Good gravy. I need to carve out some time in my life to just sit and write. And I need to make a resolution to update my blog immediately after things happen. Or else this happens. Eight months later, and here I am finally transferring my journal entries to my blog. But what else is new?
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I forgot to mention that while camping at Flathead Lake, our neighbors had WSU license plates. Although I didn't get the chance to chat with them, I knew this was a good sign.
We woke relatively early and had the car packed before 8. Now that we've camped several days in a row, we've got the set-up/tear-down process pretty dialed. We drove through absolutely gorgeous farm country to get to West Glacier, where we began our trip through Glacier National Park. I'll admit it. I did not do any research before this trip. I often would rather go into a vacation blind than to have preconceived ideas and to-dos. As we began our trip into the park, both Taylor and I agreed it looked a lot like Oregon. It was beautiful, naturally, but those first few miles didn't really inspire awe. We passed through the historic McDonald Hotel, stopped for a few photos, and then began our journey on the Going to the Sun Road.
And that's when we realized the multitude of reasons why this place is a national park, famed and loved by countless people from across the world. I've never driven through the Swiss Alps, but once we got through the park and to the Swiss-inspired Many Lakes Hotel, I realized my slight inclination--that these mountains were something remotely like the Alps--was in fact true. We'd been camping for days, and I wasn't ready to cave yet, but we took the fact that there were just three rooms left for the night as a sign that maybe we should stay.
At this point in the trip, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tired of boxed and canned campfire dinners and the work that goes into making those. My mouth had been watering for ice cream, and we both wanted to sink our teeth into elk or bison burgers. When in Glacier, right?
After settling into our pseudo-room--think: FULL bed (not queen), water closet, and sink in-room--we decided to check-in for the boat tour of lakes Josephine and Grinnell. I must rewind a moment to mention that we likely wouldn't have even driven over to the Many Glacier region of Glacier Park if it weren't for the suggestion of a stranger we encountered at one of the lookout points on our drive across the park. As soon as he said he was from Austin and Marfa, Texas, with a summer home up at Flathead, well, we knew we could trust his advice. After the boat tour and mini-hike, in which we encountered several couples who had literally just seen a grizzly bear (they proved it with their photos), we headed back to the hotel and Taylor tried his hand at fishing in Lake Grinnell. No such luck, so we settled for dinner in the Swiss Lounge. We split an elk sloppy Joe and a bison burger, along with a local IPA for each.
Some of my favorite moments on this trip have not been captured on camera, like the breath-taking lakeside sunset we witnessed tonight. We decided in that moment that the room rate was well worth it. Sitting in rickety Adirondack chairs, beers in hand, watching the clouds change colors from pink to gray over the enormous mountains in front of us. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this, but the sun does not go down until well past 10:30 in Montana. Perhaps it's God's gift to the people who brave such tough winters, only to make it to the seemingly everlasting summer, which might almost make them forget about the snow.
Almost.
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