Sometimes you just need to run away from home for a couple of nights. When I was a kid I would run away to my Grandma’s place in the Lodge. When I was a teenager to my friend Julie’s house.  Then as a young adult I would escape to my friend Mel’s.  I still run away from home quite a bit to visit girlfriends and escape into life in the city. But, this trip was different. We had a short drive to a great destination, we did Kalispell with kids.

Our entire family needed to get the heck out of town.  Don’t get me wrong we didn’t witness a crime or anything. We were just itching for some different kind of non scheduled fun that we didn’t have to drive 5 hours or book a flight.

Enter Discover Kalispell Montana; and did we ever!

I decided to do some crowd sourcing before we left for our trip. Most people said Costco.

Seriously.

And a few said Glacier National Park. Which we decided not to do because our beautiful children are “ruiners” and that drive would be fun for no one.

It took us almost 3 hours to get to Kalispell and that includes, pee breaks, gas stops and checking through the border. As Whirlwind says, “It took 2 movies.”

We headed Downtown Kalispell to check our First Friday’s.  They have a beautiful Downtown and I would love to have shopped more but its so hard with the kids. They can’t control themselves. They must touch and lick everything. It’s embarrassing.  Whirlwind did get a blister and the nice owners at Beckman’s Fine Furnishings gave us a bandaid. Schmanks!

Then the kids turned into orangutangs so I fed them ice cream so they would be quiet.

At this point, we were all damn exhausted so we headed to our hotel, Holiday Inn Express in Kalispell.  So, this hotel is ‘da bomb.  I know that sounded ridiculous, but I totally mean it. It is the BEST place to stay in Kalispell with kids.

Listen.

-Free breakfast with pancakes, eggs, turkey sausage and fruit, cereal, toast, bagels, muffins, yogurt and stuff and stuff and stuff.

-Pool toys for the kids.  The kids are obsessed with the pool, so we were in there 3 times. Spraying each other is way more fun then having a kid dangling on your neck the entire time.

-Bedtime cookie and milk.  Um.. wha? We would put the kids in there pj’s and head down to reception and gorge ourselves. Not pretty, but a fact.

–Indoor and outdoor games.  Board games, books, volleyball and frisbee.

I honestly can say that this was by far the best family friendly hotel we have ever stayed in. So great, that we ran into some of our friends from home who were also staying there. Which was super funny because the kids were hugging each other like they had just returned from war.

The next day we stumbled across the Kalispell Farmers Market and a great park at a local school before having our first Museum experience.

And this is only 9:30 am Saturday Morning.

I know, right.

Want more?  Here is part 2!

And in case you were wondering, yup we did receive some pretty wicked perks in exchange for sharing our trip on my social media channels and blog. I am so very thankful.  It truly was the best family weekend we have ever had.