Back on the bikes today. We had to make sure we were to Apgar before 11 AM because the stretch of road from Lake McDonald to Apgar closes for cyclists between 11 and 4 since it is the more popular entrance into the park. We flew down that stretch of highway. It was beautiful and slightly downhill or flat which made for a wonderful ride right along the lake.
Finally finishing the Going to the Sun road. It really was a beautiful ride!
We were both sad to be leaving our final national park, but luckily we didn't have to face true reality because we were in a national forest for most of the rest of the ride. We entered into Flathead National Forest which you may have heard of on the news with the forest fires going on there. We didn't see any of the fires or any smoke, but we did see some roads closed due to the fires and lots of fire vehicles heading toward the fire. We even saw a helicopter carrying a basket of water to dump and a big fire engine tanker pumping water out of the stream to take to the flames. While it is pretty scary stuff, I'm sure my nephew Joseph would've loved to see the real firefighters in action against the forest fire.
Then we headed into Columbia Falls where we would get lunch. One of my favorite moments of the day was at a major intersection right as we were getting to town. It clearly looked like we should go left to head downtown, but Mike was making sure on the map. He was like "I think this is where we should go left, but the map says turn left at the steam engine and I don't see a steam engine." I was like "hello there is a huge train engine sitting right next to you" that he claims was hidden behind a tree. All I know is that it must've been a huge tree to hide a whole train engine.
Anyway, we made our turn and headed through town looking for some delicious places to eat. Some of the workers in Apgar had recommended some places to us so we were on the lookout for those. I ended up getting caught behind Mike at a yellow light along with another cyclist so I got to talking to him. He was local and quite friendly and gave us a delicious lunch recommendation along with some recommendations for the town that we would be spending the night in.
Then back on the road. Remember that time Adventure Cycling sent me down 4.6 miles of gravel? My butt sure remembers it. The road was washed boarded out which made the ride even more pleasant. 
And the best part was that the map said it was a lot shorter than 4.6 miles. 
We managed and then made it back onto nice roads with plenty of crops and deer to see along the way. Mike enjoyed learning about the different type of crops and very quickly could identify most of them on his own. The canola fields are beautiful with the yellow flowers. 
We even got brave enough to take a selfie with the canola fields.
We finally arrived in Bigfork where we would be spending the night and found out that they have their own cherry orchards and so we stopped to buy a bag of cherries before heading to our inn for the evening. 
They tasted as delicious as they look!
We arrived at the Swan River Inn and started to check in thinking we would be getting the cheapest room titled and themed 'leather and lace'. However we found out that we had been upgraded to the wild animal 'safari' room. It was crazy!
There were skulls everywhere, a zebra hide above our bed, an animal hide on our bed, a painted puma on the wall and cats holding up the sink. The view was great though. We had a little deck overlooking the marina on Flatlake Lake. It really was a great little place to spend the night. We washed up and then took a walk to the Flathead Lake Brewing Company. Their beer selections were so great which made it hard to choose. We even got a table out on the patio overlooking the lake.
We ended the evening by walking around downtown and keeping an eye on the weather. It looks like tomorrow may have thunderstorms so we may end up spending an extra day here.
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