WHITEFISH ESSENTIALS

MEET ME IN WHITEFISH!

1. Best place to treat yourself to a fantastic upscale Montana dinner and a nice glass of wine in town: The Whitefish Lake Restaurant (yup, at the Golf Course in the authentic log dining room)

2. Best place to pamper your body and soul: The Whitefish Lake Lodge Spa. Talk to the Spa Director Criswell about setting up a massage or facial with a mimosa

3. Best place to get an awesome salad: Backslope Brewery in Columbia Falls. (The creamy peppercorn dressing is delectable)

4. Best place to get a Christmas Tree: FREE in the Lolo (Western Montana) National Forest (see link) https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/flathead/passes-permits/forestproducts/?cid=fseprd842819

5. Best place to get great craft beer: Tamarack Brewery in Lakeside (I like the Apricot Beer called ‘Sip and Go Naked’)

6. Best place to get a cheap beer and a decent burger: This one is a toss-up, either-The Northern’s bacon double cheeseburger with a side of fries (1$ PBRs on Wednesdays) -OR, for 10 dollars Piggy Back BBQ has a pulled pork sandwich with one side (I like the side of mac ’n cheese) and a PBR

7. Best dive bar: Stillwater Bar in Olney, where you can fly fish steps from the outdoor deck with a whisky, literally, 'on the rocks’ beside the river

8. Best place to adopt a dog: The Humane Society on Hwy 93 (that’s wear I got Kip and my two cats Alice and Katie)

9. Best Radio Station: 600am (golden oldies music, great morning show on weekdays and old western/cowboy songs Sunday mornings from 9-10am)

10. Best footwear for a wet fall, cold winter and muddy spring: Boggs ( pick up a pair at Sportsman Haus at the Whitefish Mountain Mall when you drop your skis off to get waxed for the season)

Newspapers you want to get:

Daily Interlake (get the digital one it comes out at 5 a.m. every morning)

Whitefish Pilot (get the hard copy so you also get the weekly deals grocery store specials at Super 1, Safeway and Smiths (every once in a while large avocados go on sale at Super 1 for .88 cents each or Safeway has Peet’s Coffee for 5.99 a bag). Generally, Smiths in Columbia Falls has the best deals on produce. Try to time your visit to Columbia Falls on a Sunday because everything at the thrift store across the street is 50% off!

Hungry Horse News (has interesting articles about Glacier and the surrounding communities)

Drive Slowly, Smile at People and Say Hello when you pass them on a walking path… Acknowledge people. Always accentuate the positive and provide a smile to anyone that might need one.

- Patrick & Kip

Perks of Living in Whitefish

My Top Ten Favorite Perks of Living in Whitefish

10) The Hugh Rogers Dog Park.

9) Stillwater Bar in Olney.

8) Crystal Lakes Vintage Air Museum ( see recent photos of my trip here).

7) River floats with Kip down the Whitefish River from City Beach on the lake to Riverside Park.

6) The caesar salad at The Whitefish Lake Restaurant (The Whitefish Golf Course) with several giant grilled shrimp in the main dining room and a glass of house red. 

5) Sunset with a mojito (ask for it in the chilled copper mug) on Casey’s Rooftop Deck. 

4) Weekly 1$ Beer nights at The Great Northern Bar and Grill (Miller Monday; PBR Wed; Rainier on Thursdays.)

3) Vaqueros Mexican Food aka Los Caporales in Columbia Falls.

2) The peppercorn dressing on the house salad at Backslope Brewery.

1) The happy hour and grilled tenderloin at the Grouse Mountain Lodge on the patio overlooking the golf course. 

Bonus 5:

1. The Tiki Bar at the Whitefish Lake Lodge

2. Yuletide Affair (holiday show) by The Alpine Theatre Project. 

3. The top ten rated Whitefish Ski Resort.

4. Glacier National Park. 

5. Sticking googly eyes on my dog’s butt and walking around town!

Another Bonus 10: 

11) Winter Carnival.

12) The Farmers Markets all summer.

13) Polebridge Mercantile (get a bear claw, then check out Bowman or Kintla Lake).

14) Huckleberry pancakes at Jerry’s Saloon in Fortine. 

15) Trego Pub, pay it forward.

16) The Humane Society of Northwest Montana where I got my dog Kip and his two cat sisters Katie and Alice.

17) Murdochs in Columbia Falls (where I get my baby chickens).

18) Sunset Roost Farms where I got the incubated eggs I put under Kellyanne when she got broody this summer and hatched 6 of 12 eggs into the gaggle half-feathered little dinosaur-looking hatchlings roaming around my backyard so far only named:

The Montucky 6.

