It was a nice easy drive up Hwy 93 to get here from Missoula, but we couldn't help but notice the dozens and dozens of crosses by the road. I commented on the high number, because the road really isn't complicated--no tight turns or poor sight areas--and Mark pointed out a billboard that explained that Montana has the "highest rate of deaths from drunk driving in the country." I can really believe it, seeing so many crosses. Here is just one; they're everywhere:
For lunch we stopped at a little state park along Flat Head Lake. It was a really pretty spot, and would have made a nice camping place if it weren't such a long drive from Glacier NP. Here are a couple pics of us and that spot on the lake:
Katie put her floaties on various animals on the drive. Here they are protecting Monkey, in case he decides to go swimming:
Well, we arrived around 3pm at one of the many campgrounds just outside Glacier National Park. We decided to check out this one, which is only $25 a night, before looking at the KOA, which is over $40. This one was so nice we decided to look no further. We can go without sewer and wi-fi for a couple nights. Here is the view down our street. It's as nice as many state parks we've stayed in:
This is as far north as we have been on this trip (not including our earlier trip up the West Coast). Fall is in swing up here--we're seeing lots of aspen trees with yellow leaves, and the weather is nice and cool, especially at night. It's partly cloudy today and supposed to be the same tomorrow, which would be great. They say that if it's raining here in West Glacier (at the entrance to the park), it'll be snowing on the road through the park.
Tonight, after dinner, we're gonna go listen to a ranger talk in the park about the glaciers; tomorrow we'll drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park.
Tuesday, September 20
Today is our last sight-seeing day before we head for Portland tomorrow. It's also the last day of summer, and around here, the aspen are turning yellow and starting to drop their leaves, like they were doing in Zion, last November when we started our trip. We're seeing our last national park and it feels right, to be back in fall again.
I shot the following picture as we left our campground this morning. Just across the street is this strange, enormous eagle sculpture:
There is no sign indicating what it's for, but I don't want to piss it off.
We drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road today, and it is one of the prettiest drives we've done on the trip. You wind up and over the continental divide at Logan Pass, and although you never reach 7,000 feet, it really feels like you are much much higher, because it is cold, very very windy, and the peaks seem so rocky and alp-like. Here are a few pictures of our drive. First, the approach toward the big peaks:
There is a nice old rock wall alongside the winding road, but in many places, rockslides and boulders have taken it out. Here are a couple of workmen standing on one such spot:
There were many vistas too big to shoot with our little camera, so I took a couple of panoramic shots; here is one:
Back around 1920, someone had a couple buses built for tourists to ride in, in luxury, when they came to see the mountains here (and the glaciers--back then they were much bigger). By 1930, there were so many visitors that they had a few dozen more buses built, special ones with a canvas top that can be rolled back. In 1999, Ford referbished 30 of the remaining buses, as they were falling apart. Now they are really beautiful; here is one of them:
He was parked across from this view:
Here is one of the lodges in the park. Boy that must be a great view to wake up to:
The glaciers have receded a lot since the first photos of the park in the late 1880s, so now they don't look like much from afar, but they were once covering all of Montana, and carved out the pretty u-shaped valleys that are so breathtaking today. After driving around, we stopped at McDonald Lodge for dinner. It is along McDonald Lake:
Here is Katie playing by the water before dinner:
Here's a view of the inside of the lodge:
Here she is by the big fireplace in the lodge:
And here is Katie, waiting for her dinner.
She ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, but ate none of it; she did like my trout, though, which was quite yummy. Mark got the meatloaf, which contained bison meat, and we split our dinners with each other. It was a nice meal to end our trip.
Of course, technically, the trip hasn't ended. We still have to drive to Portland, which will take two days, and even then, we have to find a place to live, drive the RV down to Sacramento, then we're traveling to Bishop and Sonora and then back up to Sacramento and then to Portland. But from here out, the adventure is different. It's not about seeing the country anymore; it's about starting our next journey, which will be trying out Portland.
I'll keep writing this web journal, at least until we get settled in, in Portland. I hope you keep visiting, as it keeps me writing, and without our readers, I never would have kept up with this, the longest diary I've ever kept, and our favorite souvenier from the trip. It felt like we brought you with us sometimes, since so many of you kept up with us with your emails. So often this year, we'd be chatting as we drove, about what you have written us, and it kept us feeling close to everyone, even when we were far away.
For those of you who may be done following along with us, thank you for coming along on this journey. Thanks for the emails and the packages you sent. Thanks for wishing us well and telling us we could do it. You made a difference for us, and I hope we'll be able to return the favor.
Tomorrow we leave, bound for Portland. We might stop in Spokane; we might make it further. We'll update the site to show how far we made it, as soon as we can.