The Garden of 1,000 Buddhas

Our AirBnB in Bozeman had a checkout time of 9 a.m.  We made it.  Our destination for today is Whitefish, MT.  We both wanted to stop in Missoula for lunch.  I had read on Eater that there is a great Farmer's Market there on Saturday mornings and we should get the breakfast sandwich from Ninja Mike's.  When I was in the passenger seat doing the navigation piece I used my Apple Maps app and we ended up getting off the I-90 and driving out of our way.   All I can say is that it was a beautiful drive.

Finally, back on the I-90 we arrived in Missoula at noon.  It was a decent farmer's market.  We got some fresh Kombucha and some baklava and sat in the hot sun to eat and drink.  Strange combination, I know, but for some reason both of these things appealed to us in the moment.  There was no Ninja Mike's.  We sat down in front of the carousel next to the farmer's market to figure out where to get lunch.  The carousel is beautiful and has a lovely story.  A local cabinet maker approached the city council and offered to provide the horses and all the mechanisms if the city would provide a permanent home.  They agreed.  

After eating brunch we headed for Whitefish.  We noticed a sign that the Garden of 1,000 Buddhas was ahead in four miles.  We decided to find out what it was.  It is located in the Jocko Valley and is surrounded by farm land.  The location and architecture came as a vision to Sang-ngag Rinpoche, as a child.  The Buddhas are arranged based on the eight-spoked Dharma wheel.  

On the hill above the Garden of 1,000 Buddhas is a construction of prayer flags.  

It was an amazing experience.  It was the quote on this stone leading into the garden that made me break down and cry.  You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere.  You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. -- Buddha

We got back in the car and continued on this journey of life and learning to love ourselves.  When we crested the hill above the south end of Flathead Lake, which is 16 miles wide and 30 miles long, we were aghast at its size.  We drove around the west side of the lake towards Whitefish, oohing and ahhing around every curve.  It is bigger in surface than Lake Tahoe.  The Wild Horse Island in the middle of the lake is a state park.  We may explore this lake more in the coming days.

We got to our rental around 5:30 p.m.  We were hot and tired.  The code they gave us to open the door didn't work because someone had locked the bottom lock.  We called all the emergency numbers until we finally got someone to help us find a key for the lock. The car unloaded, we went in search of dinner.  Huckleberries are in everything here.  You can get an elk meatloaf with a huckleberry demi glaze or a huckleberry mojito or huckleberry bbq or huckleberry pie or huckleberry ice cream and on to infinity. We got salads.

Back at our rental we settled on watching Nathan Fiedler's new show called The Rehearsal.  This show and his previous one called Nathan For You are those kind that make you laugh, make you uncomfortable and make you shocked that anyone would go along with Nathan.

We have made no plans for tomorrow.  We will not set an alarm.  We will not get in the car to drive to another destination.  We are staying in Whitefish for three nights and no other day we are together will we drive more than 5 hours.  I think our vacation together is about to get more relaxing.