19) The Skyles Overlook on the Whitefish Trail System.

20) How knowledgeable the people in the fly fishing section are at Sportsman Haus. This is also where I bought my snow skis and my Boggs!

Extra Bonus 3: 

-Fly fishing for Grayling at Red Meadow Lake.

-The drive from Grave Creek to Polebridge.

-Second Street Pizza (1 James III Pizza, 4 ranch Dressing, 1 House Salad, 1 Second Street Wings). 

If there’s 1 perk left to share it is that people here look you in the eye, smile and say hello when they pass you in the street and we wave when passing on country roads because we all share the common bond of appreciation for nature and one another. 

Whitefish is a beautiful place to live. Make your investment in a dream home today! 

THRILL YOUR SENSE OF ADVENTURE - MONTANA

Just north of Whitefish, Montana is the perfect palette of nature, aviation, wine, fishing and golf. 

A rock’s throw from the succulent huckleberry pancakes at Jerry’s Saloon in Fortine, lies one of the greatest proverbial pearls of Hwy 93 North. Nope, I’m not talking about the Trego Pub, which I also love, but for those adventurous souls seeking culture, relaxation, a bit of history and some mysticism! Founded by genius inventor and all-around alpha stud pilot, enologist and golf enthusiast Jim Smith. Crystal Lakes is hidden just east of highway 93, nestled with the impeccable precision of an aeronautical engineer in the Whitefish Range of the Rocky Mountains. Arnold Palmer designed the private golf course which includes an exact replica of Stonehenge (which would make the Druid’s drool). Crystal Lakes also has a vintage air museum onsite with a hangar full of fully functional and flyable warbirds & assorted aviation marvels, a vineyard, and a fish hatchery which supports the wildlife in the myriad of lakes that complete the perfect palette of nature, aviation, wine, fishing and golf. 

I had the privilege of visiting Crystal Lakes vintage Air Museum, golf course, winery and full replica of Stonehenge last week with my dad. Both of us are aviation enthusiasts since my grandfather flew P-51’s in WWII, my dad used to fly aerobatics in a Steerman, and I earned my pilot’s license in college and almost crashed a Cessna 152 on several occasions. All the planes in this private air museum are fully functioning authentic pieces of history that come to life as you walk in the hangar, complete with stories of their past that thrill your sense of adventure. 

Crystal Lakes GOLF COURSE IS PRIVATE and NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, but the Air Museum IS open to the public. 

Seriously, you’ve got to check this place out. Contact Jeri to make a reservation by sending an email to stonehengeairmuseum@gmail.com.

http://stonehengeairmuseum.org

Patrick Nagle

Real Estate Broker, Nagle Realty, Whitefish, MT

Patrick@PatrickNagle.com

Someday is Everyday in Montana!

Before I bought my house in downtown Whitefish and become a real estate broker in the Flathead Valley, I lived in California and dreamed of a lifestyle combining my workday with all my favorite activities that I rarely had the chance to do. My adventure equipment (skis, fishing pole, tent, stove, hammock, my floppy Patagonia hat with the yellow humpy stuck in it that I wear when I hike) gathered dust in a closet that could have aptly been labeled ‘Someday’.

Before Montana, adventures took extreme planning and an entire weekend from beginning to end fighting traffic for the chance to escape the despondence of digital inundation, to achieve a magical moment of relaxation in a ‘real’ ‘natural’ setting, recalibrating my mind and returning to something close to ‘normal’ before hurtling back to my life.

Like waking up from a dream, it was back to the grind on Monday until I could escape again. Someday soon I’d tell myself, I’d take another day away. And as the closet closed, the equipment, looking as forlorn as my spirit, was once again cast into darkness and left to gather dust until “Someday” presented another opportunity to search for forgotten harmony in my heart with another adventure. And, like Joe in the beginning of Joe vs The Volcano (yeah, I went there) my soul suffered under the weight of the complexities and idiosyncrasies of city life until I finally left one day, with my kayak on my Jeep and my adventure equipment in the back, and bought my house in downtown Whitefish, Montana.

In Montana everyday we combine the two things that keep us positive and youthful spiritually, mentally and physically- We work and play in a perfect balance all year long because of the proximity to limitless outdoor recreational opportunities, four beautiful seasons and a tight-knit community of empathetic, adventure seeking bad-asses. During a workday, depending on the season I can always find time for fly-fishing, downhill or cross country skiing, kayaking or embarking on a pleasant solitary stroll under a canopy of pine needles next to a rippling river while having a casual conversation with my dog about life and what, if anything, is troubling him, our conversation occasionally interrupted, of course, to greet ducks as they gracefully land on the water. 

