Our RV Adventures

Today is our last full day in Columbia Falls, and today’s the day we’re doing Glacier National Park. And if you’re not into hiking, biking, or rowing, the main thing to do in Glacier is to make the 50 mile ‘Going to the Sun’ Highway drive.

So after coffee at 9:30 we headed out about noon, first for some errands and then out into the Park.

And after getting gas and dropping off some mail at the Post Office, our first stop was at The Huckleberry Patch in Hungry Horse.

Around since 1949, it’s supposed to the be the best place in the area to get Huckleberry Pie. And after really good sandwiches, we decided ‘they’ were right. The pie was delicious . . .  ala mode, of course.

After lunch we drove the 10 miles to the entrance to the park at West Glacier.

And after getting our National Park Passports stamped at the Visitors Center, we started our drive.

Most of the trip was along the shores of one of the several large lakes in the area.

This is the boat launch area on Lake McDonald at Apgar Village.

More Lake McDonald.

These next shots are of the rapids along McDonald Creek.

What about bears?

More beautiful scenery.

These next two shots are of Heaven’s Peak at almost 8900 feet.

Needless to say, there are glaciers everywhere you look.

We saw a number of these neat old tour buses around the park. Note the ‘natural’ air conditioning.  Also fun when passing by the many waterfalls along the side of the road.

More glaciers.

Coming over the top of Logan Pass, at 6664 feet, the high point of our drive, we came across our first wildlife, these two mountain goats, and

this Big Horn Sheep.

And then of course, more glaciers.

Nearing the end of our 50 mile journey, we passed St. Mary Lake. Very blue.

Leaving the park, and rather than just turn around and come back the same way, we decided to take the long way home by taking US-89 south to MT 49 to US-2. And although it’s the long way back at 100 miles, it’s also a little faster because it’s not bumper to bumper through mountain passes like the Sun Highway.

And we got to see new scenery, like these high rolling plains at almost 5500 feet.

And Lower Two Medicine Lake.

About 45 miles from home, we saw this sign and had to stop. I mean, do they lick us, or do we lick them, like toad licking. Enquiring minds, and all that.

Turns out there was no licking, but we did see a lot of goats.

This guy’s losing his coat. Wonder if he’s cashmere?

Among a lot of others, saw this mother with two kids.

Getting back into Columbia Falls about 8 pm we decided to try The Nite Owl once more, since they should have their Broasted Chicken this time of night. And they did. And it was really good.

Tomorrow we head out for Garrison, MT for one night, and then on to Billings for one night, and then to Cody for 5 nights or more.

And once again, Jan has gone mooseless.

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Thought for the Day:

"Success without honor is an unseasoned dish; it will satisfy your hunger, but it won’t taste good"

sdfg

About getting up this morning about 10:15, and having our coffee and bagels, about 11:30 we Landon-Skyped with Lowell, Brandi, and of course, Landon.

And as usual, Landon was a ball of fire, never still for a minute. In fact Lowell sometimes had problems keeping him in the camera frame.

Lucky for us, we’ll be seeing them in about 3 weeks when we all meet for a family reunion at my sister-in-law Debbie’s in southern Illinois.

We can’t wait!

About 2:30 Jan and I drove over to the Midway Swap Meet that we had passed on the way into Columbia Falls. They didn’t have a lot of booths but it only cost $1 each to get in, so we weren’t disappointed. We did buy some Hot Pepper and Jalapeno Jelly, and some Huckleberry Jelly after trying some samples.

Coming back into town we stopped to get a closer look at a chrome buffalo we had passed before. Turns out it really is chrome. It’s made from pieces of car bumpers and other chrome parts. Some are cut to shape, and some are just pounded into place.

It even has a Chevy emblem on its forehead.

A really neat piece of art work.

We decided to have a late lunch at The Nite Owl again, after supper there last night.

We both wanted some more of their delicious Broasted Chicken, but as it turns out, we were out of luck. They don’t start serving the chicken until 4 pm. Bummer!

But we did make up for it with some really good sandwiches. Jan had her favorite Rueben, and I had a delicious Club Sandwich, both with fries.

After a great meal, and leaving the restaurant, I saw this neat old Chevy parked on the side of the parking lot.

But I really got a start when I looked in the car. For some reason this guy rides around with a large stuffed gorilla in the backseat.

Maybe he uses it to drive in the HOV lanes?

Getting back to the rig, it seemed to be a good time for a nap. And it was.

Our son Chris called about 7 pm to check in and bring us up to date on things with his family.

Then about 8 pm Jan fixed us a light supper of a slice of leftover pizza, and Wheat Thins with cream cheese, and some of the Hot Pepper and Jalapeno Jelly that we bought at the Swap Meet today.

About 10:15 Nick Russell called to check in. He and Terry are in Coeur d’Alene for the night. We talked about when we’ll next meet up, probably in Elkhart.

Tomorrow we’re going to make the 100 mile round trip on the “Going To The Sun” road thru Glacier National Park about 16 miles away.

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Thought For The Day:

The mystery of government is not how Washington works, but how to make it stop.

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