Last year, I had the awesome opportunity to go to Kalispell in December with my mom and a family friend, Debbie Beazer. I ended up finishing the majority of my Christmas shopping there and a great time having a little girls' trip away.
This year, I decided it would be fun to do something similar. I had been talking about going to Kalispell again, possibly for Black Friday. Not too long after I thought of that, however, I changed my mind and decided shopping on Black Friday in the States was probably not the best idea. I've heard the horror stories of Black Friday: long line-ups, people fighting over televisions, people being trampled, fights breaking out over parking spots...not my idea of a good time!
I still wanted to go shopping in Kalispell, however, and my mom had offered to take me if I came up with a time that I could get a away for a day or two. I jumped at the opportunity! I swapped an evening shift at work and arranged the trip. I invited my friend, Emily, along for the trip as well and we made the trip last Wednesday (November 27th) to the wonderful land of Kalispell.
The drive there was beautiful! It had recently snowed and so the trees were frosted and glittering. The clouds were floating around the tops of the mountains and the ponds and rivers were frozen over. Here are a few pictures I happened to snap as we were driving through the mountain passes.
Once we got to Kalispell, we did a bit of shopping at Joanne, the best craft store ever! I bought some fabric and yarn for some craft projects I've started this month. We were starving after our trip to Joanne's so we went for lunch at Hu Hot, a Mongolian Grill, that my mom and I always have to stop at when we go to Kalispell. The cooks there fry up all of your ingredients on a huge grill. If you tip them and ring the gong by the cooking station, they shout "HU HOT!" and flip their spatulas in all sorts of crazy ways. It's definitely a treat.
After lunch, we hit up as many of the other stores as we could: Ross, TJ Maxx, Target, and Walmart. I ended up getting most of my Christmas shopping done again which was great! It's not every year that I can get most of my Christmas presents bought before December. Of course, while in Kalispell, we had to stock up on all of the American pop. Jared loves Vanilla Coke, so I bought him several cases to tide him over until our next trip to the States.
We made our final pit stop at Wendy's for dinner and then made the drive home. With it being dark so early these days, our trip home was mostly pitch black. I forgot how beautiful the sky can by when you're in the country. I used to see the starry sky all the time when I lived in Drumheller but I think I took it for granted when I lived there. Now that I live in a busy city, I hardly ever get to see the stars at night. The sky on the way home that night was so clear that I couldn't help but crane my neck to see out the window. The stars were piercing and bright and I could clearly see the few constellations that I actually know. I could even see a few planets (if that's indeed what they were).
Anyways, I ended up having a great time spending time with my mom and Emily. I always enjoy getting to spend time with family and friends. With things being so busy these days, that seems to be a rarity. I hope that this yearly Christmas shopping trip to Kalispell becomes a tradition! That is, as long as my wallet can take another beating like it did this time...
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