Clear out your Someday closet, pack the car with your adventure gear and move yourself, your family and your business to Montana already! A burgeoning sector of our buyers are escaping cities across the country to telecommute from this idyllic wonderland for passionate souls fortunate enough to find this, “the last best place.” 

Live Big. Play Big. Relax Big. Save Big.

www.patricknagle.com

Telecommuting From Montana

New opportunity minutes from Glacier Park- telecommuting a great possibility for entrepreneurs and out of state buyers in Montana's burgeoning Columbia Falls community! Columbia Falls Real Estate continues to flourish with over $25.5 million in gross residential sales in just the 3rd quarter of 2019 alone. To boot these homes on average were sold in just 102 days!

BRET ANNE SERBIN of the Daily Inter Lake recently put out an article detailing the install of fiber optics in downtown Columbia Falls. (See Below)

"MontanaSky is in the process of installing fiber-optic cables through downtown Columbia Falls to provide faster and more reliable internet service to local businesses.

The locally based internet service provider received a loan from Montana West Economic Development to complete the $120,000 project.

“Previously, we only had wireless in that area,” reported MontanaSky Marketing Director Amber Pacheco-Holm. “It was definitely an underserved area from our perspective.”

Fiber-optic cables provide faster, more reliable internet service and support larger bandwidths than the existing wireless service. Pacheco-Holm said the new service will have the capability of operating at 10 gigabytes per second.

“There are endless possibilities” with fiber-optic internet, she said. “We’re all evolving toward fiber optic,” she said of the internet provider landscape, noting other providers such as CenturyLink already operate fiber-optic cables in Columbia Falls.

Pacheco-Holm explained MontanaSky’s service is unique because it is the only provider in the area to utilize three redundant paths to provide service. This way, if there is a disruption in one of the paths, the company can reroute to the others to keep customers connected. She said this system allowed MontanaSky to avoid losing service during the high winds and storms in September that knocked out internet and cell service for many people throughout the valley.

She clarified the new service is primarily geared toward business customers, rather than residential internet users. For now, at least, she said, “it’s not really a residential solution.”

“Columbia Falls is growing,” Pacheco-Holms explained. “There are a lot of new businesses coming in...They have growing bandwidth needs, especially in rural Montana.”

Magnificent Properties Are Going Under Contract Quickly

With the changing of the seasons and the emergence of long sunny days, vegetable gardens and songbirds nesting in leafy green canopies of sky-high trees, we’re seeing our low inventory of magnificent properties going under contract quickly, particularly in the downtown area where a flurry of mountain modern single family residences, condominiums and townhouses are bringing a fresh influx of investors, homeowners and tourists that are quickly becoming our neighbors and friends. If you are considering selling your home or would just like to know what the value of your home is in today’s real estate market please contact me for a complimentary evaluation.

New direct flights into Glacier International Airport is just one feather in the Flathead Valley’s proverbial cap fueling the uptick in the market. The greatest attribute of the Flathead Valley is unlimited access to endless outdoor opportunities from golf and restaurants to fishing, kayaking, biking, back-backing and sunbathing at City Beach. Kip and I are having a great time meeting new clients and connecting buyers and sellers to idyllic properties from multi-million dollar waterfront on Flathead Lake to the cozy cabins nestled in the forested wonderland tucked up against the Canadian border. 

Sincerely, 

Patrick and Kip

Patrick@PatrickNagle.com

406.407.2988

Don't Miss This Montana Property With Ski Access

HAND-CRAFTED MONTANA LOG HOME

476 Bobtail Lane, Libby — MLS #21814355

This hand-crafted Montana log home sits on 32 acres of pristine cross country skiing property and features 600 feet of the trout-filled, year-round Bobtail Creek. With a picturesque meadow/timber mix and mountain views, the property borders USFS land. It was fully remodeled in 2007 including excellent insulation and new insulated concrete foundation. It has been family owned for 70 years and is currently operated as a successful B&B.

A total of 6 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms in home and garage (furnishings negotiable). Picturesque meadow/timber mix w/ mountain views bordering USFS land. 5 RV spots with water and RV dump. Beautiful setting for year-round living, seasonal retreat or nightly rental. Dog run w/ heated whelping room. Gazebo wired for hot tub. Massive outdoor covered decks. Shooting range off upper deck. 18mi to Kootenai River spot where largest recorded rainbow trout in Montana was caught.

Offered at $699,000