Day 7 Glacier National Park Day One

Got out of bed and went to the Whistle Stop Cafe where I had dinner the night before and had an omelet (those seem to be the big thing in Montana) and went to a place called Two Medicine. After paying $25 for a seven day National park pass my first stop was Running Eagle Falls. To get to them you have to walk a few hundred yards in the woods down a trail. Well now I have to pause and tell you that EVERYONE that I had talked to in Montana and Texas too had said "When you go into the park watch for bears!!!!!" So now I am nervously walking down this trail and making all kinds stupid noises to scare the bears away. Scuffing my feet, rattling my keys, clearing my throat which I later figured sounded more like a mating grunt and would do more to attract them than scare them away.

I get to the end of the trail to an open area and can see the falls in the distance. Between me and the falls though is a shallow river but over to my right is a bridge made from trees. Cool! I then see a movement to my left and look across the river to see a black bear cub, then another followed by MOM!!! Every sphincter muscle in my body tightened so tight that there was no chance of anything escaping. I have of course watched all the National Geographic specials and Discovery Channel shows on staying away from bears and especially a mom with cubs as she will be very protective and kill you!

Here are the cubs.
I did not run screaming like a girl in the other direction being sure that I would then become breakfast for mom and a training mission for the cubs. I did however back away and around a group of trees and began fervently taking pictures. Never miss a photo-op! I snapped away getting the cubs and mom until they disappeared into the underbrush on an islet between me and the falls. I went around to the bridge and saw some people coming back and told them of my historic find being of course the first person to ever see a bear in the park! Even showed them one of the photos I took. I went across the bridge and to the side of the river. I saw the bears come out of the brush and they started feeding on what I was later told was probably huckleberries. They fed there for about 45 minutes and then either got full or tired of being watched and got up and left.

OH! The falls. Interesting falls. The falls were beautiful. It had the usual over the top falls but then what could be best described as a mouth below the other falls from which gushed another falls. Very interesting trying to figure out how the earth had been carved away for that to happen.

I took 95 photos of the bears and maybe a dozen of the falls.

Went from the falls/bears on down to Two Medicine Lake to see what was there.
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At this point I have to pause to leave Glacier National Park. I'll pick up again when I get to Billings Later today.
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July 25th
So I did not do anything more here while in Billings as I got a case of the lazies. Now that I am back in San Angelo Texas I will pick up where I left off before all the memories blur.
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I moved on down to Two Medicine Lake which I later found out used to be the high-point of a visit to the eastern portion of Glacier. That is back when the access was by train and then horseback. After "Going to the Sun Road" opened the areas farther in the park became more interesting I guess and interest in Two Medicine waned. Which would explain why the boat ride at Two Medicine is $11.50 and the boat at St. Mary is $22.00 per person.

I did the normal run through the tourist shop and then went to the lakes edge to see what there was. I had seen the mountain from around the trees and in the distance from the village but to round the corner and see this group this close was wonderful. I got my camera up and start taking my National Geographic moments (to hell with Kodak!). I took around fifty pictures from different angles and then wandered around the area a bit just admiring the view of the area.

You have to understand that though I have traveled a lot in my life and have seen many different sets of mountains on several different continents each has its own beauty and uniqueness that can just make you want to sit and stare at them for a while. I will say that even as traveled as I am it is impossible to soak in the full feeling of the area. All you can do is appreciate it and try to feel the impact of it on your soul.

I decided to go on back to the Mountain Pine Motel where I was staying for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday to look at the maps and guide books I had found or been handed. I had not really looked at them yet and needed to do so to get an idea of where all I could go.

Day 6 Billings Getting ready to drive and then...

Really just spent the day getting stuff ready and waiting till 5 to pick up the rental car.

Good story there though.

