We left Polson late morning and had a pretty drive along the southern part of Flathead Lake as far as the little burg of Elmo (!), then took scenic route 28 south, connecting to another scenic route - 200 - at Plains, and driving back north and west. We encountered almost no vehicles on these country roads. Every once in a great distance we'd see a very small community or a ranch house. Most of route 28 is part of the Flathead Indian Reservation. The few villages are impoverished and look like pretty depressing places to live. The same goes for the half dozen communities along route 200. When we wanted to find a place for lunch, we checked each little town and there just wasn't anything. At Noxon we left the main road to drive into the village. There was no restaurant but there were some guys standing outside the small grocery store and tavern, chatting and drinking beer. When we stopped to change drivers, one ran up to us and asked what kind of car it was. I told him, then said it was fun to drive, and he said "I'll bet!"
By now we were quite hungry. We passed into Idaho, lucked out at the next little town and found that Mom's Cafe was open. After lunch we continued our drive to Lake Pond d'Oreille. Sandpoint, Idaho on the lake is famous for being the headquarters of Coldwater Creek and the place where the Unabomber hid out! It's a very pretty lake. At Sandpoint we headed south again to Coeur d'Alene, our stop for the night. After checking into the motel we drove to a nice park on the lake and enjoyed the views and the late afternoon.
Happy birthday, Marion. You look great!
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