Deep fried Oreos, anyone?

©2012 Lydia Hinshaw 

Another day in Paradise

Wise River Club, famous for pies

 PARADISE, MT --There isn't much to Paradise.  In fact, that's practically the whole downtown in the top picture.

 Paradise can be found along the Clark Fork River, perhaps 85 miles north of Missoula, on the edge of the Lolo National Forest.  We walked into the cafe and faced that moment when every other customer looks up because we were the only strangers in the place.

 Not for long, the waitress treated us like old friends.  The food was simple but good and the prices were lower than we expected.  The deep fried Oreos on the dessert board sound just too decadent and calorie-laden for me.  Apparently this delicacy is created by dipping an Oreo into pancake batter and then deep-frying it.

 A day earlier, we'd wandered into the Wise River Club, in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest south of Butte.  It was the only restaurant we'd seen for miles, which didn't mean the cook took any shortcuts.

 Some locals at a neighboring table struck up a conversation with us and recommended which pie we should try for desert.  This wasn't necessarily helpful, as all six of them had a different kid of pie and each insisted his or hers was the best.

 I'm a pie-avoider, particularly when my lifestyle involves sitting in a car for hours every day, but the Prince picked blueberry and pronounced it wonderful.