Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Our Trip

Sunday we got home from a really fun, week long vacation. Sunday we drove up to Kalispel Montana and stayed in a pretty nice, but old hotel called the Kalispel Grand. We spent the next day exploring the Flathead lake area. That night we drove up to Hungry Horse Montana, right near the entrance to Glacier National Park. Our motel left much to be desired. It is hard to know what you are going to get when you book on the Internet, but there really did not seem to be any nice places to stay in that area at all. Someone really needs to open up a nice 4 star resort up there! They did have a fun playground and a pool which was nice. There is also a lack of good restaurants in the area. We drove for a half hour and got some sushi one night which was really good, however.

For the next two days we hiked and drove through Glacier National Park and WOW, we loved it! It is beautiful with endless amounts of hiking leading to even more beautiful scenery. The first day we did a 4 mile round trip hike to Avalanche lake and tried to fish. (We never catch anything) It took us 4 hours round trip but Zack did great and hardly complained. He is a great little hiker.

The next day we did a 3 mile round trip hike to see 3 amazing waterfalls, each one better than the last. Some deer came and hiked with us too! I was afraid we would run into some bears but we never did. Zack filled out a workbook, interviewed a ranger and was sworn in by oath to be a junior ranger. He was so excited and wore his badge every day for the rest of the trip.

On Wednesday night we pulled into Steve's family farm in Hillspring, Canada. Three of his moms siblings live there and Charles and Bernice are planning on building a log home on the property this year. It is quite remote, the nearest town of Lethbridge one hour away. The farm is nice and quiet and there is not much to do but relax and eat fresh raspberries with cream and sugar. We enjoyed visiting with Steve's family and catching up and on Saturday we took off to go home.

Saturday night we stopped in Idaho Falls to visit my old elementary school Friend Angela Maddock and her family. It was she and Tom's anniversary so we all went out to dinner at a Japanese restaurant to celebrate. We stayed up talking until late in the night and then crashed in their spare bed. It was really enjoyable to see where they live now and nice to break up our trip home.

Sunday, it was back home and back to our lives. We love to travel and see new places but it does feel good to sleep in your own bed! (Below are pictures of our time in Glacier but we forgot to take any pictures in Canada. I am so mad!)

The Flathead Lake Dam in Kalispel Montana
Zack didn't have his swimsuit at the moment so we convinced him that swimming in his big boys was OK
There was a really cool park at the Flathead Lake, there were ladders all along the cement wall you could climb down into the water
The other side of Flathead Lake
This was on our 4 mile hike to a lake in Glacier National Park

This lake is where our hike ended, we fished for a while and ate lunch

A view of the park from the Going-to-the-Sun Road
Waterfalls we saw on our 2nd day of hiking in the park

Mountain goats were all over the side of the road
Zack insisted on swimming in freezing cold Lake McDonald in the park
Zack loved the old school playground at our roach motel, I don't think he had ever even seen one of these!
Our friends Tom and Angela who we stopped to visit on the way home in Idaho