Went to Dollar Rental to pick up the Dodge Charger or equivalent and as I expected no Charger. But a free upgrade o a Durango! Cool! More room for me to be comfortable. Damn the MPG full steam ahead! Did all the required paperwork and walked the 1/2 mile to the truck. Walked around it and did not notice anything of note. Got in and started it and a low tire warning light came on and the tank was half full. Drive to the desk and told the girl inside the problems. She came outside with me and we found the nail in the tire. Problem with that is that it was after five at that point and no way to get the tire fixed today. She traded me to a Malibu. After folding myself into the Malibu I went back to the desk and told/asked her to find a way to get the Durango repaired and refilled so I could pick it up in the morning. She made a call and the decision making manager was gone for the day. So she told me she would email said manager and let her know what I wanted.

Next morning at 7.15 I called the manager and appealed to her nice side and she told me she would get it done a soon as she could.

I went ahead and packed the car with my stuff and headed out to a place downtown named Stellas Kitchen to get some breakfast. Asked for coffee and OJ to start things off. The OJ was advertised as fresh squeezed and I thought okay whatever. When my waitress (note how I now own her) brought it out it was really the juice of about 3 oranges just squeezed. Amazing flavor. Might have to get a juicer when I get home.

While eating my 3 egg Denver omelet I got a call from Dollar and was told that the truck was ready and I could pick it up anytime. I was surprised since it was only 8.30 and I was expecting it to be at least 9.30 before I heard from them.

Found the downtown rental place where it was and they had washed it, gassed it up and fixed the nailed tire!

Did the paperwork again, transferred all my stuff to the truck and hit the road for Glacier National Park!

520 miles later and after one very brief but strong rain storm outside of Helena and another milder one at Grand Falls I got to East Glacier Park Village Montana. The first rain storm was so intense that I could not see past my hood at one point. So I slowed to 40mph until it cleared a minute or so later. Like I said, brief but intense. Overall the drive was pleasant with the expansive beauty of the mountains in the distance and the drive through the rolling plains of central Montana.

After only making one 50 mile wrong turn (I was busy taking pictures of the town I was supposed to have turned at) I got to East Glacier Park Village and in it found the Mountain Pine Motel. Cute little place with bare necessities, bed, bathroom, small TV - 3 channels - and internet now and then. $67/night. Not bad! I could only stay there Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Now I need to let you know that my plan is to stay in Glacier National Park area from Tuesday the 14th through Monday the 20th. So room availability was kind of important. But I am ever the optimist and knew that I would be able to stay somewhere and not in the truck. As it worked out I had those three nights at the Mountain Pine Motel, then Friday night at the Sears Motel up the street (again $67/night) then I found a Hostel across the street from the Sears motel for $23.50/night! I wish I had known about it prior to coming as I would have booked my entire stay there. The comforts would have been about the same except I had a community bathroom and no TV. No big deal! Only real complaint was the on-again/off-again internet and the one inch thick pillows. Made side sleeping a bit rough. But 2 nights there cost me less than what one night was elsewhere.

Getting there as late as I did I just found food and then relaxed in the room. Making plans for the mornings travels.

Day 5 Billings on Sunday

Did not do much of anything today. Went to Wal-Mart and picked up a suitcase to use rather than try to manage the cardboard shipping boxes I used to send my clothes etc. to Billings from San Angelo.

On that I want to note that I have started shipping my clothes via USPS to my forthcoming location. Yea I know it cost more to do that but doing that guarantees that the airline will not lose my stuff and I can send some things more easily that way that may cause the airlines to strip search the box leaving behind an oh so courteous note saying that for my security they felt the need to open and look through my stuff. It also allows me to send larger things that may not fit into a suitcase like my yoga mat and camera tripod. So mail your stuff to where you are going.

After finishing the WM trip where I noticed that the Montana WalMartians were really not so different from the Texas WalMartians we went back to the house.

Carolyn washed my dirty clothes and I packed the into my new suitcase which can even hold my yoga mat and tripod for the trip home!

Watched the Sunday night line-up and went to sleep.