Nothing really to report. We are just traveling the interstate coming home. As I write this, we are in Russellville, AR and will be in Holly Springs this afternoon. It is Tuesday, July 8, and we have been gone since Father's Day. I believe it is the longest vacation that Jimmy and I have ever taken at one time. On one hand - I'll be glad to be home. On the other - those cooler temperatures in Montana were really nice.
But, the kitties are ready to settle and not be 'on the road' so much. Peaches has done really well. She only had to have a pill the first day. When we start closing the RV up to head out, we put one of my Grandmother's old quilts on the sofa. As soon as Peaches sees the quilt, she is on the sofa, in the corner, curled up and ready to travel. She hasn't been sick one time. Bear, on the other hand, is constant motion. He is on the dashboard, then on my lap, then laying down between the seats in the front, then under the table, and then back to the front to start all over. He never gets sick - well, unless Peaches throws up in front of him and then he works up some sympathy sickness!!!!
All in all, a great trip.
Hope you have enjoyed the blog as much as I have enjoyed blogging (if there is such a word).
Martha
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Day 21 - Battle of the Little Big Horn
I am writing this as we head across Kansas on Day 22, so I will update the site with pictures tonight.
Anyway, we had a comfortable night in Billings and got up in the morning to head south towards Colorado, with a short sidetrip to the Battle of the Little Big Horn Memorial. It is a part of the National Park Service, so in we went on Jimmy's Golden Age Passport. I don't know how much he spent on that pass when he and Garrie made one of their trips to Virginia, but I suspect it paid for itself many times over on this trip. The only national park where we had to pay any entrance fee was the one in Alberta, Canada. I guess it makes sense that they would not honor a US National Park Service pass.
Anyway, the Little Big Horn Memorial is just off interstate 94 in Montana. We had missed it on the way out because the highway we had planned to take was under construction and we had to take a detour that caused us to enter Billings 40 miles north of the site. I guess I didn't really kmow what to expect - not being a really big history buff. But, we parked the RV and cranked the generator for the kitties and off we went.
The site is a national cemetery. I believe the ranger told us that the cemetery had been closed 12 or 15 years. Basically, that means that it had reached capacity with veterans who wished to be interred there. We pulled up to the visitor center just as they were starting a 17 minute video to give the history of the battle. Quite frankly, I didn't follow it really well, but Jimmy said it was very well done. I did get the point that Custer was outmanned, outmaneuvered, and just plain out old fashioned beaten at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Once we watched the video, we strolled up the hill toward the two monuments. Shortly after the actual battle, soldiers who had been with the army which launched the attack, but separated from the main body, came onto the field of battle and saw the dead. They buried the soldiers in shallow graves and marked the graves. Two years later, all of the bodies were dug up and reinterred under a monument which stands on a hilltop overlooking the battlefield. The native Americans had not lost so many, but the monument to their dead was not erected until much later (I'll look up the actual date and put it in here as soon as I can). The National Park was originally named for General Custer. Under the senior Bush administration, the name was changed to the Battle of the Little Big Horn, thus honoring all who fought and died there. On the hillside between the original monument and the visitor center are crosses marking the original graves of many of the soldiers. The ranger (who, by the way was Native American - Crow Nation) told us that Custer had actually died at a place at the foot of the monument, but his marker had been moved as it was feared that tourists would carry off pieces of the marker (the area is surrounded by a fence). Of course, many of the officers who were killed at that battle are not interred in the mass grave, but were returned to be buried at a site selected by their families. General Custer is buried at West Point.
After we left the park. we headed the RV south. We got to Wellington, CO and spent the night. They have lots of black flies!!! Luckily I had a package of Corky's BBQ in the freezer, so we had that for dinner, watched a little NASCAR, and hit the sack.
Anyway, we had a comfortable night in Billings and got up in the morning to head south towards Colorado, with a short sidetrip to the Battle of the Little Big Horn Memorial. It is a part of the National Park Service, so in we went on Jimmy's Golden Age Passport. I don't know how much he spent on that pass when he and Garrie made one of their trips to Virginia, but I suspect it paid for itself many times over on this trip. The only national park where we had to pay any entrance fee was the one in Alberta, Canada. I guess it makes sense that they would not honor a US National Park Service pass.
