Is It Naptime Yet

We got into Hungry Horse, Montana kinda late, I think a little later than 8 pm, but since sunset isn’t till after 9 pm, it still seemed early. We called Anna as we got there so they could give us directions to the cabin, and I was surprised to find out it was in a Bible camp. For some reason that had totally slipped my mind, or not made an impression. (They own the cabin and lease the land from the Bible camp. Kevin’s grandfather and grandmother are who originally built the cabin, and now Kevin’s family uses it and his mother volunteers each year as a nurse for a short period of time.) Anna and Kevin had a delicious meal waiting for us, so we were able to eat and get settled quickly that night

I’m sure we stayed up late. With being at a higher latitude and closer to the North Pole, sunset take place later in the day. I’m not sure what time it rises, since we were able to kinda sleep in each day, or not have to rise at dawn. So the girls went to bed closer to 10 pm each night, and the adults went to bed around midnight, though I think there was at least one night we turned in early.

Our first day in Montana, Saturday, July 16th allowed us to do a couple things, laundry and showers were first on the list. Oh how nice it was to get everyone clean and to wash our clothes! It was nice to not smell like campfire and to look more like regular people while touring and hiking the park.

After we got settled and errands done we went to Glacier and visited The Apgar Visitor’s center in West Glacier. Jon and the girls had to get their junior ranger packets to complete, and we wanted to ease into the park and slight altitude change.

We first walked a part of Lake McDonald. The waters were so high that some stairs that normally lead to the waters front were covered with water on the first few steps. Of course every time we came near water the girls wanted to throw rocks in. I may have had this same impulse, though I was trying to skip rocks, but failed terribly.

We took a short nature trail, Trail of the Ceders, and enjoyed seeing Avalanche Gorge. The river and creek waters have a beautiful greenish tint, which comes from rock flour that the glaciers have ground up and is suspended in the water. The lakes have a turquoise coloring, and oh, it is so beautiful. I think Glacier National Park was my favorite park when it came to scenery.

After our short walk we stopped at some other places and then went home and enjoyed dinner and the company of the Cotton’s.

Just a quick thank you to Anna and Kevin for welcoming us into their cabin for the 6 nights. Anna has been inviting us to Glacier for a while and I’m so happy we were able to finally make the trip. It was a beautiful park to visit, and I’m so happy I didn’t have to camp out in grizzly country! They said that about Yellowstone, but it seems like there are even more bears in Glacier.

For pictures that go with this post visit: Family Vacation 2011 Pictures-Part 6.