While I know it has been almost a week since my last post...and we are actually traveling as many of you have emailed me asking where’s the beef...but just like the “Dog ate my homework”...I have a really good excuse, actually 3 good, no make that excellent, excuses...Eli, Grace and Lucy aka the grands...and I am not as young as I use to be. While I could go on here about our days in the shadow of Glacier National Park under a beautiful big Montana sky, hiking, playing, fishing, rafting, exploring and escaping the season of confinement and COVID-19 (are you green with envy?), I will jump to our featured story of the week. A fact that I may have not shared, Drew’s parents, Kim and Tom, previously from League City, now Bristol, Tennessee are here in Montana with us. Even with 6 adults to 3 kids, using WWF Tag Team/Covid-19 protocols, it has been a busy week.
As we all know, traveling with kids of any age can be a balancing act...a variety of activities and experiences so everyone is suitable exhausted, but not cranky...those of us of a certain age, understand what old cranky is. On Tuesday evening before our “big day” in Glacier National Park...which is only half open due to Covid, with some concessioners open, others not, some in the maybe category (check back daily) ...we (meaning the adults) had a discussion of our plans for Wednesday. When asked when we wanted to leave for the park (about a 30-40 minute drive from Whitefish), Eddie and Kim together said, between 9:30 and 10:00. Tom and I were flexible, and said we would go whenever. It was quickly decided that the two cars would be used, and the 9 of us would be divided between mini van Team Drew (complete with the sound track from Hamilton playing (loudly) in the background) and Team Grands Old (Team GO for short) We decided that trying to meet along the Going to the Sun Road (the major/only road that goes from the Western part of the park up the mountains to the glaciers and out the eastern side-except this Covid summer when you have to turn around and come back the same way) for a picnic lunch was probably not going to happen, and that we would meet at the Rafting place right outside the park at 3:15. So, basically, each team was only responsible for arriving at the appointed spot by 3:15...it was up to each Team to manage their time and opportunities. Casual mention was made that gas stations were non-existent inside the park, so fill up before leaving-limit fluid intake, because bathrooms maybe limited...likewise, cell reception was not available inside the park...got it, no problem, right? Well, at 6:45 AM Team Drew was out the door and Glacier bound...full tank, water and picnic lunch. Lucy running down the condo hallway yelling, “Going to the Mountains, come on, hurry”...As if the mountains and the glaciers would disappear...yeah, glaciers were suppose to be gone in 2020, but they still are here....take that global warming. At 9:30, and not a moment soon, Team GO in a suitably hip Subaru sedan would collect all of the senior delegation and head for Glacier National Park..with gas, water and picnic lunch. I have never left home without my trusty paper road maps, atlas, or an Eddie created Map Quest meets AAA flip trip book. Yes, we actually had a 150 page bound (thanks For the assist Office Depot) 8.5x11 turn by turn instruction book for a cross country road trip...but this time, call it Covid brain, I did not have any of those things. Silly me. I pulled up Google Map, punched in Glacier National Park, plugged my phone into Car Play (so Eddie could hear the lady speak) and we were off. As we had been here 5 days, we had been out enough to know our way around...heck, I knew enough to get us there without any help..but Eddie insisted, as he swears I am directional challenged so I pushed ”GO”. Our first “Turn left at the next light”, made us go, hmmm...maybe a alternative route around town, a “Whitefish Beltway or loop” to get us there faster. 7 or 8 turns later, we were no where near the Highway I thought we should be on. But, Eddie is driving, and there have not been any gas stations or directional signs to guides us on our way. Eddie logic—-it is over 1,000,000 acres and has lots of mountains and glaciers, lakes, and rivers, we can’t miss it. First clue that something was amiss...end of paved road...clue number two...total drop of any cell signal...Now remember, Team GO has a lot of collective brain, experience and reasoning power...and of course, Eddie, who may not always be right, but he is never in doubt. We could see the mountains in the distance on the passenger side of the car. We were following the Flathead River that we knew to be the western boundary of the park...therefore, we knew that we had to make a right hand turn to cross over said river to get into the park. Easy right. No map, no GPS...but there was the car’s compass, the sun and our joint logic...we would be on the Going to the Sun Road in no time. We kept heading north...on roads that make Camp Allen’s gravel back roads look good, gravel dust hanging from the various evergreens and our trusty Subaru...no bathrooms (yeah,Eddie had to do the bush thing) or gas stations,no farms houses, few other cars. Did you know that part of Glacier National Park (not the Native American Reservation Part) is in Alberta/British Columbia, Canada? And kinda like the Blackfeet Nation portion, the Canadian portion of the park/border is Covid closed to Americans...yikes. So, at 11:30, a mere two hours into to our trip, we figured we were just moments away from a Border crossing without passports or Covid permission slip...but we had our NPS Senior pass, masks and a gallon of hand sanitizer...that should count for something. At the first sign of civilization (read an old country store which was not open, gate locked, but had a map posted on their outside board), Eddie stopped the car. I found an opening in the fence and went through to examine the map. I was doing fine, but Old Ye of Little Faith Eddie joined me to determine where we went wrong...and how to get back to the actual Park and the Going to the Sun Road. One well executed three point turn, a cloud of gravel dust and we were off, retracing our steps, putting distance between us and Canada. Sure enough, there was a right hand turn, which was marked on the southern route guiding us into the Parkvia the Camas Road entrance...which is the road less traveled when entering the park...no guard shack or only one other lone car on this 13 mile stretch—-that and an adolescent black bear crossing the road. Score one for Team GO on our Wildlife Bingo game...part of my Mary Poppins bag...thanks Pinterest. We made our way to Apgar Village within the park and walked around Lake McDonald—-since the Park boats were not running this summer. For the next few hours, we joined the caravan of cars (sorry, the Park’s red tour buses are another victim of the Covid closures) up the Going to the Sun road, up and over the Continental Divide, stopping at several locations for pictures and picnic lunch on a covid free red rock table. The four of us thought that was a smarter covid move than using the well used wooden tables at various stops...even with Clorox wipes. As we had used an additional hour or more finding the entrance, we turned around at the Rising Sun point and made our way back down the road...towards our 3:15 rafting meet up place...which will be my next story. Our day in and around the park...Yeah, pretty spectacular....Eddie and I feel pretty thankful that we have had a chance in our years together to visit almost all of the national parks...it makes you realize how special this country is..America, the Beautiful...for sure.
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