Anyway, the Little Big Horn Memorial is just off interstate 94 in Montana. We had missed it on the way out because the highway we had planned to take was under construction and we had to take a detour that caused us to enter Billings 40 miles north of the site. I guess I didn't really kmow what to expect - not being a really big history buff. But, we parked the RV and cranked the generator for the kitties and off we went.
The site is a national cemetery. I believe the ranger told us that the cemetery had been closed 12 or 15 years. Basically, that means that it had reached capacity with veterans who wished to be interred there. We pulled up to the visitor center just as they were starting a 17 minute video to give the history of the battle. Quite frankly, I didn't follow it really well, but Jimmy said it was very well done. I did get the point that Custer was outmanned, outmaneuvered, and just plain out old fashioned beaten at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.
Once we watched the video, we strolled up the hill toward the two monuments. Shortly after the actual battle, soldiers who had been with the army which launched the attack, but separated from the main body, came onto the field of battle and saw the dead. They buried the soldiers in shallow graves and marked the graves. Two years later, all of the bodies were dug up and reinterred under a monument which stands on a hilltop overlooking the battlefield. The native Americans had not lost so many, but the monument to their dead was not erected until much later (I'll look up the actual date and put it in here as soon as I can). The National Park was originally named for General Custer. Under the senior Bush administration, the name was changed to the Battle of the Little Big Horn, thus honoring all who fought and died there. On the hillside between the original monument and the visitor center are crosses marking the original graves of many of the soldiers. The ranger (who, by the way was Native American - Crow Nation) told us that Custer had actually died at a place at the foot of the monument, but his marker had been moved as it was feared that tourists would carry off pieces of the marker (the area is surrounded by a fence). Of course, many of the officers who were killed at that battle are not interred in the mass grave, but were returned to be buried at a site selected by their families. General Custer is buried at West Point.
After we left the park. we headed the RV south. We got to Wellington, CO and spent the night. They have lots of black flies!!! Luckily I had a package of Corky's BBQ in the freezer, so we had that for dinner, watched a little NASCAR, and hit the sack.
Day 20 - On the Road Home
There really isn't anything to report today, other than that we are on the way home. We got to Billings, MT today and stayed at the same KOA we stayed in on the way out. It is a long way with very little interstate. What we have found interesting is that even the two lane highways out here have maximum speed limits which are higher than (or equal to) the interstate speed limits at home!!! Interstate upper limit is 75, but it is 70 on most of the two lane highways. We set the cruise control at 60 and try to maximize miles per gallon!!!
We are kind of in awe of the numbers of people we saw at all of the places we visited on this trip. It did not seem to us that the gasoline prices have kept many people home. When we went over the Going to the Sun Road, it was full and almost all of the parking areas were packed. I am sure that there is some decline in travel, but it seems like the people from the states around Montana were out in force. I guess they didn't have as far to go as we did.
However, I am still concerned about the people who live out here with the high fuel prices. Children have to travel long distances to get to school. The fields have to be plowed, planted, and picked. Cows have to be herded. Grasses have to be grown, cut and bailed for hay. Mail has to be delivered. Emergency services have to be provided. With fuel over $4.00/gallon, I hate to know what the price of bread and hamburger meat is going to be in the near future.
And, for all of the politicians talking about using alternative fuels - electric cars will not go as far on one charge as these folks have to drive just to get their child to school. This is a problem that needs to be fixed.
And that is my political statement for today.
We are kind of in awe of the numbers of people we saw at all of the places we visited on this trip. It did not seem to us that the gasoline prices have kept many people home. When we went over the Going to the Sun Road, it was full and almost all of the parking areas were packed. I am sure that there is some decline in travel, but it seems like the people from the states around Montana were out in force. I guess they didn't have as far to go as we did.
However, I am still concerned about the people who live out here with the high fuel prices. Children have to travel long distances to get to school. The fields have to be plowed, planted, and picked. Cows have to be herded. Grasses have to be grown, cut and bailed for hay. Mail has to be delivered. Emergency services have to be provided. With fuel over $4.00/gallon, I hate to know what the price of bread and hamburger meat is going to be in the near future.
