Intro
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Whitefish
Whitefish
| Whitefish
is a small town, with about two main streets [right, with ski slopes in
the background]. It's an important gateway, however, to year-round sports
recreation, including Big Mountain ski resort, just minutes north; Glacier
National Park, 35 miles away; and also Fernie, B.C., about 60 miles north.
We drove through town briefly on our way to Big Mountain, then returned
three days later to give our legs a break from skiing. |
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To get to Whitefish from Big Mountain, we took the S.N.O.W.
Shuttle, a free service. A half-hour ride down the mountain delivered us
from our hotel door to the Whitefish Railroad Depot [left].
The restored Whitefish Depot, listed on the National Register of
Historic Buildings, is owned by the Stumptown Historical Society and
leased to Burlington Northern Santa Fe for twice-daily Amtrak stops. Part
of the building is also devoted to the Stumptown Museum, which is crammed
full of early-20th century artifacts from the beginnings of Whitefish. A
friendly, knowledgeable volunteer curator was happy to answer questions
and chat.
After our museum stop, we walked the main street, window shopped a bit,
and lunched on some decent pizza. Then we continued on the main
thoroughfare until it changed from businesses to a residential street
lined with tall trees sheltering small, well-kept, early-20th century
houses with tidy yards. We found Nanda Tenham's house. |
| We met Ms. Tenham on the shuttle from Big Mountain. She said
she attempts to go skiing almost every day during the season, and she'd
gone up to check on the snow but was on her way back down after deciding
against it. We made her acquaintance because her overheard accent sounded
oddly familiar... And when Jan asked, sure enough, she was Dutch!
Lengthy discussion about Holland gave them enough in common that she
invited us to visit her in the afternoon to rest our legs. So about 1:00,
we knocked on her door. Where else but in a small town would someone be so
friendly and gracious as to invite three
"strangers" into their home?!
We stayed for nearly two hours, talking about the Netherlands, her
history in coming to the U.S., and our cross-cultural experiences, as she
served us tea, hot chocolate, and cookies. We enjoyed the visit very much
and felt that we'd had a rare (for us) and special experience of
small-town hospitality.
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