beluga

beluga

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Sunday - heading out

Its Sunday morning and we're getting ready to leave Glacier National Park.  Yesterday we were at Whitefish Lake and the beautiful lakeside resort.  It was "Woody Weekend" so we saw  lots and lots of beautiful old (and new) wooden boats tied to the docks.  Afterward we had a delightful dinner with a Harley School classmate of Jesse's, Caroline and her boyfriend Shaun.

Here are the last pictures of the Going to the Sun Road, I promise.   More mountains, flowers, water an snow.









pay no attention to the jeep's antenna in this picture!

this waterfall was thundering right down at me!

another shot of the weeping wall


tiny wild good island




Jackson Glacier
It is estimated that by 2030 all the Park's glaciers will be gone......








a helpful photo in one of the National Park's official newspapers -
so we should know what we're seeing in the wild.....

here is the real thing!  a mountain doat!

guess he didn't like us


and here is a shot of the magnificent and rare Black Mountain Doat

Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday

Its 9:30 p.m. and its still broad daylight!  We were just sitting outside reading, enjoying the beautiful evening. I can't believe how light it stays here.  So another abbreviated blog for you.

The Thesaurus gave me these  synonyms for beautiful : dazzling, magnificent, splendid, stunning, sublime, awesome, astonishing, breathtaking, grand, majestic, awe inspiring.   Yep, all of them apply to the Going to the Sun Road, but none of them really do it justice.

Once again, I have way too many pictures for one post, so I guess I'll just show you some every day until I'm satisfied you see how "beautiful" this place is.

the jade colored water is surreal








the water cascading from the "weeping wall" poured over us as we drove by

80 - 90 feet of snow fall each year on this road.  this year it was finally cleared of snow and opened on June 22.
(pay no attention to that crack in the windshield....)

beauty everywhere you look, distant vistas or close inspections







yesterday's last picture was a close-up of this wall of snow
Thats all for now.

Today we relaxed in the morning, enjoyed second cup and rhubarb muffins outside in the warm sunshine.
After lunch we just drove around the area, turning whichever way we felt like.  We discovered a sweet, jade green lake just across the highway from our campground.  Lake Five.    Then we took a paved, but very rough road back to the Hungry Horse Dam and Reservoir.  Another spot that defies description.  Dave didn't think I should take any more pictures today, but I couldn't help myself.   I don't know when I'll show them to you, maybe after the rest of the Going to the Sun road shots.   If you don't like seeing pictures of mountains, flowers, and water, you probably shouldn't bother to read the blog for a few days!

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Thursday - Going to the Sun


We packed lunch and the dogs and drove over the continental divide on the Going to the Sun Road.  We're absolutely on overload, beauty overload.  I'm not going to post any more pictures tonight, I need to digest what we saw.

Before I do a post I have to dig out my Thesarus and find some synonyms for "beautiful" because the scenery we drove through today is way too big for that word to handle on its own.






Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Wednesday - Happy Birthday

Lewis decided to wear the "birthday bow" at a rakish angle befitting his personality.
He turned 4 today


One more unsettled day, so say the weather forecasters.   Enough already.  We're waiting for a blue sky day to take the famous Going to the Sun Road.   Hopefully it will be tomorrow.


We decided to drive north to Polebridge and then on to Bowman Lake despite the grey day.  We wanted to take the Inside North Fork Road through the park, but it was closed due to flooding.    Sigh.
We took the Outside North Fork Road instead and it turned out to be absolutely beautiful.  It was packed dirt (a bit wet and greasy in spots) and followed the North Fork of the Flathead River affording panoramic views at every turn.



We drove in and out of the park, through the tiny settlement of Polebridge, finally entering GNP again for the remainder of our trip to Bowman Lake.  We stopped at the historic Polebridge Mercantile for a little sweetie to eat on the ride.  Cool little place with a  bit of everything and a yummy smelling bakery complete with case of freshly baked goodies.   I was very good and only bought 3 cookies, one and a half for each of us (they were tiny).

Ranger station at entrance

driving to Bowman Lake

Bowman Creek

The narrow, twisting dirt track took us along the racing Bowman creek, through sections of burned hillsides, and deep into woods of pines and aspens filled with colorful wildflowers.  We had our windows open and the fragrance of the wild roses on both sides of the road was intoxicating.




Aspens with their feet in roses




Bowman Lake

so clear


We sat beside the lake and marveled at the beauty around us.   Could there be a more amazing place?
With this beauty evidently comes a bit of danger.....signs everywhere reminding us that this is bear and mountain lion country and enumerating exactly what we could do to avoid encounters and what to do during an encounter.  

Oh, and those 3 little cookies....wow were they good.    So good that, as we passed the Polebridge Mercantile on our way home, I went in and bought a dozen Espresso/wh. chocolate delights for the freezer.  We'll have lovely memories of this day when those cookies emerge somewhere in North Dakota, or Nebraska.


The campground is getting busier and busier.   Must be close to 4th of July.  The air is heavy with campfire smoke and there are couples strolling after dinner, kids whizzing around on bikes and a family playing horseshoes right in front of Beluga.   Poor Lewis.

Lewis feels it necessary to keep a close eye on the horseshoe court