Here’s the travel journal from my trip to Glacier National Park:
(All times in Mountain Time)
08/05/10, 10:03 A.M.
We’re on the road! That’s going to be quite a common theme on this trip to Glacier. We’re going to be driving something like 1,800 miles round-trip. Not fun. So hopefully Glacier National Park is awesome. It sure looks awesome in photos. Well, that’s about all for now.
08/05/10, 1:12 P.M.
We’re in Montana! Yes! Well, since the last update, we’ve eaten lunch at Bonanza. The knoephla soup was awesome! Other than that, Rique has been driving, and we’ve been listening to Skillet and Red. That’s about it.
08/05/10, 4:33 P.M.
Though Montana interstate is much less boring than North Dakota interstate, I still don’t have much to say. I drove from Wibaux to Miles City, which helped break up the monotony. Tonight is when the excitement begins. We’re going to eat at Del Taco in Billings and go to a baseball game. Should be fun. Until then!
08/06/10, 11:27 A.M.
Now to bring you up to speed. We checked in at the Comfort Inn last night and then went to Del Taco for supper. It is so cheap there! Regular crispy tacos were 49 cents each, and chicken soft tacos were 3 for $2.39 (I think). I had two crispy tacos and one chicken soft taco. They were muy delicioso, but I was still hungry afterward. But no biggie, I had to eat something at the ballpark of course. That brings me to the baseball game. The hot dog was good, our seats were good (by home plate), and Dehler Park (the ballpark) was pretty sweet. The game, however, wasn’t as good. The Billings Mustangs had a bad night, getting only one hit and making some dumb errors to allow hits and runs. The game was still fun, though. It’s too bad we don’t have a minor league team back home. Oh, I almost forgot the score; the Mustangs lost to the Helena Brewers 5-0. Now on to today. I don’t really have much to say. Right now we’re on the way to Bozeman where I assume we’ll eat lunch and maybe check out the Museum of the Rockies. Later!
08/06/10, 5:11 P.M.
Well, today has been exciting so far but not in a good way. For lunch Rique got his way, and we went to Taco Bell. I’m just not a big fan, but my chicken burrito and mini quesadilla were good. Then, sometime on the way to Butte, the antilock brake system light went on. Since a brake problem in the mountains would not be good, we stopped in Butte to have it checked; however, we couldn’t get in until Monday, so that wouldn’t do. So Dad decided to take a look, and nothing looked wrong. Also the light had gone off, so we decided to continue on. I took over driving, and everything was all fine-and-dandy until we ran into a storm. It was déjà vu from the terrible ordeal I endured earlier this week, as it was hailing, and I could not see a thing. When I could bear it no longer, I took the next exit, which was at Deer Lodge, Montana. Luckily for us they had a McDonalds! So I got a hot fudge sundae, and I had a chance to use Wi-Fi. Hooray! Now Dad is driving, and after letting up for a bit, the weather stinks again. Hopefully we’ll make it to Kalispell in time for supper. I just realized that I forgot to mention that we didn’t go to the museum. What a bummer. I wanted to go, but I didn’t think there was enough time. So that’s my exciting day; hopefully tomorrow is better.
08/07/10, 10:01 P.M.
The rest of the day yesterday was much better. We decided to take the highway through the Flathead Indian Reservation up to Kalispell, which was a smart idea. The speed limit was 70, and the scenery was awesome. For a large portion of the route, we saw either mountains or Flathead Lake. The lake was pretty epic. I’d love to spend a week (or a summer!) there. Soon after passing the lake, we arrived in Kalispell—with plenty of time to spare, so we were able to eat supper at HuHot. That, of course, was very yummy. And that was about it for the night. Now we’re on our way from Kalispell to West Glacier. More and more mountains are coming into view. Yay!
08/08/10, 12:51 P.M.
