Thank You, Theodore Roosevelt: Days Eight, Nine and Ten

 Day Eight: Driving Across Montana

We drove from West Yellowstone up to Columbia Falls, Montana, just outside Glacier National Park.  We both were impressed with what a beautiful state Montana is--remote and rural for the most part, mountains, plains, valleys, lakes, creeks.  I had thought I would either read or crochet on the drive but ended up taking in the scenery.  Time well spent.

Once we arrived, we basically took care of creature comforts.  Walked over to a recommended restaurant, had dinner, walked back, went to bed.  Good choices all around.

Day Nine: Problem Solving Not Having a Park Reservation

I'm guessing some time in February I received an email from the National Park Service informing me that Glacier was going to a reservation required for entry through its primary gates, those that lead directly onto the famous Going to the Sun Road.

I ignored said email for a couple reasons. a) In February, we were pretty much occupied with the aftermath of Dan having been hit by a car (https://cookingthenytimes.blogspot.com/2022/03/can-you-come-get-dog.html) and 2. it was February and I was more concerned about sitting on the beach than a trip scheduled for mid-August.  

Come May, we're watching CBS Sunday morning and son of a gun, there's a feature about needing a reservation to get into Glacier National Park.  That was enough to rouse me from my bed to the computer to see if this would impact our trip.  And, yes it would.  Had I read the email, I would have gone online to make a park reservation for the two days we planned to be in Glacier.  Now reservations were closed.

Ratz.

I checked with The Google, utilized a number of websites, and came up with what I hoped would be the solution.  b) I booked us a tour on the quintessential Red Bus which travel on the Going to the Sun road and also would allow us entry into the park. 1. There is entry into the park to the Two Medicine area without a prior reservation.  This part of the park is not accessible by the Going to the Sun Road BUT if you so desired, after 4:00, you could get onto Going to the Sun Road through the St. Mary entrance which is north of the Two Medicine area.  NB: nothing is particularly close and roads in the National Parks are almost exclusively two lanes with speed limits that seldom exceed 45 mph, a good thing as the roads are winding and one must always be on the lookout for wildlife, so when I say north of Two Medicine, I mean about two hours driving north.  We decided that sounded like a great way to spend Day 9, so shortly after breakfast we set out for the Two Medicine entrance.

One thing we learned on this trip is that when traffic suddenly stops--and you haven't seen Road Construction Ahead signs--it probably means people are gawking at wildlife.  Sure enough, one car was stopped dead in the road because this guy was busy along the side of the road.

Bear!

And as soon as we pulled into the parking lot, this guy greeted us

Bighorn sheep!

Like every other place we've been, it was beautiful.  We chose the Aster Point hike, an approximately 3 mile hike with an elevation gain of almost 400 feet.

Dipping my toes into Two Medicine Lake.

When we can, we like to leave stone monuments to those who have gone before and continue to shower us with their love and care.  The top of the Aster Park trail was a great place to do this.  

When we finished the hike, we decided to drive up to St. Mary and traverse the Going to the Sun Road from the east to the west side of the Park.  This was an adventure!  As previously noted, Park roads are two laned and many are under construction, leading to a particularly perilous drive.  Going to the Sun Road is, in and of itself, a testament to engineering which led to somewhat treacherous driving.  And let's add to that, I did in in the downpouring rain.  An accomplishment for the old ages.

Water pouring off the rocks onto the roadway on the Going to the Sun Road.  I saw a guy pull over, then stand under the waterfall.  I'll admit, I was tempted.

Back to Columbia Falls, where we enjoyed dinner at a farm to table restaurant and made plans for the final day of our trip.

Day Ten: The Necessity of the Impulse Buy

According to the Montana Today weather forecaster, our final day in Glacier Park was predicted to be similar to the previous--chance of showers, high in the high '70s, low '80s.  We knew it would be cooler at the higher elevations of the Going to the Sun Road, so we layered up.

The Red Bus has quite a history (click on link).  The top of the bus is open, which is great if it's a bright, sunshiny day but not so good when the weather is cloudy and cool.  At this, our first stop, I checked out the gift shop to see if I might purchase some sort of blanket and indeed, made an impulse buy of a throw.  It helped, but the ride was a bit miserable due to the weather.  And on a 

Flip Flop Friday to boot!

Here we are, standing on the Continental Divide at Logan's Pass.  Glacier gets so much snow this road going east to west across the park often doesn't open until mid-June.  This year it was after the 4th of July!

We headed down to Bozeman for our flight home.  Yes, there are flights out of Kalispell, definitely closer, but we flew out of Bozeman, which provided another opportunity to view the great state of Montana up close and personal.  Remember, not all who wander are lost.

Many, many times on this adventure we reflected on our good fortune.  To have this incredible National Parks system to visit.  That we're healthy enough in our early 70s to move up and down the trails of the Parks.  That we possess the resources that make the trip possible.  That we enjoy each other's company after 49 years enough that we want to keep traveling again...and again...and again.

Thanks for coming along!