And, for all of the politicians talking about using alternative fuels - electric cars will not go as far on one charge as these folks have to drive just to get their child to school. This is a problem that needs to be fixed.
And that is my political statement for today.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Day 19 - Going to the Sun Road
I am going to have a really hard time describing today. I'm almost tempted to let the pictures speak for themselves. But, since I don't know when I will be able to upload the pictures, I'll go ahead and give you some impressions of the day.
For the last two days, I have been downloading audios from the iTunes store regarding
Glacier National Park. These podcasts are free. Some are video. It is something that was developed by the park to assist travelers who are taking the new park shuttles through the park vs. driving their own cars or taking the red jammers that are available (commercial tour company). We had decided to drive, but I thought having the podcasts would be beneficial to our knowing what we were seeing. And, they were. So, if you are planning a trip out here or to Yosemite, you might want to download the podcasts while you have a strong internet connection. We would up stopping in at the information center where they have the entire set of videos and audios on a cd that takes about 6 minutes to upload to your pc. That after me spending about an hour just trying to get the audio podcasts!!! Well, you live and learn.
Our drive up to Logan Pass was pretty much what we had done the first day we were in the park. My pictures of that section are from the top down, but I'll try to fix that when I get the pictures organized.
It was the approach to Logan Pass which brought all of the concerns about the roads into perspective. We went through one pass on the approach to the visitors center where there were mountains of snow on either side of the road. It looked just like some of the pictures that are posted on Glacier National Park's web site (go visit that site for a lot more information about the park). Then, we got to the visitors center. There was snow everywhere and it wasn't cold enough to anything other than shorts and shirts. We climbed up on the snow mass behind the visitors' center and watched a group of ladies hook up their cross country skies and snow shoes. There is supposed to be a fairly easy hike (via a boardwalk) up to the glacier. Well, the boardwalk was not there. Just snow. We just decided to enjoy the view from where we were. Now, the trip down the little snowmass was a little cold. I'm scared to death of falling, so I just went ahead and sat down and slid down the little hill. A lot of ladies my age agreed that was the preferred way to come down - that vs. falling and breaking something. Of course, Jimmy was totally embarrassed!!! And, my seat was wet for a long time.
When we got to the parking lot, I spotted a herd of mountain goats heading down the mountain across the street from the visitors' center. There was a man with a spotting scope right next to us. He let us look through the scope. Boy, those mountain goats needed a bath and some hair conditioner!!! The gentleman with the scope was leading a group of people looking for wild life in the park. All of his charges had gone to the rest rooms. So, he told us what he would have told them.
We head from the pass down the west side of the mountain. We had just gotten around the first two bends, when we decided to park and take some pictures of the waterfalls and scenery. When we looked back towards the visitors' center, the entire highway going both ways was blocked. Either the same, or a new, herd of goats were trying to get across the road. Our podcasts had just told us to stay out of their way and to give them plenty of room when they were in the area. The male goat was just running back and forth trying to find a way for his flock to get down and across. They finally gave up and just went back up the hill. You couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
There are a lot of pictures that will be uploaded that show the beauty of the park and the waterfalls. There was one area called the weeping wall where, if you were going west, you got wet. We laughed about all of the motorcyclists who didn't read about the weeping wall who were going to get soaked. The weeping wall was man made, in a sense. When they cut the road through, the blasting created this wall of stone where the waterfalls just spill their water onto the road.
There will be a lot of pictures showing the area where the road isn't. Yes, there is a long area where the left side (the side next to the fall away) isn't. There are a lot of big pieces of equipment and big piles of rocks blocking the road, creating a one way street. We had to wait about 15 minutes on the downhill trek until it was the westward bound side's turn. The winter slides had literally obliterated sections of the retaining walls and highway. Thank you Glacier National Park for making that section one way.
On down the mountain we go to Apgar Village where we decide to have lunch. I had forgotten to tell you that Yellowstone has much superior food service to Glacier. When we stopped to have lunch at the East Glacier hotel on day 17, we went into the dining room only to be told that there would be a 20 minute wait for a table. There were at least 80 tables available!!! We went to the lounge and had our food within 20 minutes. Today, it took about 40 minutes to deliver a hamburger at the end of the lunch hour. We never waited in line for fast food in Yellowstone longer than about 5 minutes!!!! So, heads up when you come to Glacier. Bring snacks or be prepared for long waits.
