Wild Wild West

On our hike at Glacier National Forest. Some of the largest trees I have ever seen!

Two more nights to go and we will be at the official end of our western journey. We are still here in Polson, Montana, enjoying the beautiful weather and resort like accommodations. Unfortunately, a lot of Glacier National Park sight seeing will not be happening on this trip. Yesterday morning we got up, packed up our cooler and were on the road by 11 (way too late) to make the 90 minute drive over to Glacier. One bathroom stop at a burger joint only 30 minutes in, turned into a ‘we might as well eat lunch here’ stop and 2.5 hours later, we made it to Glacier. We had identified a .08 mile hike (the newly discovered exact amount that works for the kids) that was near the western entrance of the park and would allow us to see some of the pretty water we have read so much about. After finally finding a parking spot, we got out, hit the bathrooms again and set off for the hike.

It’s been so interesting to see how different all of these parks are from one another. I don’t know exactly what I expected, or if I had even put much thought into what they would be like, but I have definitely been surprised by how unique each one is. Glacier has the most dense forest we have seen yet (looks ripe for bears to me of course) and just when I thought I couldn’t find clearer water, there it is, running all throughout the park. The streams are beautiful and are only made more so by the blue, green and pink/rose colored stones that lie beneath that really make the streams look like you are in the Caribbean. We hopped off the trail and spent some time skipping rocks (or throwing in Luke and Jude’s case), sticking our hands in the water and breathing in what sure feels like some of the freshest air ever.

With the realization that it is just going to be too hard on the kids to drive over to Glacier again while we are here, we decided to drive up the mountain and see a little more before heading home. We were in the Tahoe and normally I am sitting in the 3rd row with my mother in law (she refuses to sit up front – we try!) and Luke. Macy gets car sick so she has to be closer to the front so she and Jude are each in a captain’s seat and Shawn and his dad are up front. Shawn always feels guilty about us being in the back back, so he insisted I sit in the front seat and let his dad drive while we toured around. I am not sure if this was a good idea or bad idea. It likely didn’t matter where I was sitting, as this was definitely an intimidating drive. The road was two lanes, two tiny, winding, little lanes. On one side you had the mountain, and on the other side, you had, well, you had death. No railing. Just some rocks to line the side of the road. I was not alone in my fear here people. My husband and his mother must have told his poor father to ‘keep his eyes on the road’ 47 times. He wasn’t allowed to look around and enjoy an ounce of nature. He could look at our pictures. I basically had a death grip on the bar on the dash in front me, even though my hands were so sweaty they were slipping off. Even my feet were sweating. And my feet don’t sweat. I am not exaggerating when I say that we had to put in our side view mirrors because when we passed another SUV, we almost knocked each other. So yes. Tiny. Little. Roads. We found an overlook to turn around in (I had to close my eyes) as we had all seen enough and headed back down the mountain. The sites were beautiful, the mountain peaks full of snow, and the richest, greenest forest that just went on for as far as the eye could see. Oh and on our way out of the park, we saw some cars pulled over and sure enough, right outside of our car, was a black bear. Another animal sighting to mark off the list!

By the time we made it back to Polson, it was almost 8pm. The kids were absolute angels for being out and about for so long and with no nap for Jude, and were exhausted by the time we ate (yummy take out Thai food – crazy good!), showered everyone (Gosh I miss my tub) and got them to bed around 10pm. Needless to say, today we have been taking it easy. No one cracked an eye until almost 9am, Shawn and I both got in great runs, and I have had a completely quiet afternoon while both boys nap and Macy hangs out with Mamaw. Shawn and his dad are even sneaking in 9 holes down the street. Feels like vacation. Tomorrow we have a boat rental all lined up to explore Flatwood Lake. This would be one of the things I will tell my mom AFTER we do it. So if you see her, you are sworn to secrecy.

We have decided to take the northern route home and explore South Dakota, Idaho, Illinois and Ohio along the way. I am hoping to make a stop in my homestate of NJ (aka ‘The Motherland’ as my good friend Michael Chambers likes to say) and visit some family before pulling back into RIC.

Happy Tuesday evening y’all!

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