From the outside looking In

It has been a extreme pleasure to visit your city once again this summer. My wife and I fell in love with the people of Whitefish on random ski adventure years ago and we have returned to enjoy being Whitefished. We love it so much we are planning to retire in the area soon. Oh yes, another Californian escaping what California has become. Please indulge an outsider’s view of your gifts.

Natural beauty; Glacier National Park and all the surrounding State Parks are defy description and photo record. Extraordinary!

Skiing; been to Jackson, been to the Alps, skied every run in the Tahoe Basin. Give me the fog balls and snow ghosts on Big Mountain.

People; men tipping their hat to my wife upon introduction. Singing the National Anthem loudly with strangers soon to be friends before Skijoring. Thirty minutes of conversation on the sidewalk with a former mayor who is still proud of the city. Pickup trucks, not BMWs. Police officers who are smiling. A warning to not bring “California with you if you settle here.”

A universal belief from those who were not born in Whitefish that “I just wish I would have moved here sooner.”

Well, my wife and are indeed leaving and coming your way. Seems against our interest but please keep things real here. Please keep big franchise hotels and other interests that would make Whitefish a brochure and not a feeling out of your extraordinary home. We didn’t happen upon your town looking for a Four Seasons.

Keep it real here!

— Daniel Siri, Clayton, California