Once lunch was over, we headed out of the west entrance to the park to find diesel fuel for the Jeep. It was about 10 miles north before we saw a green pump handle. And, the price was back in the reasonable range (it is about $5.00/gallon today in St. Mary).
We made the decision to go back over the Going to the Sun Road instead of heading south around the south end of the park. It was just as beautiful going east as it was coming west. We did see two long horned sheep. There is no picture though. There was no place to pull over. So, you will just have to trust me that we saw two and you will have to look them up in a book or on the internet to see what they look like.
The rest of the trip back to St. Mary was fairly uneventful. Again, the trip is in the pictures, which I cannot upload until I have a real wifi network vs. a satellite link.
Tomorrow, we head back towards Mississippi. I don't know how often I will update the blog on the trip home. There are a couple of stops that I know we will be making. Plus, we are going to listen to the unabridged version of the Ambrose book Undaunted Courage. I'll have both the abridged and unabridged versions if anyone would like to borrow them!!!
For the last two days, I have been downloading audios from the iTunes store regarding
Glacier National Park. These podcasts are free. Some are video. It is something that was developed by the park to assist travelers who are taking the new park shuttles through the park vs. driving their own cars or taking the red jammers that are available (commercial tour company). We had decided to drive, but I thought having the podcasts would be beneficial to our knowing what we were seeing. And, they were. So, if you are planning a trip out here or to Yosemite, you might want to download the podcasts while you have a strong internet connection. We would up stopping in at the information center where they have the entire set of videos and audios on a cd that takes about 6 minutes to upload to your pc. That after me spending about an hour just trying to get the audio podcasts!!! Well, you live and learn.
Our drive up to Logan Pass was pretty much what we had done the first day we were in the park. My pictures of that section are from the top down, but I'll try to fix that when I get the pictures organized.
It was the approach to Logan Pass which brought all of the concerns about the roads into perspective. We went through one pass on the approach to the visitors center where there were mountains of snow on either side of the road. It looked just like some of the pictures that are posted on Glacier National Park's web site (go visit that site for a lot more information about the park). Then, we got to the visitors center. There was snow everywhere and it wasn't cold enough to anything other than shorts and shirts. We climbed up on the snow mass behind the visitors' center and watched a group of ladies hook up their cross country skies and snow shoes. There is supposed to be a fairly easy hike (via a boardwalk) up to the glacier. Well, the boardwalk was not there. Just snow. We just decided to enjoy the view from where we were. Now, the trip down the little snowmass was a little cold. I'm scared to death of falling, so I just went ahead and sat down and slid down the little hill. A lot of ladies my age agreed that was the preferred way to come down - that vs. falling and breaking something. Of course, Jimmy was totally embarrassed!!! And, my seat was wet for a long time.
When we got to the parking lot, I spotted a herd of mountain goats heading down the mountain across the street from the visitors' center. There was a man with a spotting scope right next to us. He let us look through the scope. Boy, those mountain goats needed a bath and some hair conditioner!!! The gentleman with the scope was leading a group of people looking for wild life in the park. All of his charges had gone to the rest rooms. So, he told us what he would have told them.
We head from the pass down the west side of the mountain. We had just gotten around the first two bends, when we decided to park and take some pictures of the waterfalls and scenery. When we looked back towards the visitors' center, the entire highway going both ways was blocked. Either the same, or a new, herd of goats were trying to get across the road. Our podcasts had just told us to stay out of their way and to give them plenty of room when they were in the area. The male goat was just running back and forth trying to find a way for his flock to get down and across. They finally gave up and just went back up the hill. You couldn't help but feel sorry for them.
There are a lot of pictures that will be uploaded that show the beauty of the park and the waterfalls. There was one area called the weeping wall where, if you were going west, you got wet. We laughed about all of the motorcyclists who didn't read about the weeping wall who were going to get soaked. The weeping wall was man made, in a sense. When they cut the road through, the blasting created this wall of stone where the waterfalls just spill their water onto the road.
