September 1-3, 2014 Leaving Montana and Heading West.

Monday, September 1st

Today was our last day in Glacier National Park.  We have really enjoyed ourselves here, especially being in the forest.  We just hung out doing odds and ends.

Our final campfire:

The logs around the outside are drying out from all the rain we had.  They did eventually and by evening we had a wonderful fire.

Tuesday, September 2nd

Our treat as we left the park:

We headed south to Kalispell and the rest of our day was busy, busy, busy.  Our first stop was Wal-Mart, where we unhooked the car. I went into the store to stock up (since there is no sales tax in Montana) and Andy did his errands (Lowes for some parts and another stop for propane).  From there, Andy took the motorhome to the Elks, while I went to the bank.

Once we settled into the Elks (nice campground with water and electric), I took off to do the laundry while Andy did a few repairs and made a few phone calls.  By the time, we were all done and everything put away, it was 4:30 and we were pooped!  We made a stop in the Lodge to register and we were hoping that they were serving meals but only on Thursdays and Fridays.  So we did a quick run for a pizza and settled in for the night.

We got a weather alert too – Winter advisory in Glacier Area – cold and possible snow at the higher elevations.  Oh My!

Tomorrow we continue our journey west.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 36 miles

Routes Traveled:

Montana: Going to the Sun Road, US-2, Reserve Street; US-93; US-2

Wednesday, September 3rd

Today we continued our journey west.  Just as we started to hook up the car, the rain started and continued most of our trip. We traveled through national forests, past lakes, rivers, fields and farms – I am so much in love with  this part of the country.  For me, western Montana is a really close second to Alaska.  If I never get back to Alaska, spending more summers in western Montana would be just fine –

Some pictures along the way:

Sun, maybe:

No – :

Cool looking barns:

Libby, Montana had these interesting eagle sculptures throughout the town:

And vehicles on pedestals:

We followed the Kootenai River to the Falls:

And into Idaho:

Still following the Kootenai:

Not sure if this was a restaurant or a hotel or ?? but it did look interesting:

We made it to the Elks in Coeur D’Alene, Idaho where we are staying for one night – it is a very nice Elks campground with water and electric.

We set up, did a few things and then went into the lodge to meet up with Judy and Luke and Diane and Bill where we had a great time chatting.  We have known Judy and Luke for a few years and just met Diane and Bill. 

From there we headed to Texas Road House for a great meal.  L-R: Judy, me, Diane, Bill, Andy, Luke:

Thank you Judy for the photo – .

After our great meal and saying our “see you laters” to Judy and Luke, we headed back and the remaining four of us had a nice time getting to know each other back at our home.  Hopefully all our paths will cross again soon.

Tomorrow we head further west so stay tuned and enjoy today.

Stats for today:

Miles Traveled: 215 Miles

Routes Traveled:

Montana: 18th Street; US-93; US-2

Idaho: US-2; US-95; Prairie Avenue

August 30–31, 2014 Going to the Sun Road

Saturday, August 30th

We just did some odds and ends today and hung out until the afternoon when we made a short trip to Kalispell for parts.  While there, we also checked out the Elks Lodge where we plan to stay on Tuesday.

Back home, we enjoyed another great campfire.

Sunday, August 31st

This morning we decided to take a slow ride up to Logan’s Pass on the Going to the Sun Road and maybe even take the hike to Hidden Lake.  So we packed a lunch and off we went.

It was beautiful when we started on the road.  This is Lake McDonald:

The McDonald River with its falls:

Oh No!:

One of the bridges across the river to more hiking trails:

From the river valley, we started up the mountains – check out those clouds:

Can you imagine what it took to build this road – Impressive:

We got to Logan Pass and the parking lot was full.  I dropped Andy off at the bathroom and drove around, then he dropped me off and drove around – Yikees!  We then headed to Lunch Creek area where we had lunch – .  This was our view of Logan’s Pass – it was fogged in, and rainy and very cold soooo we decided not to take the hike (another time when it is sunny.):

After lunch, we made our way back slowly – and it rained most of the way down. The clouds just rolled down the mountains:

But we do have videos of the road – Enjoy:

Road 1

Road 2

Road 3

Road 4

Road 5

Going to the Sun Road - Coming Back

We finished the evening dodging the rain – boy did it get cold – Brrrr!  The fall has definitely arrived in Glacier.

Enjoy today!

August 29, 2014 Lake McDonald Boat Tour

Today we booked a one hour cruise on Lake McDonald that left from the Lake McDonald Lodge.

Our boat was the DeSmet:

In 1929, Captain Billy Swanson built the tour boat DeSmet for the Great Northern Railroad. She was constructed to carry passengers on Lake McDonald and this lake has remained her home ever since. The DeSmet was named after Father Pierre DeSmet, a prominent Jesuit missionary in the area. This vessel is a 57-foot carvel planked launch with cedar on an oak frame authorized by the U.S. Coast Guard to carry 80 passengers with current Certificate of Inspection.

Andy and I were lucky to get two of the spots on top for the first part of the trip.  The tour took us around the lake and our captain told us about the history of the area, the geology, and local stories.  He was great.

The views were wonderful:

This is the Kelly Homestead – still privately owned by descendants of the Kelly Family.  When Glacier National Park was established 100 years ago, its new boundaries trapped more than 13,000 private acres, staked by homesteaders before the park was a park.  There is currently about 300 acres still privately owned.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a place in this area:

There are two pairs of Bald Eagles around the lake (there are actually 40 pairs in the park).  Both pairs were checking us out.

First pair:

And second pair:

Majestic creatures!

The shoreline is very shallow and part of the water is glacially fed – notice the cool color. 

Since there is only a portion from the glacier, the lake as a whole does not take on that color.

Coming back to the lodge:

When the lodge was first built, there were no roads.  All visitors and supplies came up from Apgar Village by boat.  So this is actually the front of the lodge:

We had a wonderful bison burger at the Lodge lounge and slowly made our way back home.

Mid-afternoon, we took a trip to the grocery store in Columbia Falls – we were all out of vegetables and fruit and they were very expensive in the park.

Our campfire tonight was wonderful!

Enjoy today!