Whitefish Montana. We went by last year at about the same time of year. I can't say enough about how pretty Flathead Lake is it looks but it's the prettiest in the morning and the evening.

I was on a walk the next evening towards dusk. I saw a deer stirring and I stayed quiet hoping to observe without it running away. I was able to get a picture of him/ her looking right at me and it came out as a silhouette. These are the shots that you don’t plan or deserve but just happen when you put yourself out there. My heart was smiling.