Myrtle's

Myrtle's was the small gas station/convenience store right next to Creston school. Myrtle was an older lady that ran the small store, and also lived there. Myrtle had all the basics that you would need if you wanted a quick stop in between Kalispell and Bigfork, and she also had a great candy selection. You could get so much candy for $1. Usually candy was priced around $0.10 (Jolly Rancher sticks, gum, airheads) or sometimes $0.25 for bigger stuff. Myrtle also sometimes scared us. I am sure it wasn't easy for her to get excited about a bunch of young kids entering the store to buy candy. And I am sure she was more than patient with us. But she sure made me nervous. We always hear stories about how she could snap and you if you tested her patience too long.

Every so often during the summer, we would decide to ride our bikes to Myrtles. I think it was about 4 miles, maybe a little less. We usually rode straight there, talking and laughing and enjoying being outside. We would buy lots of candy, sometimes a drink, and then head towards home and stop at one of the bridges by a small creek. We would look down into the water and see how many fish we could spot swimming around. I don't remember ever fishing, but maybe we did. We would also climb under the bridge if we were really hot, and dunk our heads, and get our arms wet.

Sometimes we rode our bikes to school near the end of the school year. This meant that when school was out, we could go to Myrtles and pick up a treat before heading home. We felt so cool as we wheeled our bikes past the school bus as kids looked out the window, jealous that they couldn't go get candy (Kids had started trying to go to Myrtle's real quick once school got out and before the bus left, but I think it must have gotten out of hand and we weren't allowed to do that anymore) If we were feeling adventurous, we would try to beat the bus home. We usually did (we only had 4 miles to go, the bus ride was probably about an hour).