There will be a lot of pictures showing the area where the road isn't. Yes, there is a long area where the left side (the side next to the fall away) isn't. There are a lot of big pieces of equipment and big piles of rocks blocking the road, creating a one way street. We had to wait about 15 minutes on the downhill trek until it was the westward bound side's turn. The winter slides had literally obliterated sections of the retaining walls and highway. Thank you Glacier National Park for making that section one way.
On down the mountain we go to Apgar Village where we decide to have lunch. I had forgotten to tell you that Yellowstone has much superior food service to Glacier. When we stopped to have lunch at the East Glacier hotel on day 17, we went into the dining room only to be told that there would be a 20 minute wait for a table. There were at least 80 tables available!!! We went to the lounge and had our food within 20 minutes. Today, it took about 40 minutes to deliver a hamburger at the end of the lunch hour. We never waited in line for fast food in Yellowstone longer than about 5 minutes!!!! So, heads up when you come to Glacier. Bring snacks or be prepared for long waits.
Once lunch was over, we headed out of the west entrance to the park to find diesel fuel for the Jeep. It was about 10 miles north before we saw a green pump handle. And, the price was back in the reasonable range (it is about $5.00/gallon today in St. Mary).
We made the decision to go back over the Going to the Sun Road instead of heading south around the south end of the park. It was just as beautiful going east as it was coming west. We did see two long horned sheep. There is no picture though. There was no place to pull over. So, you will just have to trust me that we saw two and you will have to look them up in a book or on the internet to see what they look like.
The rest of the trip back to St. Mary was fairly uneventful. Again, the trip is in the pictures, which I cannot upload until I have a real wifi network vs. a satellite link.
Tomorrow, we head back towards Mississippi. I don't know how often I will update the blog on the trip home. There are a couple of stops that I know we will be making. Plus, we are going to listen to the unabridged version of the Ambrose book Undaunted Courage. I'll have both the abridged and unabridged versions if anyone would like to borrow them!!!
Day 18 - Glacier National Park
Two things before I being to tell you about our day headed north.
So, on to Many Glaciers - a part of Glacier National Park and the site of one of the old hotels that were built during the heydays of the railroads. There are great pictures which will be uploaded as soon as I can. You cannot believe that there were trees that they were able to cut down to build these hotels. The lobbies are phenomenal. We did see a number of deer and goats and one moose while in the hotel area. In fact, I thought the goats were going to just come right up to us. They were across the road and just walked right on down into the highway and right on across to where we were. Deer are so frequent in the area that you just quit taking pictures of them (kind of like bison in Yellowstone). Now, the moose picture is from the rear. We saw the moose from the side, but before I could get the camera out, he had turned away from us. I took the picture anyway to prove that we saw a moose.
Our next destination was Canada. Let me tell you now, sign your passports. It was quite embarrassing to have the young man at Canadian customs tell us that we needed to sign them in order for them to be valid. He let us in. But, we pulled over at the next pull out area and signed the passports.
Our ultimate destination was the Prince of Wales Hotel and Waterton Village Townsite. We had seen pictures of the Prince of Wales Hotel on many PBS specials. The tv specials do not prepare you for the real hotel. Now, it is smaller than we expected, but it is so cute. It has more decorations on it than any we have ever seen. The most interesting thing was going on in the lobby of the hotel. With the most spectacular views of the lake, people were enjoying high tea. I felt underdressed - although most of the people enjoying tea were in shorts and blue jeans - just like we were. The hotel had been built for the enjoyment of its guests - as all of their dining room areas were overlooking the lake.
Of course, we had to drive down into Waterton Village Townsite - who could resist an area with such a name. It was the most beautiful little village. There was so much green space. The shops were quaint. The people had neat accents. The ice cream was delicious. Deer were everywhere!!! We sat down to eat our ice cream right across the street from where we sat. In fact, I walked across the street and right up to the little deer who was cutting the grass right in the center of the town. We saw lots of other deer throughout the town, just mowing the grass and saving the city lots of money!!!
Oh, by the way, at breakfast this morning, we were told that the Going to the Sun Road was open. We made a conscious decision to delay our trip across to allow any bad sections on the road to be tested by some other cars before we go up there. And, hopefully, the sun will come out and we can have the best of all days in Glacier National Park!!! Keep your fingers crossed and I'll get the pictures uploaded as soon as possible.