Hopefully I can recall everything about yesterday; I’ll do my best. When we entered Glacier National Park, we stopped at Apgar. Throughout the area all sorts of places were advertising huckleberry shakes, and I wanted one, so I got one at Eddie’s in Apgar. It was good, but it cost five dollars. We also found the area where the NPS webcam is, and we called Mom to tell her to open it at home, so she could see us. After Apgar we made a couple stops on the shore of Lake McDonald to eat lunch, wade in the water, and walk along the shore. Next we stopped at Lake McDonald Lodge and went inside to check it out. As we were leaving the building, we saw that the next boat cruise was at 1:30. It was 1:28, so we hurried to buy our tickets and boarded the boat in time. Since we were basically the last ones on, we had to sit below, but after a while, we went up on deck to stand, and that was much nicer. It’s too bad we weren’t up there the whole time. The boat cruise was still cool, though. We spent just the right amount of time at Lake McDonald that by the time we got to the Trail of the Cedars, there were parking spots available. The trail was pretty nice, though not the sweetest thing ever. Then it was time to start rising in elevation on the way to Logan Pass. Along the way we saw Weeping Wall, the Garden Wall, and high mountains, among other epic things. At Logan Pass we hiked the Hidden Lake Nature Trail, though not all the way. Dad, of course, wouldn’t let us because after a while there weren’t a lot of people, and there could’ve been bears. I’m surprised he let us go as far as we did, but I was disappointed because we had to have been almost to Hidden Lake. The scenery we did see, however, was pretty epic. Once we made it back down to lower elevation, we started to hike the trail to St. Mary Falls, but after 0.3 miles we turned around because oh no!—there could have been bears. I understand the danger, but come on, it’s a little ridiculous. Next stop was Sunrift Gorge and the trailhead to Baring Falls. The boys wanted to hike it, but I refused because I didn’t want to go through the same lame act of turning around. Then we drove the remainder of Going-to-the-Sun Road, making a few stops to snap photos of St. Mary Lake. And that was it for Glacier for the day. We drove down to East Glacier Park where our hotel (Glacier Park Lodge) was. It was a pretty sweet hotel, but it was a bit of a pain last night, as we couldn’t find our room, we couldn’t park close to our room, and there wasn’t much outdoor lighting. But we eventually got settled in and went to bed. I’ll recount today’s experiences later. This road is making me sick, so I want to close my eyes.
08/09/10, 11:14 A.M.
Now for recounting yesterday’s experiences. After getting ready in the morning, I hung out on the balcony outside our hotel room. That was pretty cool—as was the entire hotel actually. I’d love to stay there again some time. After checking out of the hotel, we headed to Two Medicine in Glacier National Park. We stopped at the Running Eagle Falls Nature Trail. It was pretty sweet, but it’s probably nicer earlier in the year, as the upper falls stop flowing later in the summer. Rique and I found a way to climb onto the rocks above the waterfall. It was a long and kind of challenging path up, but it was still worth it. After leaving the trail, we drove on to Two Medicine, and it started raining. We decided to go into the general store to buy more bread for sandwiches, and they had hot dogs! Dad is a cheapo, so we only had sandwiches the previous day—no hot food at a restaurant. So of course I had to get one. I also bought a piece of huckleberry and chocolate taffy. Yum yum! It was pouring pretty hard when we finished eating, so Rique and I ran to the lake with our umbrellas to snap a few quick photos. It’s too bad the weather was icky because that area looked pretty nice in photos I had seen. After leaving Two Medicine we drove back up the highway that made me sick to Many Glacier. On the road to Many Glacier there was a nice lake and a sweet waterfall. And get this, some dudes were jumping off a cliff and into the water close to the waterfall. It looked like tons of fun, but I would’ve never done it. I was cold on land with pants and my NDSU sweatshirt; they had on just swim trunks… brr! Next we checked out Many Glacier Hotel, the largest hotel in Glacier. It was pretty nice, and I would like to stay there sometime. Then we left Many Glacier and headed up to Waterton Lakes National Park in Alberta, Canada. We decided to check out Red Rock Canyon first, but after driving a while on Red Rock Parkway, we found out that it is closed due to construction, so we turned around. We decided then to go to Cameron Lake on the Akamina Parkway. It was a nice lake with a nice mountain backdrop. We didn’t spend a whole lot of time there, though, because the weather still wasn’t the greatest. Next we went back to the Waterton town site to check out Cameron Falls. Again it was a neat waterfall, but really, what waterfall isn’t neat? We drove over to the marina next to take some photos of Waterton Lake and our hotel that night—the Prince of Wales Hotel. We just missed the departure of the cruise boat, but I doubt Dad would’ve let us take a ride on it because it was expensive. We were getting hungry, so we went looking for a fast food place. There was one, but it was a Subway, and all I had really eaten in two days was sandwiches, so I didn’t want that. I was able to talk Dad into sharing a chicken, green pepper, and mushroom pizza with me from some place called something like the Pizza of Waterton. It wasn’t the greatest pizza ever, but it was nice to eat something hot and something other than sandwiches. After eating we went to check in at the Prince of Wales, but I would’ve liked to check out the town; it’s too bad Mom isn’t with because she would’ve walked the town with me. But anyway, back to the hotel. It was pretty epic just like Glacier Park Lodge. The view of the mountains and lake from the hotel was awe-inspiring, the hotel looked awesome on the outside, and the rooms were pretty nice for being old. After checking in and using the bellman’s help to get our things to our room, we hung out in the lobby. Oh, yeah, about the bellmen… they wore kilts! It was pretty funny, as that’s not really an everyday sight. Well, that’s about it for yesterday, so I’ll fill you in on today so far after I eat a snack.
