Thursday, June 13, we headed northwest from Helena towards Glacier National Park. There was nots of construction, gravel roads, “follow me” pilot trucks leading single file traffic, very slowly,
But we eventually arrived at the outskirts of the East side of Glacier, at the town of St. Mary. The mountains are spectacular. Much more sharpley jagged than, say, the Grand Tetons…
We settled into the KOA in St. Mary…
We were happy to slide out the slide out, and settle in for our four day stay.
Sun sets at around 9:30 here – very odd. We haven’t seen darkness in several days…
So we had a nice dinner and relaxed a bit…
On Friday, June 14, we entered the park… We stopped at the Visitors’ Center and got oriented. We watched a film about the park, and we heard an interesting talk from a ranger about Bears. There are Grizzly Bears and Black Bears in Glacier. California only has Black Bears, which are not nearly as dangerous as Grizzlies. (California Golden Bears are a totally differently altogether. Go Bears!) We are unlikely to see any bears unless we are hiking into the back country, which we’re not…
The famous road that everyone loves to drive from East Glacier to West Glacier (and vice versa) is called Going-To-The-Sun Road. However, since the park has only been open less than two weeks (and there was five feet of snow on the ground when it opened…) the road is impassable after about 14 miles. But we drove it to the end and turned around…
Here is the iconic photo that everyone puts on their maps and brochures:
This is Lake St. Mary…
We stopped for lunch along the way…
After driving all day we needed a nice dinner. A few miles north of St. Mary is the village of Many Glacier. There is another big lake, and, best of all, a 1920s era “National Park Lodge” I love these buildings. We saw them at Grand Canyon (North Rim), and at Yellowstone, and at Yosemite… This one is right on the lake and is quite spectacular…
I took a short nap out on the deck. (Very short – it is about 39 degrees here…
Inside the lodge are these great tall spaces!
And giant fireplaces…
We had a lovely dinner with cocktails and wine…
And we returned to the Villa…
On Saturday the 15th we went on a boat tour of Upper St. Mary Lake…
Our boat was operated by two young ladies; the Captain let us know it was her first time as Captain on one of these boats.
Happily, the boats are enclosed, because it is VERY COLD!
Another iconic photo taken at the north end of the lake…
We docked and after a short walk we were treated to a very loud waterfall.
Back on the boat we saw many fantastic mountains…
And we returned to the Villa.
Sunday, June 16, was a rest day. We (Lynda) did laundry. I dumped tanks, pulled in the slide-out, and pulled our passports out of the safe. Tomorrow we enter Canada!
And an enjoyable time was had by all…
Adventures in the Villa 