Historic Kalispell a pleasant visit

No doubt, Montana is beautiful. Just hearing the name conjures up visions of wild landscapes and cowboys riding across an open valley with 300 head of steer.

This natural, rugged image is heavily promoted by Montana’s tourism industry as the perfect backdrop for hiking, rafting, skiing, rock climbing and any other outdoor sport you can think of.

But Kalispell, has more to offer than just spectacular views of the Rockies. Springing up along the tracks of the Great Northern Railroad in the late 1890s, it is a major commercial center and the seventh largest city in the state with more than 12,000 residents.

In the historic downtown, contemporary shops and galleries thrive alongside businesses that have been around longer than any of the locals can remember. Restaurant menus vary from traditional American to spicy Thai, and all forms of dining, from fine to complicated (that’s balancing a Styrofoam plate on your lap in the park), are available.

Combine these options with warm spring weather and Kalispell becomes an ideal place for a lazy afternoon wandering the sidewalks window shopping, feeding swans at Woodland Park and eating pizza from a Montana landmark.

“Is that temperature right?” the desk clerk asked, pointing to a thermometer which read 62 degrees.

Yes, it’s right, confirmed another employee of the Four Seasons Motor Inn – not what you want to hear when you have a day shift to pull on a sunny Sunday afternoon.

I felt a little twinge of guilt after getting the scoop on stuff to do from the staff. I loaded up on brochures from the motel’s lobby before joining husband John and dog Kah-less in the Subaru outside.

We followed Main Street into town. Our stomachs growled for lunch, so we stopped at the first place where we saw the words “cafe” and “open.” The walls of the Knead Cafe, 25 Second Ave. W., were saturated with vibrant colors.

John and I split a salad with honey-poppy seed dressing and a chicken souvlaki wrap. On a park bench near the Kalispell Area Chamber of Commerce, we ate our meal and watched people and traffic near a modern mall. We stared at the high mountain ranges, saddled with snow, that surround the Flathead Valley.

After a quick romp in the small park for Kah-less, we walked to the Kalispell Historic Opera House Square building, 48 Main St., where I was told I would find antiques and collectibles in the basement and cowboy hats in the Western outfitters on the main floor.

The Kalispell Antiques Market was a catacomb of old toys, furniture and bric-a-brac. I almost lost my way winding through the stacks of books, old kitchen tools and utensils, and aged linens.

A 1950s movie poster for “Montana Belle,” starring buxom beauty Jane Russell as notorious outlaw Belle Starr, hung on one wall. Below her were an old stuffed deer head, rocking chairs and a magazine holder.

After our brief shopping spree (bought a can opener for $1.50), we drove to Woodland Park for a stroll on its two miles of paved trails. The smell of grilled meat wafted on the air as people cooked hamburgers and hot dogs. Some kids and a mom roasted marshmallows in a brick barbecue.

The park’s path circled a pond where ducks and swans of several varieties glided across the water and jockeyed for position to catch bread thrown from a young toddler’s hands.

Land for the park was donated by Kalispell founder Charles E. Conrad in the early 1900s. The property was once part of his 72-acre estate. A Virginia native, Conrad created a trading and freighting empire on the Missouri River near Fort Benton in the Montana Territory that lasted more than 20 years.

His former home on Woodland Avenue is now a museum and an excellent starting place to tour the East Side Historic District, with many homes listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Informational plaques are mounted near the sidewalk outside each historic structure on a self-guided walking tour. Most of these old houses still serve as residences; please be respectful of the owner’s privacy when touring the neighborhood.

The Conrad Mansion was designed by Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter and built in 1895. The spacious structure was featured on the A&E series “America’s Castles,” which showcased the lavish dwellings and vacation homes of America’s wealthiest industrial barons and their families.

The mansion opens May 15 for the season. For more information, visit www.conradmansion.com or call (406) 755-2166.

We went back to the hotel to rest before ordering what was said to be the “best pizza made.”

The dim hallway entrance into Moose’s Saloon doesn’t look like much, with its sawdust-covered floor and metal beer ads lining the wall. But this corridor leads to the heart of a Montana legend.

It’s a spot where families go for a night out and lucky tourists discover good pizza and true local atmosphere. (The Four Seasons’ staff recommended the sauerkraut pizza; John and I stuck to pepperoni and mushroom.)

This is also the place where in 1966, Montana native son Evel Knievel, after consuming a large number of red beers, concocted his idea to jump the Grand Canyon on a rocket-powered motorcycle.

The professional daredevil had to scale back his plans when he couldn’t get the necessary approvals. In 1974, his attempt to jump Idaho’s Snake River Canyon ended in a crash. But he walked away to jump over other stuff and sell Evel Knievel figures and toys until 1976, when he retired from stunt riding.

Moose’s still sells red beers, also known as a Montana Bloody Mary, says Wallis Anne Bianchi. She’s the daughter of David “Moose” Miller, who started the restaurant and saloon in 1957 with wife Shirley.

The couple took over the bar Shirley’s father had owned, known as The Corral Bar. Seeking to diversify the clientele of mainly men, Moose and Shirley, with the help of friends and family, turned the Corral into an old Western-style saloon, a fun atmosphere they hoped would appeal to many.

“Dad just wanted everybody to feel comfortable and welcome,” Wallis said of her father, a former Montana Grizzlies football player who died in 1999.

In the early days business was slow, she said. Her parents had expanded the small Corral Bar into a much larger space with an even larger mortgage. It was after Moose acquired an oven and the cook from a friend’s pizza joint that was going out of business that things took off.

Moose wasn’t afraid to take a chance and try a new trend. When the espresso craze started, Wallis said, he decided to add a drive-through to offer coffee drinks.

“That didn’t go over too good,” she said.

However, they still consider the drive-through a success. Wallis said it increased business among people uncomfortable coming into a saloon and still is used today.

She now runs the place with her mother. And who knows – maybe one of her three daughters will take over granddad’s place one day and continue a Montana legacy.