Days 10-12: Glacier National Park

On Saturday, we planned to stop by a Grizzly Festival. However, as we drove through the little town of Dupuyer, we realized this was pretty much a locals-only type of event. So, we kept on the road. We arrived at Many Glacier Lodge early in the afternoon. It was a Swedish lodge which was breathtaking. We didn't do too much that day because Jeremy was feeling a little sick. We hung around the Lodge and read. That evening we tried huckleberry icecream. It was delicious! We also attended a ranger talk about the birds of Glacier Natl Park.

Sunday morning we attended a church service hosted by Lodge employees. After the service, we hiked 12 miles roundtrip to one of the few remaining glaciers, Grinell Glacier (see picture below). The hike was beautiful; on the ascent, we saw a moose wading in a pond far below us. We saw bighorn sheep near the glacier itself. The park doesn't expect any of the glaciers to exist after 2030. Next year the park will celebrate its centennial anniversary as a park. After our hike we drove to Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. It was also a very nice stay. We tried huckleberry pie that evening. It is sort of a mix between blueberry and cherry. Delicious...

Monday we left the hotel and set out for the Road-to-the Sun; it is a very scenic drive through the Park. On our way to hook up with the scenic road, we saw a few wild horses slowly making there way down the middle of the highway (see picture below). Once we got the scenic road, we stopped and did a short hike near the Continental Divide. On that hike, we saw mountain goats (see picture below) as well as more bighorn sheep. We drove to Lake McDonald Lodge. We rented a rowboat for an hour and set out on Lake McDonald. This was one activity that Marissa was very much looking forward to. We drove over to Apgar Village in search of a particular souvenir shirt that Jeremy had passed by a couple days prior. Thank goodness they had what he was looking for. That evening the Lodge's ranger talk was about artists that have been at GNP as well as their art.

Next up Coeur d'Alene, ID and Spokane, WA.