Okay so a big huge disclaimer about this: I'm going to split this trip up into several posts because there are SO MANY PICTURES and I can't bring myself to narrow them down any more than I already have, because they are just too good. Between the four of us that went, we had 5 or 6 different cameras going (the convenience of a cell phone is just too good to ignore), so when we all uploaded all of our pictures to dropbox, things got pretty insane, and now I've got like, 58324695 pictures. SO. I've been going through them and organizing them as I go. Bear with me, here. IT WILL BE WORTH IT. Also maybe don't mind that I'm including boring details, because I mostly just want to remember EVERYTHING about this trip!
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On New Year's Eve, we decided we wanted to go to Glacier with our friends, The Hamblin's, and not long after, set a date in June. It's so surreal that this trip has come and gone! It was hands down, one of the best trips of my life, and definitely the best trip Devin and I have been on since we've been married! Glacier combined Devin's love for hiking and exploring, with my love for relaxing and sight seeing, ha! We had so much fun, especially with Ryan and Chelsey. I don't think we could have had as much fun on a trip like this with anybody else, they were so great! They're definitely our spirit couple. We're basically soulmates.
Glacier National Park is absolutely MASSIVE, and there is so much to do and see, that it was a little overwhelming at times. We spent months researching the must-see places, and definitely exhausted our resources, including friends who had been to, or even worked in the park. We finally narrowed it down to a few main areas we wanted to spend our time in, since we had 3 full days in the park. The nice thing about this trip though was that we didn't have any schedule or itinerary to stick to, so when we felt like changing plans, we did! We made a lot of our decisions en route, and that made the trip more fun, I think! We would be driving through the main road in the park, looking at the map, pick a hike that looked cool and go and do it right then! I loved the spontaneity.
We left on Thursday bright and early, I think it was 5:30am? We got the car all packed up the night before, and Devin and I bought a roof rack and cargo bag for extra space. We stopped at Maverick and got some soda and donuts to keep us awake until it was an acceptable hour. We stopped at a McDonald's in pocatello for breakfast and just kept on going! We had a really long drive ahead of us, so we tried to keep stops to a minimum. We noticed right away that with the roof rack and bag on top of the car and the weight of 4 adults plus all our gear in the car, we got terrible gas mileage! It didn't end up being as expensive as we feared, but it was still annoying to stop for gas so much! We stayed pretty entertained for most of the car ride, and listened to Jim Gaffigan and watched Napolean Dynamite while Devin drove. Idaho was a pretty drive, and we got to watch a plane crop dust a field, which was so cool! I had never seen anything like that before!
Once we got into Montana is when we all started getting anxious and sick of being in the car. We stopped in Butte for lunch to try out a place Ryan and Chelsey had seen on Man Vs. Food, Trimbo's Pizza. The place was a huge dive, and we were all a little skeptical, but once our pizza came out, we completely changed our minds. It was so delicious! Totally worth it. I think the Man Vs. Food challenge for this place was a giant calzone or something, I don't remember. But their pizzas were well worth the stop. Montana is also, unbeknownst to me, a HUGE meth using state. Like, it's an epidemic. And there is graffiti and billboards and signs everywhere discouraging people from using meth. It was so weird and definitely not something you'd see back home! As we made our way out of Butte, we all noticed a statue high up on the mountains, it was bright white and until we got closer, we couldn't make out what it was. It looked like a Christus. After a simple google search, we learned it was Butte's "Lady of The Rockies" - a statue of Mother Mary, dedicated to all mothers, and built by a bunch of people, not necessarily from any one religion. The website for the statue doesn't explain why, but mentions something about a dream? It's a little weird. The statue is 90 feet tall and sits on top of the continental divide. Apparently you can "tour" the statue, and there is a chapel up there that you can even get married in! Montana, man. It's a weird place.
After hitting tons of construction and finally making it to Browning, the last real city before you're in the park, we got a little confused with our directions and drove a few miles up and down the same road a few times as we tried to decide where we were going! We got to the little town of St. Mary, and were SO PSYCHED!
