Day 9 Monday We started the day with the standard
LaQuinta Inn breakfast buffet. The eggs
looked way too fake so I went with a hard boiled egg, sausage and an English
muffin. Nick had biscuits and gravy. Not gourmet but easy and a good start for the
drive.
We’ve been listening to Neo Wolfe murder stories along the
way. It kept us entertained along the
way. Such huge open spaces! We didn’t take the interstate but a 2 lane
highway instead. Very little traffic and
very few towns or houses. When we did
come to a town, the populations ranged from 15 to about 300. Yikes!
A different life style than I’m used to!
There was a rest stop, historical marker where we stopped and ate some
left-over pizza. Really windy!
We got to Livingstown about 3. We had reservations at a B &B. Very comfortable. The temperature has dropped
significantly. Down in the 60’s. It was in the high 90s yesterday, here as
well. We’re having a nice quiet
time. Did laundry. Catching up on emails, journaling.
Went into town for a nice dinner and to do some grocery
shopping.
Day 10 Tuesday Today is driving to Glacier National Park.
It’s nice not to have to break down camp but just put the
suitcases in the car and go. Our hosts
serve us zucchini frittata, zucchini bread, a slice of melon, and bacon. All very yummy. Our host tells us of some back roads which
are more scenic to get to Glacier.
Actually, Waze suggested them too.
The first part of the drive is the usual Montana high plains
but then we start to see the outline of mountains. An exciting time when driving West! But then the change to mountains is abrupt. Not many foot hills here. I guess it is a gradual ascent so it is hard to notice it. We pass a couple of overlooks but want to get
to Glacier to meet up with Heidi and Elie.
We check in at the KOA and ask where the Saikaly camp site
is located. Right across the road from
us! Yeah! And OMG, here they are! Since Nick and I have colds, we somehow limit
ourselves to elbow bumps. They arrived
only about 15 minutes before us. Our
spot is a little more private than theirs with some bushes and low trees. There is an artificial grass carpet for us to
pitch the tent on. We have a nice view
of mountains from the site, picnic table, water spigot, electric hook-up. What more could we ask for. It is windy so setting up the tent is a
little tricky, especially since it is only our second time to set it up. Don’t have it down to a science yet. We empty out the car enough to be able to put
the back seats up so we can all ride in one car. This is when that vestibule part is really
coming in handy.
After setting up camp,
we head off to explore a bit and locate where we are to pick up the
SunTours tour of the Sun Road in the morning.
There is a long line of cars waiting to get into the park. One needs a ticket to drive the Sun Road and
those are limited. But after 5PM, one
doesn’t need a ticket. So the cars are
lined up to go in after 5. We decide to
eat dinner first and then enter the park and go to the visitor’s center.
The restaurant choices are limited. We don’t chose the Mexican place that was
rated one star…… There is a souvenir
shop with a restaurant and hotel attached.
Elie and I order some local beer and we all have good dinners. Peer pressure brought us to ordering
desert.
The line into the park is now gone so we enter the
park. Boy, those senior national park
passes are nice. Let’s you jump the line
on top of not paying. It all looks
pretty straight forward for the morning so we can rest easily.
It is still relatively early so we go to one of the overlooks that we passed earlier. As well as a nice view, it has cultural information about the Blackfeet tribe.
Back at the campground we settle into our respective
places. We’ve all had long drives and
are ready for an early night. Nick wakes
up around 1:00 and the skies have cleared.
He invites me to come out and star gaze but the sleeping bag is just a
little too cozy for me to be too tempted.
He says they were amazing and he saw numerous meteors, the Milky Way,
Pleidies, Jupiter, Saturn. So many stars
that it was hard to pick out the common constellations. When I got up in the morning, the sun was
just coming up and shinning on several of the peaks. I didn’t think I needed m camera to go pee
and by the time I got back and got my phone, it was nice but not as nice. But, first things first and peeing was a high
priority.
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