The week vacation that should have been two....

This years highly anticipated vacation was a good one to say the least. The grand plan was to meet up with our friends from Utah and our new friends from Alabama in the rugged out doors of Montana. Our days would be filled with hiking, eating, and some sightseeing, and our only regret was not being able to stay longer.

We began our trip on Wednesday afternoon stopping to visit our friends James and Kerri in St. Paul, who were kind enough to put us up for the night. We stayed up late chatting, which was a nice way to unwind after driving in the car for the evening. We said our good byes and departed in the morning hours only to hit rush hour traffic in Minneapolis. Ah yes I forgot about how bad the traffic could get in the twin cities, but we pushed on. Our first destination of this trip was to the Dakota Zoo in Bismarck, ND. By the time we got there it was about 90 degrees out and very high humidity. Most of the animals were in hiding from the heat of the day. None the less we did spot many critters. One thing that was unique about this park was how close you can get to the animals. It was almost uncomfortable at times when you were only three feet away from a massive male grizzly bear. The pictures don't give a good idea how big this bear was. The kids, ironically, were the most drawn to the badger(go bucky badger!!!) Admittedly though, the two badgers they had were very active when we saw them and very very vocal. Chris and I chuckled at their waddling run while the kids ran beside the cage to keep up with them.



We continued our drive across ND and as evening fell, in the distance we could see this big circular thing with spokes. I thought it may have been a Farris wheel but I could not figure out why there would be one so close to the highway. As we got closer we were able to determine it was a massive sculpture of flying geese. It was pretty neat but we continued on our way with regrets of not being able to get a good picture of it. We wanted to get across the boarder into MT that evening so we pushed on until the morning hours. We stayed at a hotel in Miles City and took off right away in the morning again.

The next day was another really long day of driving and a really long day for the kids. We needed to make it to the chalet in West Glacier by that evening. So we drove as fast as we could get away with. That evening we finally made our destination and got to see the chalet for the first time. My first impression of it was it looked like a doll house or a miniature play house. I had great reservations about how we were going to fit nine of us in it comfortably. To my great surprise, once we got inside, it was wonderful. The floor plan was laid out very well. Chris and I were both so impressed that we were seriously thinking that down the road if we build a house that is what we would like to do. It is the perfect size for solar power and heating. Very very efficient. I digress....



We met up with Dan and Rosie and cute as a button Sara. I was thrilled to see all of them. So two out of the three couples had made it successfully at this point. Unfortunately for Farrah and Keven they had nothing but troubles with their flights, and ended up getting to the chalet pretty late that evening. We all woke up the next morning, ate a wonderful breakfast made by Dan, and set off on our first hike. We took the avalanche trail. This was a beautiful hike. The kids stuck like glue to anyone but us, and although I enjoy the break from the kids, I couldn't help but feel guilty that Dan, Rosie, and Farrah were all rotated through by my kids.

After two miles we walked into the clearing of the lake, and although it is very cliché to say, it was breath taking. We stood in a bowl created by the mountains with multiple waterfalls cascading into the almost surreal clear and blue lake. The pictures we took again can't truly catch the color of the water or the scenery. The kids wanted to play in the freezing water so badly. It was great until the storm clouds came rolling in. We lucked out and only got a little wet. This concluded our first hike. We all drove up to Logan's pass and be still my beating heart we saw big horns. I have been waiting to see big horns in the wild for a really long time so I was thrilled.



The second day at Glacier we decided to do the hidden lake trail. On the way up we saw a moose in the river as we were passing. I wish we could have stopped it would have been a great picture. We got up to the top of the pass where the trail started. This was a beautiful hike basically at the top of the mountain. The wind was very chilly and we were walking through some of the snow fields. We saw a hoary marmoset from a distance, which was a treat. The kids would have loved to have a snow ball fight in the snow fields, but mean Mom and Dad wouldn't let them. As we got to the top of the ridge, we got up close and personal with some mountain goats, which was neat. After taking some pics at the top of the trail we traveled back down and then continued the drive through the park to get some lunch. Glacier National Park has a completely different feel compared to all of the other national parks we have gone to. I think it is how rugged the area really feels. All you see are peaks upon peaks of mountains and no sign of human inhabitants within those peaks. It is humbling to be there. On the way back to the Chalet that evening we where treated to the site of a cute fuzzy little grizzly bear.



Very sadly the next morning we had to pack up and go. We opted to take the road through the park again and take a few more pictures and take a different way home then we had originally come. Just driving through this part of Montana was beautiful. We were on some major back way highways and we had to be really careful about when we fulled up our gas. To make a highlight of this part of the trip, as we were going along one of the stretches that there was really nothing in but antelope and cows we saw a military hummer with gun mounts on the top. I didn't think much of it at the time and then we saw another. Ok that was a little strange. Chris and I decided to change driver so we pulled over, at about the same time a convoy of hummers, surrounding a cooled semi truck labeled high explosives passed by. They gave us a good look as they passed us by. It was an interesting experience.

Our goal that day was to get to the edge of Montana where we had stayed a few nights before. Unfortunately upon arrival we found out that there were no hotel rooms open in the entire town. Mind you that there were at least six hotels. Lucky for us one of the hotels directed us to the next town over. Then we came to find out from the hotel in that town that someone had found oil and that is why there were no rooms. So these little things made this long day of driving interesting.

The next day we were back into ND and decided to stop at Theodore Roosevelt National Park. This is a great park if you want to see many prairie dog towns and the bison/buffalo (depending on who you talk to.) The park is really good at warning you to stay a safe distance from the bison but they don't tell you what to do when you accidentally find yourself in the middle of a herd in your car. We spent a good long time sitting in our car waiting for the herd to move along. We did get some great pictures of them though and saw many people do stupid things around them. Chris was hoping to see some major carnage, fortunately none occurred. As we sat there we got to hear them, for lack of a better description, roar. They sound just like a lion I swear. We also got to watch some of the bulls fight, which made us a little twitchy but we were patient and were finally able to go along our way. Fun park to go to just don't get stuck in a herd.


The final stop we made was back at the Flying geese metal sculpture we passed on the way out. There is much more to the story of the Enchanted HWY and it is worth reading a little about here http://www.enchantedhighway.net/. There were seven sculptures in all. We took a little side trip to see them.



Stats:
3348 miles
63 hours and 10 minutes
1 dead bird :(
1 near miss of deer