06.29.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:01 pm by lael
Avery says-I liked the museum. Things that were interesting were: dinosaurs, the old fashioned room [room covering daily life in different decades], and the treasure room. And I really liked the drive. It’s so pretty.
Amanda says- This morning we bid farewell to our temporary home outside of Glacier Park and headed to our permanent home in Winfield. Our drive followed the same route as on the way in. Only this time there was much more construction. When we stopped at a rest area in Bozeman, Avery and I saw an advertisement for the Museum of the Rockies. We convinced Lael that we had plenty of time, so off we went. We’re all glad we went . The museum is part of the university. For a working museum (you can see them cleaning fossils), there are fabulous displays. Some would find them too wordy, but I love reading informative, well-written displays.
After our museum break, we left the interstate and headed to Yellowstone. We made it to Gardiner, MT where we began the search for a room. After stopping at four hotels, I discovered that there were only five rooms left in town at the Comfort Inn. So we headed for the Comfort Inn. I stood in the lobby behind two other groups of people (who I had also been behind at other hotels). Luckily, one couple decided the room was too expensive and left. When my turn rolled around, I got the last room in town. There is no pool (Avery is disappointed) and no free breakfast (Lael is disappointed) and it cost $180 (Amanda is ticked! $180 and no pool or free breakfast? Capitalist swine.) Tomorrow we will do a hit and run on Yellowstone. I’m looking forward to it.
[ editor’s note — There is free breakfast. The literature in the room is out of date. There is no pool but there are two capacious hot-tubs. Or rather one hot-tub and one tepid-tub. The is also a pool table and a ping-pong table.
Mandy is not the only one complaining about the price. It was the number one conversation among the people walking the corridors. On the plus side, it’s 1/2 mile from the Roosevelt gate. ]
Permalink
06.28.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:32 pm by lael
Today, Mandy did as she said she would. She packed and did laundry and prepared food for our journey home. Avery helped.
Today, I was frustrated by camera glass that was too short and too long.
I went over the top to Many Glacier this morning. I was into the park before eight and to the pass by just after nine. My intent was to just carry on and get down and see new sites and revisit some favorite sites on the way back.
As I went past the Logan Pass Visitors Center I saw a bunch of people with long lenses lined up on the South side of the road. They were all looking across the road to the North. I craned my neck to see what they were looking at. Big horned sheep! Just yards from the road! I went down to the next pull-out and turned back. I trotted right back and parked as near as I could comfortably park, and joined the rest of the voyeurs. They had been enjoying the sun at the pass and taking in the scenery, (i.e. watching us.) They wandered away after a bit, and so did we. I wished for a longer lens so I could get a closer shot.
Many Glacier hotel is a marvel. The area is scenic and beautiful, but the hotel is a marvel. In the lobby there is an historical display devoted to the building, rebuilding and renovation of the hotel over the years. I’m sure that there are better resources and picture online. The lobby was beautiful. Three stories tall. Of course, now that I’m gone, I realize that I should have gone to the top floor to get the perspective I needed for my photograph. As is, I mildly cursed not having a wide enough lens to catch the whole height of the lobby.
I spent almost two and a half hours at the hotel poking into the guest dining room and peeking into the entertainment halls in the lower level. Did I mention that it was a marvel?
I went back over the top and stopped at Logan Pass visitors center for a pause and a pee. Bought a souvenir and went on down the hill. I intended to stop at the scenic overlook where we saw the marmots on Friday. The parking lot was full. The shoulders of the road were full and there was a car ahead of me stopped in the middle of the road. I stopped. I looked. Mountain goats. A molting momma and a downey baby. I banged away with my camera out the window with one eye on the guy ahead of me and one eye on the guy behind me and one eye on the camera viewfinder and . . . .
I seem to have run out of eyes. I was resolved to turn around at the next opportunity. The next opportunity was ten minutes later and I knew that I’d missed my chance.
Monday morning we start for home. We hope to find a place to stay just north of Yellowstone Nat’l Park Monday night. Tuesday in the park and a quick stop in my sometime boyhood home of Cody, Wyo. Then we will haul for home. We are going to do he most scenic byways that lead directly home. But directly homeward we are bound. We miss our cat, our home, and (strangely enough) the taste of Winfield water.
I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.
Permalink
06.27.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:40 pm by lael
The days I mention in the posts are our complete days at the park. We arrived on Monday noonish. We paid our admissions and went into the park to the visitors center. So technically Monday was our first day. Tuesday was our first full day at the park and that is when I started dating the posts. Today is Saturday. Tomorrow will be our last full day. We leave on Monday morning.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:36 pm by lael
Huzzah! No hours of driving! I stayed with Avery today as she fished. I was the reader and bear-keep-awayer. I read to her from the novel
and I blew a whistle every time I turned the page. I don’t know if my voice or the blasts on the whistle did it, but no bears came to bug us. Of course it could be that there were no fish where we were. It was a beautiful day. I also enjoyed watching Avery fish. She was full of concentration and enjoyment.
This afternoon we are going into town. Avery and I hope to convince Lael to stop at the bookstore. We are also going grocery shopping so that I can get food prepped for the trip back home. That and laundry are my projects for tomorrow.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:35 pm by lael
I tried to go fishing, but it didn’t really work. I didn’t catch anything anyways. I also tried skipping rocks. I liked all the rocks and the sand. They were cute. (editor mom’s note: that is just a bizarre word choice for rocks) I thought it was weird that Dad kept taking pictures of me and mom.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:35 pm by lael
We took Avery to a couple of places to fish. I’m afraid that neither of them were very good fishing spots. This afternoon is sort of a work day. We are going in to town to go grocery shopping and post this post. Then I need to repack my bag for the trip back.