We split up the trip between East and West Glacier, spending the first half on the east side of Logan Pass (the highest point in the park and kind of but not really, the middle of the park). We stayed in the St. Mary Campground which is maybe 200 yards from the park entrance on the East Side, ha! We loved the campground - it was busy, with lots of people, but the designated camp spots were clean and private, and you didn't feel like you were in the open. The bathrooms were also surprisingly nice! Usually when we camp, even in a campground, I prefer to just stay outside because the bathrooms are always so gross, but these were so nice! Maybe it seems like a small thing to mention, but seriously. Nice bathrooms in a campground are so hard to come by.
The thing to keep in mind about Glacier is that you are in bear country, which is part of why the park is so well kept! We were advised by the camp host when we checked in to keep any food, and even toiletries that contained any odors whatsoever in our car, or in a bear safe. They also enforce strict rules about fires - you're welcome to have a camp fire, but you can never leave a smoking or smoldering fire unattended. Like, at all. It has to be put out completely before you leave or go to bed. When we got there and they went over these rules, and handed us pamphlets about bear safety, I got a little paranoid! We didn't see any bears anywhere near camp though, or any other wildlife for that matter, and we were fine!
After settling in at camp and unpacking all of our stuff, we headed back out the entrance into the "town" of St. Mary and stopped in a gift shop. We looked around and were so excited to finally be there that it was tempting to buy stuff, but I'm glad we shopped around during the trip! It was worth waiting, haha. We asked the guys working in the gift shop for some food recommendations and they gave us some awesome suggestions, and we ended up eating at everywhere they recommended! That night, we had Johnson's for dinner. The food was delicious! We loved the atmosphere and the service was pretty good, too. Everyone who works in and around the park like this does it seasonally, it's just a bunch of college aged kids, and I was a little jealous that they were spending their entire summer working in Glacier! One of the waitresses said she had been there 2 weeks and had already seen 2 bears around where she was staying! We were also told that the Going To The Sun Road, which is the main road that intersects the park, officially opened the following day. Um.. we had no idea! We couldn't believe how lucky we were to get there right as the park was opening! What a relief. Our trip would have been a complete bust had we come any earlier!!!
On our way back to camp, we stopped by the big "Glacier National Park" sign to take some pictures. Even the views from our campsite and the park entrance were absolutely amazing! There is something gorgeous everywhere you look!
When we woke up the next morning, we went back to Johnson's for breakfast. The breakfast was WAY better than the dinner! I ordered the most delicious yogurt and granola, and Devin got the biggest breakfast burrito I've ever seen in my life! The tortilla wouldn't even close all the way, it was sealed together with melted cheese slices! He loved it though and eat almost the whole thing!
After breakfast we headed up to Many Glacier, an area of the park we were hellbent on spending some time in! The first place we happened upon was Lake Sherburne, and the views from the road were so amazing, we had to pull in near the lodge and get out of the car! The water was SO BLUE and it was so windy and cold! I think we were all on a bit of a high, because we were finally HERE! IN THE PARK!
gassing up in the weirdest little town in montana. we got off the exit because the sign said there would be fuel, and we drove past this pump (yes, just the one little pump) before realizing it was even there!
downtown butte was so cool! and a little dead, but i guess that's because it was a thursday afternoon.
love these old buildings!
if you're ever in Butte... eat here!
mahgarita and bbq chicken pizzas. they were impressively delicious.
endless construction in Browning, just a few miles from the park entrance. so frustrating! but at least we got views like this. Montana really is BIG SKY country.
crosby was a total boss the whole trip. minus the gas mileage thing. but we're willing to look past it.
across the street from the st. mary visitor's center, literally, barely inside the park. unbelievable!
We took our 10 man, 2 room tent and it worked out perfectly for the 4 of us! We all slept really comfortably!
Even the view from our camp site was amazing
outside johnson's, about to eat dinner, and still not over these views!
ryan getting artsy while we took about 300 pictures
this was devin's breakfast burrito! so big, it wouldn't close without that giant cheese bandaid! he loved it. i'm not sure why...
our first views of Lake Sherburne
the wind coming off of that glacial water was freezing cold, but it was so worth it!
The lake emptied into Switchcurrent Creek, under the bridge we drove over to get to the Lodge where we took these photos!
Me, Chels and Ryan
I remember the moment this picture was taken, and being SO cold, and SO excited and SO happy to just finally be in GNP. It was the best start to such a good day, and such a good week!
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