08/09/10, 1:02 P.M.
Today hasn’t been all that exciting, but really what can you expect from nine hours of driving from Waterton, Alberta to Regina, Saskatchewan? We checked out of our hotel and took some more photos. I didn’t want to leave because the view was so beautiful. In fact, as we drove away from Waterton, I watched the mountains fade away behind me because I wanted to see them as long as possible. We stopped for gas in Cardston and tourist information in Lethbridge, and now we’re on our way to Medicine Hat to eat lunch. Canadian highway is boring just like North Dakota highway. I want I-94 and I-90 in Montana back!
08/09/10, 7:44 P.M.
I don’t have much to write about, but I guess I should write before we arrive in Regina. We ate lunch at McDonald’s in Medicine Hat because we thought they would have Wi-Fi. Side note: we haven’t had Wi-Fi since the morning of August 7. Considering how often I use the Internet, that’s not fun. But anyway, back to McDonald’s. I had two Big Mac Snack Wraps and some fries. And wow, I just realized that I went out of order; we stopped at the world’s largest teepee before going to McDonald’s. At Medicine Hat I took over driving, and I drove until Gull Lake, Saskatchewan where we filled gas. Our next stop was in Moose Jaw where we saw Mac the Moose, the largest moose in the world. Awesome tourist attractions, right? And now we’re almost to Regina. Adios!
08/10/10, 2:25 P.M.
Okay, update time! Since our GPS doesn’t work in Canada, we had to drive around and look for a place to eat supper on our own last night. None of the places we passed sounded good (except A&W, and Rique did not want that), so I settled on KFC. I had a famous bowl—oh wait, in Canada it’s a chicken bowl. Then this morning we went to the Saskatchewan Science Centre. It was neat, but it would’ve been better if some exhibits weren’t out-of-order and if there weren’t so many little kids running around. Afterwards we stopped at Wendy’s for lunch. I had a five-piece chicken nuggets and a Caesar side salad. Now we’re on our way back home. It’s another long drive, so we’ll get back late. Yay… not!
08/10/10, 4:08 P.M.
Dude, I miss A&W so much back home. I got a root beer float from A&W in Weyburn, and it was so good. But now nature is calling. We’re almost in Estevan, though, and that means we’re almost back in the U.S.
08/10/10, 8:05 P.M.
Well, two main things have happened since last update. We crossed the U.S. border and ate supper at Taco Bell. I do not like Taco Bell very much, but I was the one who chose it because I wanted to try the new cantina tacos. I had a chicken one and a carnitas (pork) one. They were a little small, but—I can’t believe I’m saying this—delicious. In a few minutes I will write my concluding thoughts about the vacation.
08/10/10, 8:14 P.M.
All right, concluding thoughts. I should’ve written them before it started getting dark, but it’s too late now. I wrote in my Black Hills journal earlier this summer that I wanted to live in South Dakota, but I think I may have changed my mind—or at least found another possibility. Montana is awesome! There are several places I would love to live: Billings, Bozeman, Flathead Lake, Glacier, and some places I have been in the past like Red Lodge and West Yellowstone. But as the vacation was centered on Glacier National Park, I will focus my thoughts on that. I would definitely love to return some day, and there are two main things that I want to do. I would love to canoe on one of the lakes and to hike a longer trail—maybe to one of the backcountry chalets. That would be so epic. The only thing is that even though I am not paranoid like my dad, I would probably be afraid of bears. But honestly, I have no reason to fear death because of my Savior Jesus Christ. Still, encountering a bear doesn’t sound like a whole lot of fun. Maybe I’ll just hang out on the balcony of one of Glacier and Waterton’s historic lodges and admire God’s creation. It would be nice to just relax and let go of my worries while taking in the breathtaking scenery. I really want to turn around and go back to Glacier, but unfortunately I can’t. But now I am nearing a new chapter of my life as I head to NDSU for college. I am so stoked but nervous too. Glacier was a perfect final family (well, minus Mom) vacation before college, and maybe like Yellowstone and the Black Hills, it’ll be a place I take my own family one day. I’ll have one last entry later.
08/10/10, 9:29 P.M.
We’re back home! No!
I’m so excited! Freedom, fellowship, and fun! Oh yeah, and studying…
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