- This KOA where we are staying has satellite internet. To say that it is sketchy is an understatement. It takes forever to load the pictures, so I will have to play catch up when we get to a place to overnight that really has wifi connectivity!!!!
- Last night, there was a very interesting event. About 10:30 pm (local time - 11:30 pm our time), we thought we were under attack again. Remember, it was July 1. I have no idea why, but the KOA put on about a 10 minute fireworks display. And I mean big fireworks. Some college students we talked to the next day said that they sat on the roof of the building where they stay to watch the display. Needless to say, the cats went into hiding when the first boom sounded. I tried to go with them, until I realized it was fireworks.
So, on to Many Glaciers - a part of Glacier National Park and the site of one of the old hotels that were built during the heydays of the railroads. There are great pictures which will be uploaded as soon as I can. You cannot believe that there were trees that they were able to cut down to build these hotels. The lobbies are phenomenal. We did see a number of deer and goats and one moose while in the hotel area. In fact, I thought the goats were going to just come right up to us. They were across the road and just walked right on down into the highway and right on across to where we were. Deer are so frequent in the area that you just quit taking pictures of them (kind of like bison in Yellowstone). Now, the moose picture is from the rear. We saw the moose from the side, but before I could get the camera out, he had turned away from us. I took the picture anyway to prove that we saw a moose.
Our next destination was Canada. Let me tell you now, sign your passports. It was quite embarrassing to have the young man at Canadian customs tell us that we needed to sign them in order for them to be valid. He let us in. But, we pulled over at the next pull out area and signed the passports.
Our ultimate destination was the Prince of Wales Hotel and Waterton Village Townsite. We had seen pictures of the Prince of Wales Hotel on many PBS specials. The tv specials do not prepare you for the real hotel. Now, it is smaller than we expected, but it is so cute. It has more decorations on it than any we have ever seen. The most interesting thing was going on in the lobby of the hotel. With the most spectacular views of the lake, people were enjoying high tea. I felt underdressed - although most of the people enjoying tea were in shorts and blue jeans - just like we were. The hotel had been built for the enjoyment of its guests - as all of their dining room areas were overlooking the lake.
Of course, we had to drive down into Waterton Village Townsite - who could resist an area with such a name. It was the most beautiful little village. There was so much green space. The shops were quaint. The people had neat accents. The ice cream was delicious. Deer were everywhere!!! We sat down to eat our ice cream right across the street from where we sat. In fact, I walked across the street and right up to the little deer who was cutting the grass right in the center of the town. We saw lots of other deer throughout the town, just mowing the grass and saving the city lots of money!!!
Oh, by the way, at breakfast this morning, we were told that the Going to the Sun Road was open. We made a conscious decision to delay our trip across to allow any bad sections on the road to be tested by some other cars before we go up there. And, hopefully, the sun will come out and we can have the best of all days in Glacier National Park!!! Keep your fingers crossed and I'll get the pictures uploaded as soon as possible.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Day 17 - Glacier National Park
We woke during the night to a pretty good storm. Rain for sure. We thought we heard some hail. With rv's on both sides of us though, and with the contour of the land in this park, we didn't have any problem with wind.
But, when we got up this morning, it was still rainy and really gloomy. The people to our right were about to leave. I remembered that they had been in the KOA in Billings one night that we were there. The lady was complaining that everywhere they had been, it had rained. And, apparently, not just a little bit of rain. She said that they were in Billings hoping to dry out!!! Anyway, since the Going-to-the-Sun road was not open all the way across, they were pulling their fifth wheel trailer around the south of the park to the west side in order to drive up the road as far as they could go from there.
Jimmy and I get in the car and head to the local supermarket (and I use that term really loosely) to find some benadryl pills and cream. I apparently have been bit by some bug or am allergic to something that I have touched. I have two places on the shoulder which are bumpy and hurt. I actually think it is because I was taking ibupropen - which will give you hives or shingles in some cases. I've quit taking the ibupropen, but the still neck for which I was taking it now actually hurts all the time!!! Really pitiful - aren't I!!!!