Tomorrow I’m going to go over the top and visit Many Glacier on the East side of the park. We spent 6 hours going most of the way yesterday. I expect that I’ll be eight or 10 hours on the road tomorrow. I may not do an update tomorrow (Sunday.)
I added a couple of items to the gallery.
Permalink
06.26.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:26 pm by lael
Today was a full day of fabulous scenery. Our plan was to go up Going to the Sun Road as far as we could get. Going to the Sun Road is the only road that crosses the continental divide within the park. It doesn’t have the altitude of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mt. Nat’l Park, but it is above tree line and has a spectacular view. The road was still partially closed until they could finish clearing snow and doing repairs to make it passable after the winter hardship.
We left our lane and came across the electronic informational sign for the Park. It announced that the West Road, our side, was open all the way to Logan Pass. We’d be able to make it to the top of the continental divide. The trip was lovely. The first two-thirds of the trip were past sights we’d already seen. But shortly after the point where we turned back before, the road started to rise, and our pace slowed.
The road twists and turns ’round the sides of the mountains. If you’ve seen photographs of the park, you know that it is an enormously up-and-down place. Close uphill sides and sharp drop-offs are the rule. It’s a very narrow road. We made lots of stops and saw lots of sights. Passed through an enormous avalanche area with tons and tons of wood twisted and piled up and down the hillside. The crews had cut the right of way through the piled trees. The piles of trees were above the doors of the car.
We waited 15 minutes in line for a guide car to take us through reconstruction and we went on up the hill. We stopped at a handicap accessible overlook before we reached the summit. We went out onto the boardwalk and found hoary marmots. A pair of them were frolicking under the boardwalk. In all reality they were probably saying, “Oh, crap! There goes the neighborhood.”
We reached Logan Pass and went on up to the visitors center and while looking around I overheard a park ranger say that the East side should be open within the hour. We killed some time and had a picnic lunch in the parking lot. When we headed out we found the road open to the East. We went on over the pass.
We got down to the St. Mary Lake boat landing at Rising Sun, and turned back. We stopped at the summit again and I walked up the hill a ways to watch the skiers and snowboarders on the snowfield behind the visitors center.
I think of the environment in the pass as being an extremely inhospitable place. But there are ground squirrels on the peak. Huge ground squirrels. Fat, healthy ground squirrels. We’d seen ground squirrels further down in the valley, but they were pigmies compared to the giants at the summit.
Here and there around the park there are informational displays about the warming of the park and the change of habitat that is going on in the park. There are several critters in the park including one called a pika that cannot tolerate warm temperatures. They survive the winter by stockpiling 40 pounds of straw per pika under overhangs and in burrows. Their life cycle is dependent on the snow and growth patterns that take place at high altitudes here. They survive in a fairly narrow range of climates. That range of climates may disappear from the park.
The highlight of the day was at the end of the descent from the pass. We came around the corner and a hundred feet ahead on the road was a black bear. It was just ambling across the road. We were delighted. We only saw him for 8 or 10 seconds but it was the exciting capper of the day.
I’ve updated the gallery with new pictures from today tacked onto the bottom. Sorry, no pictures of the bear.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:25 pm by lael
Yesterday we got to go on a boat ride! It was relaxing and very informative. Avery was a bit nervous. She thought we might sink. We also hiked to see Running Eagle Falls. It is an amazing double waterfall, one above the other.
Avery and I also went to the farmer’s market in Columbia Falls. We were very good and did not buy any books, even though we wanted to. Avery got a lovely purse which I plan on using as a pattern. We also bought a frog house that looks like a castle tower. Avery is planning on using it as a pattern.
Today was full of amazing scenery. We passed through three completely different ecosystems. Luckily for us, we were prepared for alpine cold. During the six hours we toured around we went from shirt sleeves, to winter coats and hats, to windbreakers at the lake side. Lael wanted to watch the skiers at the top of Logan Pass, so Avery and I waited and watched people. It was prime people watching. Most did not come prepared for Alpine weather. Shorts and flip-flops do not work well against blowing winds coming across miles of snow. We also got to see a glacier. Yipee! That was one of the items that I wanted to see. I didn’t hope to see a bear, but I got to see one of those too. Luckily we were in the car and not on a hike.
We have also spent significant time at the cabin we rented. Avery has discovered the game CLUE. I must confess, I am tired of playing it. We have also gone on small nature hikes here as well as made cookies and had long talks. It is very peaceful here. The only draw back so far has been the lack of curtains when the sun is still up at 9:00 PM. It is difficult to convince Avery that, yes it is time for bed. Usually I am asleep before she.
Permalink
Posted in Uncategorized at 8:25 pm by lael
Yesterday: I liked the boat ride, the waterfall and the ground squirrels. The Huckleberry ice cream was VERY tasty.
Today: I liked the hoary marmets because they are so cute and they burrow under the snow. They are so funny. I also got to see a bear. Ever since we started I wanted to see one.
Permalink
06.25.09
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:29 pm by lael
We had a busy morning. We went over to the East side of the park took a couple of easy trails and had a boat ride on Two Medicine Lake. Mandy’s knees are better but still sore. So today was a strolling rather than hiking day. This afternoon we returned to the house and Mandy and Avery collected wildflowers for a centerpiece, made stew and searched for pretty rocks.
I built a quick and dirty gallery for the site. Here you go. There are a few technical problems and typos. I’ll try to take care of them before I post again.
Enjoy!
Permalink
« Previous entries ·