Glacier National Park

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Greetings to our friends and family from 55 degree and rainy Montana. We understand you are having some warm weather in New England.  Sure wish we had a little bit of that here!

We totally wimped out on camping tonight and are staying another night at a hotel in Whitefish.  Pool, warmth, dry beds, no bears...you get the picture.

We headed out to Glacier this morning and what crowds!  A ranger who spoke to John likened it to "Walmart the day after Thanksgiving."  We opted for the lesser traveled route and headed south on a loop that went in and out of the park.  This photo was taken in Essex--Essex, MT that is!  We had just stopped at Goatlick Overlook and there they all were!  Big and little mountain goats climbing up and down hillsides.  Very cool.

  This route also paralleled a very active freight train route through the mountains.  We saw train after train and counted the cars at over 100 each time.  The kids loved this. Don't you remember doing that as a kid??

We stopped at the tiny town of East Glacier and had a fantastic lunch at a hole in the wall restaurant.  Yum!  Freshly baked bread for the sandwiches, just picked veggies, homemade potato chips and excellent local beer.  Have we mentioned all the microbrews we have been trying? Listen to these: Moose Drool, Old Faithful Ale, Bitch Beer, Troutslayer, and Big Sky IPA.  Fun-huh?

We headed over to Two Medicine Lake where we took a scenic,but foggy boat tour.  We then braved the rain and went on a short hike.  Oh and did I mention we saw the cutest little black bear cub by the roadside? Roadside being key here.

Mexican restaurant for dinner with most excellent sangrias and a little pool time.  We have the blower going in the room and hopefully the kids won't hear any fireworks.  We're off early tomorrow for the Going to the Sun route and our night at the Prince of Wales lodge.  John chose this one and it looks too scenic to be true.  Can't wait! Will let you know...