The Great Blanchard Road Trip {Part 1: Glacier}

Glacier National Park has long been on our To Visit Bucket List, and this year the stars aligned for us to make the trek.  When the Elwoods decided to hold their reunion in Island Park, we took the opportunity to tack on a few days before that trip to journey further north into Montana for an extra adventure.  We left Sunday, August 5th, right after church.  We drove and drove (and I just have to say that the kids were absolutely awesome in the car - this was a trip with a lot of driving and they rocked it!) and made it to Butte, MT shortly after six pm.  We found a nice little park to run around and eat at.  After about an hour or so there, we popped the kids into jammies and journeyed onward to our hotel in Choteau, MT.  Total car time for this day was about 8 hours.  But we learned that I-15 through Montana is stunning!  We thoroughly enjoyed this ride and seeing so much new scenery.

First things, first! ;)
I stocked up with way more audio books than
I knew we could possibly get to . . . but I wanted
to be sure we had options.  Ha!  Turns out from this
stack we tried only Ballet Shoes, but lately a narrator
with a British accent is an automatic reject from the kids,
and even this one was hard for me and Gregg to
understand, so we ditched it pretty quickly.

I also had some audio books checked out on
overdrive - these were definitely more to our liking.
We listened to all of Little House in the Big Woods
and Stuart Little and started Otis Spofford
on our trip.  (In addition to plenty of
Raffi's Best Of album - that was a big hit!)

Somewhere in Montana.  I just thought it was pretty.

Buggy windshield somewhere in Montana.

bonus videos!

"Mom? Nevermind!"

(backstory on this one: Sam discovered that it's a fun joke to try to get my attention

by saying, "Mom?  Mom?  Mom!" and then when I finally respond, he finishes up with "Nevermind!"  Well, he took it to new levels by using his "scary voice" over and over and over

as we drove.  Unfortunately, by the time I tried to capture it on video, I think his voice was just about

gone, so you don't quite get the full effect.  But I'm linking the videos here anyway, just because it

was a funny time - everyone was getting a bit loopy at this point in the drive, I think.)

The park in Butte was right by the hospital,
and there was a great view of Our Lady of The Rockies
up on the mountain behind. (You'll probably have to
zoom in, or just take my word for it. ;)

Lovely little Butte.  I think I was trying to get another shot
of the statue on the mountain yonder, but of course it's super
hard to see in a picture from this far away.

Leaving Butte . . . and one last attempt
at a photo of Our Lady.

bonus videos!

(which were really supposed to be photos, but I was on video mode instead - oops!)

"more montana"

Here's the version you can enjoy if you don't want to get carsick
watching those less-than-one-second videos on loop.

And another barn and mountains.  The lighting was entirely lovely.

Loopy loo loo number one.

Loopy loo loo number two.

Sunset as we drove through Helena.

It got better the further north we drove - this is even looking east!

Then we started to curve around to the west a bit...

And Bam!  Wowza!

Gregg was focused on the road and potential wildlife that might
spring up in front of us, so he wasn't able to fully enjoy this
spectacular sight.  But I assure you, I did!

Day Two we woke up bright and early, but luckily the breakfast room was ready for us.  We had to wait around a bit for the pool to open, but we got a good swim in, followed by showers and then we hopped back in the car for the last leg (2 hours) to Glacier.  We arrived at the Many Glacier Entrance on the east side of the park and knew we were going to love this place.  We found a pretty lucky parking spot on the road near the Many Glacier Hotel and wandered around the edge of Swiftcurrent Lake, through the hotel, back to the car for a road-side picnic, and back down to the lake.

Many Glacier Hotel on the shores of Swiftcurrent Lake.

The first of many, many, many rocks skipped/tossed into water
on this trip.

We walked on a bridge/road over Swiftcurrent
Falls that flow out of the lake.  This angle
is not nearly as pretty as the view from the
other side, but I didn't get a pic of that, so maybe
you'll have to google it.

These peaks were amazing!  And I was surprised to see thier
elevation wasn't nearly as high as I expected for all their
above treeline space.

Checkin' out the hotel.

The first of many, many, many oohs and aaahs over
the wildflowers on this trip.

Lunchtime antics.

I snapped this to show Heather because I've never
seen such a fuzzy stem on a flower before.

More plant questions - what is this orange powder?
pollen?

Are these huckleberries?

Post lunch lake time.

Cairn building, rock skipping and stick snatching.

