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Wednesday – Shelby MT through Glacier National Park to Kalispell MT

Hello!

It’s my birthday today!  And the best news is that I was able to get my very own “senior” pass good for life to all the National Parks!  Yipee!!  Finally feel like I’ve arrived!!

Heading toward Glacier National Park

To start, up this morning about 5-ish, as we wanted to head down for breakfast when they opened, at 6 a.m.  As it turns out, breakfast was already in full swing before 6!  (It looks like there are many working men  staying at the hotel; don’t know if they are oil or gas, but it certainly brings in business!)  Great hot breakfast!  Eggs, bacon, sausage, breakfast potatoes – as well as really good salsa!  Packed up the endless load yet again, and out by about 6:30 a.m. heading toward Glacier National Park. 

We first passed through Cut Bank, which describes itself as the coldest spot in the nation – apparently they have an official weather recording station…but we loved the penguin!  From there we entered the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, which goes all the way to the National Park; it’s a very large reservation!  It is really amazing how the mountains just gradually begin to appear mistily in the distance, and then suddenly you’re in a stunning conifer forest! 

Turned in to the park at St. Mary, about 8 o’clock (and got my Senior Pass!!) and headed to the visitor center.  The kind folks there told us about the Many Glaciers road, which is about 15 miles north of St. Mary, and said it is probably the most scenic route in the park.  So, headed north and followed the road – very rough road in spots (needs work!) to the end and the Many Glaciers Hotel, located on a beautiful alpine lake; quite lovely!  Took a nice walk around but didn’t see any critters.

Then, back to St. Mary and the Road to the Sun, which is actually the ONLY road that goes completely through the park.  Basically only one word to describe it:  Wow!  Quite stunning, with glimpses of glaciers popping up here and there, accompanied by waterfalls galore!  Because of road construction, it was quite congested – they are not letting campers or trucks longer than 21 feet on the road!  However, we had the misfortune to get behind a construction vehicle (WAY longer than 21 feet!)  going very, very slowly, which brought everything to a complete halt…wasn’t a thing we could do about it, just had to go with the flow.  Stopping as we did enabled us to get some good photographs – unfortunately, it was pretty overcast and drizzly – no stunning blue sky backgrounds!  But rain is needed everywhere!  

Once we were down on the flat again, and as it was lunchtime, we stopped at the Lake McDonald Lodge – an old wooden hotel .  Quite lovely, and the food was great!

We were seated at a lake-side window, which was nice.  We started with baba ghanoush (sp?) and pita chips for starters.  Robert had a very interesting sandwich – fried green tomatoes, goat cheese and grilled red peppers on rye bread, with a salad.  I had their penne pasta with tomatoes and peppers in a creamy pesto sauce – it was delicious!

From Lake McDonald, it was only about an hour to get out of the park and then on to Kalispell, where we are spending the night.  Robert noticed somewhere early on this morning that we seemed to have a front headlight out, so we stopped first at the Toyota dealership here in Kalispell.  Nice man in the service department went in to change it, and apparently the bulb just needed to be tightened, as all is well!  Very nice people here, and Kalispell itself is quite lovely!  I mean, any community that has a Costco can’t be all bad!!

Lovely Best Western at Flathead Lake.  We moved our “stuff” inside, and then Robert took me back into town to “Twisted Treats” a frozen yogurt shop.  They had my very favorite flavor – Red Velvet – so I was very happy!  What a great way to spend a birthday!!  Then back to the hotel and I did laundry.  Yes, that’s right!  Even though we didn’t really need to have laundry done, I just couldn’t resist…great laundry room, and now all our clothes are clean, and I won’t even have to think about it until we’re in Victoria – and our condo has a washer and dryer!!  Yipee!!

We are in for the night now, as we had such a big lunch … not to mention the yogurt.  We do have hummus, pita chips, carrots and peaches, so I don’t suppose we’ll starve!  Looking forward to a nice quiet evening!  Tomorrow on to Seattle!!

Much love,

m

xxx