THERE is definitely something to be said for staying in your own private log cabin. For starters, there's no breakfast deadline drawing you to the dining room too early. We've stayed at properties that start serving at dawn, but stop by nine or nine-thirty.

There's a certain luxury to sleeping in, propping yourself up on pillows to watch news features never seen at home. Then preparing a simple healthy breakfast, perhaps enjoyed out on your sunny front porch overlooking a wooded view.

After a leisurely shower, you're totally relaxed and ready to go exploring. And because you've started the day with a low-fat, heart-healthy breakfast, you're now ready for a splurge on one of the area's mouth-watering treats.

Have you ever heard of huckleberries? They're a rare treat that grow wild locally and it's easy to become quickly addicted. Gift shops, grocery stores, soda fountains, restaurants . . . all feature every kind of taste treat imaginable made with this flavourful berry. Ever conscious of heart health, at first we resisted the idea of indulging in a huckleberry milk shake . . . until one soda fountain agreed to make it with low-fat milk. We immediately became addicted, discovering it's a taste treat unlike any other.

The soda fountain where we first savoured that delight was also addictive. In Kalispell, Montana some 16 miles from our log cabin in the woods outside Whitefish, it had a colourful history.

It was part of a most unusual complex worth a detour. Originally built in 1896 as the McIntosh Opera House, it served as a lodge meeting hall, ballroom and theatre. Here in what was then a very remote corner of Montana, home to miners, ranchers and loggers, it seemed a surprising addition to the growing town.

The first production here on the frontier was also a surprise . . . Little Lord Fauntleroy followed by Uncle Tom's Cabin. It drew more than 1,100 viewers at tickets costing 50 cents to a dollar, pretty pricey way back then.

Another surprise was the appearance of Eugene Debs, socialist labour leader and candidate for President of the US who spoke in the Opera House way back in 1902, proving that political campaigns have always been full of surprises and candidates willing to travel to truly remote places seeking votes.

Today the old Opera House building houses shops that prove irresistible to almost everyone who enters. If you've ever imagined yourself dressed in western boots, shirts, skirts, hats or assorted "cowboy accoutrement", this is the place.

Even if you haven't, most of it is so stylish and high fashion it proves hard to resist. Walls of the Western Outdoors at 28 Main Street are lined with 2,500 pairs of cowboy boots of every colour and design ranging from ordinary leather to ostrich.

Decor is great, with vintage western memorabilia on display between very fashionable and tempting western clothes. A German tourist was piling the check-out counter high with shirts, hats (there are 2,000 in stock), and boots to wear back in Deutschland where cowboy and Indian clubs are very popular.

Incidentally, if you've ever wondered why you see so many German tourists in America's west, it's all because of a German writer named Carl May. He wrote a series of books (from prison, incidentally, where he was serving a term for some sort of swindling) all about America's Indian tribes.

He never went to America or met any Indians, but his books were researched so thoroughly that they won national acclaim and became recognised throughout Germany as revered encyclopaedias of tribal life and history.

Germans of a certain age continue to be inspired by them, especially where western tribes are concerned. It's no coincidence that the head wrangler at one of Arizona's premier dude ranches is named Hans!

The lower level of the Opera House is an antiques complex with dozens of stalls offering vintage items.

But it was at Norm's News adjoining Western Outdoors that we succumbed to temptation. A genuine old-time soda fountain with one long wall full of more than 1,000 unusual western-oriented magazines, its huckleberry milkshakes were marvellous. So were chocolate malts, both so large they're meant to be shared.

You'll have no trouble finding the old Opera House on Main Street with a horse and buggy mounted on the roof of the first level in front. Kalispell itself has unfortunately sprawled out in all directions, contributing to a feeling of overgrowth with little planning.

Westerners are friendly folk who enjoy welcoming and talking to visitors. Get into a conversation with one, and you'll soon find it's a very small world.

Some time ago this column covered my brother Jim's unusual emergency room visit to the Navajo Tribal Hospital in Kayenta, Arizona deep in the Navajo Nation. The emergency room doctor who treated him recognised the silver bracelet Jim was wearing as being from Tibet and told us about his Everest adventures.

Very much a world traveller, he mentioned spending much time in Montana. Meanwhile, my cousin's husband, a Chicago suburban paediatric oncologist, had told us about his previous summer visit to Browning, headquarters of Montana's Blackfoot Reservation.

Turns out he volunteers with a team of doctors there for a few weeks each summer.

"I met the doctor who treated Jim down on the Navajo Reservation, who was helping out at the Browning Hospital, and had dinner with him at his summer place," he said.

Small world indeed. But we rushed through Browning on this trip, with only enough time to pause at Faught's Blackfeet Trading Post for literally minutes. In business for more than 60 years, its 10,000 square feet of shopping area offer a particularly interesting collection of western clothing and native crafts.

It was closing time, with only scant minutes to buy a T-shirt with pictures of famous Indians such as Geronimo, Chief Joseph and the legend "Our Original Founding Fathers", for $20.

It was heading towards darkness and we had many miles yet back to Whitefish, so there was no time to linger. Next trip we'll make a point to stop at the Museum of the Plains Indian and Blackfoot Heritage Centre. Some local pawn shops will also get our attention.

There was a tribal political rally going on when we approached from Glacier National Park's far St. Mary's Lake entrance. It's interesting country that definitely deserves an encore visit.

Railroad enthusiasts gravitate to Essex, a whistle-stop on Empire Builder's route. Built as a base for pusher engines used to help heavy freight loads over Marias Pass, it's evolved into a gathering place for international rail fans.

The Izaak Walton Inn there is a large converted railroad bunk house. On my previous Empire Builder trip, I'd had lunch there with some Amtrak officials. Today it's favoured by cross-country skiers and those intrigued with all the train activity that occurs around the clock.

There are also genuine restored red caboose cars rented as accommodations, just as one rents a cottage. These are scattered around the Essex area in the woods and up on the hillside. One devoted train watcher told us it can take two years to get a reservation in one.

Just as it was on my first visit, one sees fascinated train watchers relaxing on the front lawn in comfortable chairs, absolutely mesmerised by passing freight trains.

Miles here are vast and there's much to see. But one soon discovers favourite sites with magnetic lure. Like Apgar village a few miles from West Glacier entrance where the mountain view out over Lake McDonald is so appealing we kept returning and returning.

Or the unpaved forest road clinging to the west edge of Hungry Horse Reservoir out of Hungry Horse across a dam of the same name which seems as big as Hoover Dam.

Surrounded by mountains, it has a great wilderness flavour without getting too far away from the main route. And, of course, it was also a good excuse to stop at Huckleberry Land to share a 24-ounce huckleberry milkshake for $3.95.

Interesting shops featuring hand-crafted log furniture and household items are a real temptation. Rustic Rails on Highway 2 near Columbia Falls was a good example.

Rooms full of beautifully made log chairs, tables, rockers, beds, dressers, quilt racks, children's furniture and outdoor furniture are custom ordered and shipped around the world.

n Next week: Discovering one of America's unique museums

It’s hard to beat a huckleberry milk shake