Anyway, we head south on highway 89 to highway 49 to go to the Two Medicine entrance to the park. There really isn't much there other than another tour boat, a campground and a general store. It was rainy, but I did take a couple of pictures out the window of the general store.
There are a lot of tent campers out here. I would not enjoy that - especially in weather like we had last night and today!!!
From Two Medicine, we head further south to East Glacier. East Glacier is a little town on the railroad. There is a wonderful railroad hotel across from the railroad station. There have been a lot of PBS shows about the railroad hotels that were built way back when the railroads were the only way to get here. We didn't see any passenger trains, but we did see a number of freight trains running by the park on the south.
Our final stop today was at Goat Lick Overlook. We did not know what to expect other than what Jimmy had read on the internet. There are some cliffs on the other side of the river from the overlook which the mountain goats in the area lick! We saw a mother goat and her two babies going down the cliff to the place where they could reach the rock formation. It was so cute to see the little goats straining to get to the minerals. Luckily we had our binoculars. There were people lined up to look through our binoculars. I did get some pictures. You can see the little white dots on the cliff - those are the mountain goats.
We went back to the hotel at East Glacier for lunch. You will not believe the pictures of the interior of that hotel. I couldn't believe the place, and I was there. There are whole, tall trees holding up the lobby. Big trees. They run about three stories high. I don't know if any of the pictures will give you a true perspective. I did one series of three photos starting at the front door, then raised the camera to get the area just above the front door and raised it one more time to get the wall up to the top. My daddy used to take pictures of airplanes like that - you would have to take two or three pictures and overlap them to see the entire airplane!!!!
Hopefully the weather will clear tomorrow and I will feel a whole bunch better.
But, when we got up this morning, it was still rainy and really gloomy. The people to our right were about to leave. I remembered that they had been in the KOA in Billings one night that we were there. The lady was complaining that everywhere they had been, it had rained. And, apparently, not just a little bit of rain. She said that they were in Billings hoping to dry out!!! Anyway, since the Going-to-the-Sun road was not open all the way across, they were pulling their fifth wheel trailer around the south of the park to the west side in order to drive up the road as far as they could go from there.
Jimmy and I get in the car and head to the local supermarket (and I use that term really loosely) to find some benadryl pills and cream. I apparently have been bit by some bug or am allergic to something that I have touched. I have two places on the shoulder which are bumpy and hurt. I actually think it is because I was taking ibupropen - which will give you hives or shingles in some cases. I've quit taking the ibupropen, but the still neck for which I was taking it now actually hurts all the time!!! Really pitiful - aren't I!!!!
Anyway, we head south on highway 89 to highway 49 to go to the Two Medicine entrance to the park. There really isn't much there other than another tour boat, a campground and a general store. It was rainy, but I did take a couple of pictures out the window of the general store.
There are a lot of tent campers out here. I would not enjoy that - especially in weather like we had last night and today!!!
From Two Medicine, we head further south to East Glacier. East Glacier is a little town on the railroad. There is a wonderful railroad hotel across from the railroad station. There have been a lot of PBS shows about the railroad hotels that were built way back when the railroads were the only way to get here. We didn't see any passenger trains, but we did see a number of freight trains running by the park on the south.
Our final stop today was at Goat Lick Overlook. We did not know what to expect other than what Jimmy had read on the internet. There are some cliffs on the other side of the river from the overlook which the mountain goats in the area lick! We saw a mother goat and her two babies going down the cliff to the place where they could reach the rock formation. It was so cute to see the little goats straining to get to the minerals. Luckily we had our binoculars. There were people lined up to look through our binoculars. I did get some pictures. You can see the little white dots on the cliff - those are the mountain goats.
We went back to the hotel at East Glacier for lunch. You will not believe the pictures of the interior of that hotel. I couldn't believe the place, and I was there. There are whole, tall trees holding up the lobby. Big trees. They run about three stories high. I don't know if any of the pictures will give you a true perspective. I did one series of three photos starting at the front door, then raised the camera to get the area just above the front door and raised it one more time to get the wall up to the top. My daddy used to take pictures of airplanes like that - you would have to take two or three pictures and overlap them to see the entire airplane!!!!
Hopefully the weather will clear tomorrow and I will feel a whole bunch better.
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