After we had our fill of the Many Glacier Area (not really - we could have spent a week there, I'm sure, but we needed to hit the road again so we could see more of the park.  We made our way down to the East Entrance Visitor's Center (had to get our stamp!) and then up over Going to the Sun Road for the first time.  What a drive!!  We stopped at and overlook over St. Mary Lake, and then again a little further up the road for a potty break.  We hoped to stop at Logan Pass Visitor's Center at the top, but the lot was full and Sam had fallen asleep, so we just kept driving.  We exited the park at the West Entrance and kept driving a few miles down the road to Columbia Falls to our hotel.  We had dinner in our room (thanks to the microwave for cooking our mac 'n' cheese and beef stew to perfection!) and then ventured out to find a park.  We spent a lovely evening lounging in the shade, reading, and playing at the park before getting froyo for dessert.  Then it was back to the hotel for baths and bed.

Listening to animal sounds in the East Glacier
Visitor's Center.

It was a fun little display - we got to hear
wolves and bears and moose.

St. Mary Lake, looking east.  That little speck in the middle
is called Wild Goose Island.

Potty break with a view!
(I wish I could remember what that mountain
in the back is called - but I can't and I can't seem
to figure it out from maps, either - this bathroom
doesn't seem to be labeled anywhere!)

Tired boy.

Tired girl, too.  Napping at 5 pm?  Oh boy.

Dinnertime!

Double digger action at the park.  Yes!

Minnie and Doll got the special treatment
bunk beds.

Tuesday morning we got up, ate breakfast and headed back into the park.  We were hoping to be early enough arriving to find a spot at the Logan Pass Visitor's Center.  The closer we got to the top of Going to the Sun Road, the further our hopes of parking there dropped.  There were tons of people doing the same thing!  We even passed some ornery ones who glared at us as we drove by their pull-out parking spot a few miles below the summit but didn't give them a ride to the top.  Um, kids in the backseat, folks! Sorry?  We went over the top and back down the east side a ways to the Sun Point Picnic Area.  There was a big, empty parking lot there and we discovered that there is a trail to some waterfalls that starts at that lot.  We went for plan B and started hiking to Baring Falls.  It was a gorgeous hike through an old burn next to the shores of St. Mary Lake.  Lots of bright, new undergrowth with flowers galore contrasted sharply with tall, black burned trees around us.  We got to Baring Falls and spent a good amount of time there, climbing on rocks and logs, building cairns, and splashing rocks in the stream.  We picnicked at the tables near the parking lot and then traveled back up and over the pass, crossing our fingers for one last chance to stop at the top.  No luck, but we were expecting it this time, so it wasn't too big of a disappointment.  And it's just one more reason to get us back up there another time!  We stopped at a couple of pull outs on the drive back down the Going to the Sun Road to look at the flowers and Birdwoman Falls.  Then, when we got to the bottom on the west side, we pulled over where the stream was clear and calm and the rocks were plentiful to spend a lovely while skipping rocks and fording the stream and relaxing in the shade.  Our last stop in the park was to the Apgar Visitor's Center for one more stamp in our passport.

Setting off on the trail to Baring Falls.

The views from the trail were okay, I guess.

The fireweed was especially lovely along this trail.

A fun bridge crossing to get to the falls.

One family shot with Sam looking and Cal not . . .

And the other with the opposite.

The kids were playing down here by the water
when a chipmunk came up to them and sat
on a rock.  Sam was terrified that it got so close.

The rocks were so pretty when they were wet!

The water was so sparkly!

The water was so blue and green and clear!

As we headed back up and then down the pass
again, I just kept gawking about the paintbrush
lining both sides of the road.  They were thick
and lush and so red!  I couldn't get enough, so I
requested a stop at a pullout just to attempt to get
a pic.

This wasn't the thickest spot of paintbrush, but it was the most
convenient to photograph.  And the down valley view was pretty
stunning, I must say.

One of many attempts to get a shot of the wall of
paintbrush outside my window as we were driving
by.  Verdict: pictures don't do it justice at all!

We stopped here to photography Birdwoman Falls (it's something
like 400 feet tall, I think), but I didn't even take a pic of the falls
because the light was just too harsh to really get a good shot.

But all around was nice to look at anyway.

A peek at the road we wound our way down.

One more stop to look down at the river bottoms.

So many colors.

And the clearest water ever.

I love these boys.
(Nothin' like laying on rocks for relaxation, eh?)

We spent the evening back in our hotel room - another microwave dinner of mac 'n' cheese and walking tacos.  We returned to the park, hoping for another chill evening, but instead found it crowded with kids and dogs and loud parents yelling at their kids and dogs.  So we went for a drive to find another park, with no luck.  But we did find a Smith's and got donuts for dessert.  Which we ate back at the park, because by the time we came back the obnoxious folks had left.  Wednesday morning we packed up and buckled up and drove six hours southeast to meet up with the Elwood clan in Island Park.  And that part of the adventure is coming up next!