Montana and Idaho

Glacier National Park

From the National Parks that we have seen so far, this one is far and above the best, in our opinion, as far as scenery. As we were entering the Park, the ranger at the gate told us that they had just opened the Going To The Sun Road just the night before!! I was so glad, because when we would tell someone who had already been here, they would always say, I hope the road is open all the way through. AND IT WAS!! The road was quite precarious, but at every turn it was just more spectacular than before.  Here is my favorite picture.

Here is the road. To say it has no shoulder is an understatement. Huge rock walls on one side, humungous drop on the other, ouch.

We even got to see our first and only mountain goat.

If your windows are down in this part, like ours are, you will get soaked:

More waterfalls.

Anthony

This is Lake McDonald.

We didn't get to hike any in the park, as it was extremely crowded because it was July 3rd and also the road had opened, but I was so glad we went.

I got to take a shower at Whitefish State Park, and now I know that I can take a shower in less than five minutes, which includes a good leg shaving. But the water was a bit cold, so I am sure that sped me up quite a bit. You just drop 8 quarters in a slot for five minutes, and then the water came on automatically. I was glad I had my shampoo and soap ready so as not to waste any precious drops.

We spent the night at the Walmart in Kalispell, and then found a park to cook breakfast. You can meet some interesting people in the mornings in parks, and this morning it happened to be Dewayne Makescoldweather. He said he would even show us his drivers license to prove that was his last name. He, of course, is a Native American, and he served in the marines. He is from the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, "on the other side of the mountains." He seemed intent on letting us know the goings on of the day, and told us there is going to be a parade that morning, and square dancing in the afternoon. We stayed for the parade, and it could have been in any small town, USA.

Even had a few vintage war planes flying overhead.

And Anthony wanted to take a picture of the Flathead County Courthouse.

We left Kalispell and started heading West, and we found our way to Libby, MT, and stopped to get gas where we met some kindred spirits.  Meet Tim and Joann who are from Alberta, Canada.  They have been on the road for one year. He is a professor at a college where he has the opportunity to work four years for 80% pay, then take one year off still being paid at 80% with full benefits. Wow!! The way we started talking is, I was interested in their vehicle. First of all the steering wheel is on the wrong side, so when she pulled up to the service station from the gas pumps and parked beside our van, I started asking questions. She said it is a Mitsubishi imported from Japan, and they have built a bed in the back for camping. I am sure my eyes got really wide and said, we have too!!! And about that time, Anthony comes out of the service station, and he's talking to a man that happens to be the husband. They try not to pay for campsites, and have used a website called freecampsites.net to find free camping.

We, of course said, we will show you ours, if you show us yours. Ha! So we compared our arrangements.

The next excitement we had was when we pulled into a rest area and met two brothers from New Hampshire touring on bikes.  They started in Portland, OR, and are heading home. They have been on the road for two weeks so far.  This is their first long trip together, but in the past have done a family trip with parents, grandparents and siblings in Vermont at about 30 miles per day for about a week.

Something interesting in Montana is that you can have a speed limit of 70 mph on a two lane road. Scarey.

We are now in Idaho.

We are travelling on Hwy. 2 along the northern part of Idaho, and it is quite pretty too. Anthony saw this and had to stop and take some pictures.

And in our quest to find a moose, we made our way into the Kootenai National Wildlife Refuge close to Bonners Ferry, where, along with a promise of many birds, there is the possibility of seeing black bears, mule deer, and MOOSE! 

We got lucky!

So we took the opportunity to take a picture with another not real moose.

Off we go on the quest for the ever elusive moose.