Glacier days 1-4

I've not had decent internet until today, so have been documenting days while awaiting that time when I did.  So here's what we did the last few days:

 Sept 1

We got a good night's sleep in Bozeman. I've not been sleeping really well on this trip so I appreciated a good night! We had about 5 ¼ hr. drive to Glacier and enjoyed the nice drive – some thru fields and farms, some thru forested areas, and some along beautiful lakes.  We stopped to picnic in a rest area across the street from these guys.

He dwarfs that dino!

 We arrived and were just as tickled with the room at the Village Inn at Apgar as I hoped to be. Very retro!  The view – WOW! 

We got settled and walked to Eddies for a burger and fries. Bill had a Moose Drool brew and enjoyed it. Did a tiny bit of shopping and came back to settle in.

Sept 2

Our coffee in the room was a joke, we have to do better tomorrow! But we got up and at'em and to the visitor center to check in for our Red Bus tour with a bunch of time to spare as is our style. We met our “jammer” Joe and got loaded into this beautiful vehicle – first brought to the park by White Motor Company Back in 1933.  

We had booked the crown of the continent tour, which was an all day tour beginning and ending at the Apgar Visitor Center. We were loaded in 4 per seat, which provided some warmth – it was very cool this morning! We had gloves and hats on. 

We headed on out and I cannot begin to tell you all the places we stopped. Once we got up the mountain a bit Joe pulled over and enlisted the tall guy on the end of our front row to help pull back the top of the vehicle which provided an open view – no ceiling! When the bus was stopped we were allowed to stand up to view things or take pictures. The driver was separated from the cabin with a plastic shield, which took about 3 inches of our space and made it a challenge for those in our row to stand, but we did when we wanted to. We saw or stopped at all the lodges in the park which provided pit stops.  This is at the Lake McDonald Lodge lobby.

I bought a Christmas ornament that looks like these lanterns.  They were lovely. 

We also stopped for a longer time at the Many Glacier Hotel, where Bill and I will be staying next and it added to our excitement to stay there. Plus we know where some things are now! We saw 1 black bear, 

And 2 grizzlies in the grasses here - I'm SURE you can see them.... OK - you'll have to take my word that the 2 bumps in the middle of this pics are them.  We saw a third that we didn't get to take a pic of. 

Some of the other sights we saw along the road...

We also saw a couple of goats up on a hill - too far for me to get pics of. 

More beauty along the way 

including the famous goat island. 

And some of the Glaciers for which the park is named. 

The weather was wonderful and we came back tired after a long day but very happy with the tour.

Sept 3

We had gotten shuttle tickets for the 7 am shuttle so we hustled on down and went to the stop for the popular Avalanche Lake hike. This begins on a the very easy Trail of Cedars hike then branches off for a total of 4.6 miles. It was a great hike with lots of water and waterfalls leading to the lake which was beautiful! 

We hung at the lake for a bit taking pics and just taking it all in. We got back and couldn't find Bill's sunglasses (which he had handed to me when we got out of the car). I'm HOPING they were on the shuttle, but they don't clean them till end of shift so I'll have to check back tomorrow to see if they were found. Was feeling badly about that but Bill was telling me to Let It Go so in Belle style I'm trying.

We took a few pics of the multi colored rocks of Lake McDonald 

and watched a border collie named scout chasing a dog toy his owner tossed into the lake before heading out to Polebridge which is the home of the famous huckleberry bear claws. It's quite a ride getting there – pretty isolated and much of it down a dirt road. I'm talking like 9 miles is dirt road and the other 16 or so are off and on dirt. But we made it and got not only bear claws but a sticky bun for breakfast and a pizza bun for dinner. We ate our bear claws then and there with a cup of coffee. 

The Northern Lights Saloon is there and if we had been there closer to dinner we would have enjoyed dinner. Instead – pizza roll and a walk for ice cream – moose track cones - later.

Another lovely day in the books (all but the sunglass incident).

Sept 4

We awakened to the most beautiful sunrise over the lake. 

It felt like the lake was saying goodbye on our last day at this location. Today we move to the east side of the park.   First stop - check back for sunglasses.  HAPPY DANCE - they were found.  Someone turned them in to the park service (not the shuttle folks) and Bill was happily reunited and I was set free from feeling oh so guilty about losing them.  

We headed to our chosen hike for the day - John's Lake.  It's a loop hike that sometimes follows a horse path which meant stepping carefully at times.  But it was absolutely gorgeous - starting out in forested beauty and ending with the lake, McDonald Creek, and beautiful waterfalls.  

These are known as the sacred dancing waters. 

We worked our way back to McDonald Lodge to get a cup of coffee and enjoy the view before heading on down the road.  Along the way we saw our second moose!

 The views were amazing leading up to the loooong construction zone to get to the Many Glacier Lodge. 

 It's a higher end park service offering and we are only staying for 2 nights.  I'll have to get a shot of the building but here are shots from our balcony as the sun was going down and the clouds were moving in.  We never got rain, but the wind was really howling.  I'm thinking this area may be more windy than others. 

This picture doesn't do the beauty of this grand hallway justice.  Both Bill and I tried to take pics with our phone but they just don't capture the subtle pinks, yellows, and greenish blues of these pretty lanterns.

We were both feeling the need for a down day and what better place than this fine lodge.  We also have the comforts of home here - internet that works!  But we didn't get much hot water the next morning during our late shower... guess we gotta hit it earlier.   So the plan for Sept. 5 is to chill, finish catching up on the blog, drink wonderful coffee, read and shop in the store.  We'll get back to more active endeavors after our day of rest.