DAY 11-13~ GLACIER NATIONAL PARK (May 28 – 30)

Glacier National Park borders Alberta, Canada.  Glacier NP runs into Canada’s Waterton Lakes National Park.  Together the two of them are called Waterton Glacier International Peace Park.

We spent three nights camped just outside the west side of Glacier NP in a town called West Glacier.  We stayed in the KOA and this is an excellent RV park with great views of the mountains.  It was very stormy the day of our arrival and we were treated to a beautiful double rainbow on our first evening.

The best part of Glacier National Park is traveling the winding “Going-to-the-Sun” road to the the highest point of this park (6,646 feet).  This is the only road that ventures deep into the park, going over the Continental Divide and connects to St. Mary, the east side of Glacier.  However, this time of the year that road is closed as well as most of the visitor centers and the lodges inside the park.  We are here early in the season and snow is still being plowed on this pass.  For us it is the best time to be here.  There is no traffic and no crowds.  We drove around the southern tip of the park and up the east side into Canada and visited Alberta’s Waterton National Park.  Canada’s national parks have towns and residents inside the park.  We saw big horn sheep and elk feeding and lying on lawns in front of resident homes that are inside the park.  Obviously these people cannot enjoy any kind of gardens on their property.

Big Horn Sheep

Elk resting in a city park

Prince of Wales Hotel

Chief Mountain – International boundary of US and Canada.

At the west entrance of Glacier NP, everything around Lake McDonald was open, including the big lodge.  We had a very nice meal there and enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  Despite it being very windy that first day, parts of the lake was very calm.  The reflections of the mountains and clouds on that lake were beautiful and magical.

The skies were clear and the sun was brilliant on our last day.  Instead of being in the 50’s as the last two days were, it was warm and in the high 60’s.  It was a gorgeous and peaceful day.  We drove north outside of the park to a town called Polebridge.  This is a one building town with a few scattered homes and a long, narrow, mostly dirt road leading to it.  That one building is called Polebridge Mercantile and it has the best bakery inside with lots of delicious sweets made with Huckleberry.  We enjoyed the biggest, best tasting Huckleberry Bearclaw you will ever see and taste.  

On our way back to West Glacier we enjoyed a great view of the mountains while driving the “Outside North Fork Road”.

Before enjoying a delicious dinner at the Lake McDonald Lodge, we rented a motorboat and circled one corner of Lake McDonald for an hour.

Relaxing before dinner

A perfect ending to a wonderful day. 

Tomorrow we head for Canada for a long day traveling 350 miles.  We will spend the next several days in Banff and Jasper, Alberta. 

DAY 9-10 ~ MONTANA (May 26 – 27)

We spent two nights in MISSOULA.  Captain Clark of Lewis and Clark came through this valley before it became Missoula.  The river that runs through the city is named Clark Fork River.  We spent some time walking along this river at Caras Park.  Nearby is “A Carousel for Missoula”.  That was the promise that cabinet –maker Chuck Kaparich made to the city council in 1991.  He already had carved 4 carousel ponies and purchased an antique frame in thousands of pieces.  Kaparich had taught others how to carve and mechanics began the process of restoring 16,066 pieces of an antique frame and motor.  The whole city got involved in this project.  Horses were sponsored and designed by the people and organizations and school children collected over one million pennies to adopt 4 ponies.

The Clark Fork River was really raging.  I think it is like this all the time because there are several river rafting tours in this area.  There is one rapid in this area called Brennan’s Wave.  Brennan’s Wave is an engineered whitewater masterpiece and named after a world class kayaker who died in Chili.  This man-made wave gives kayakers and surfers a place to play.  There were several surfers playing there when we walked by.  It was really interesting.  They were surfing (facing upstream), but staying in place.  When they wiped out the river took them down stream.

Our next destination is Glacier National Park near the Canadian border.

DAY 5-8 ~ NORTHERN IDAHO (May 22 – 25)

Boise to Grangeville, Idaho

DAY 5 ~ Grangeville, ID (May 22)

It was a 4 hour drive to this stop.  There is nothing here exciting to visit.  It’s just an overnight stop to break up the drive to Coeur d Alene; our last stop in Idaho.

Grangeville to Coeur d Alene

DAY 6-8 ~ Coeur d Alene, ID (May 23 - 25)

Coeur d’ Alene means “heart of an awl”.  It was named by French-speaking traders who also named the Coeur d’ Alene Indian Tribe.  One theory for the name is that trappers considered the local Indian tribe to be sharp traders, with the heart of an awl.  The town sits beside a lake that is fed into by Spokane River.  So a lot of water traffic made this a successful settlement in the late 1800’s.  Today it is a lake resort with lots of nice restaurants and shops.   The Coeur d’ Alene is a fancy resort with a nice boardwalk circling the lake side of the resort and extending out into the lake. 

Mudgy Moose  There are 5 of these scattered along the riverfront.

I found a bead shop...but it was closed.

That’s Dave’s reflection in the window.

We are staying in nearby Post Falls, the gateway to North Idaho.  Post Falls is known as Idaho’s River City with the Spokane River in the heart of town.  The highlight of this town is the Falls at Post Falls Dam.

Marmot at Post Falls

SPOKANE was only 30 miles to the west, so we did a day trip there.  We visited the JOHN A. FINCH ARBORETUM.  This garden was founded in 1912, but planting officially began in 1949.  In this garden there are over 2,000 labeled trees and shrubs representing over 600 species and varieties.  It was a beautiful warm day and very peaceful walking through this place.  There are no marked trails.  You just free walk through the grass and under the trees.  There was a whole section of lilac trees in full bloom.  The sweet scent intoxicates you.

Tri-color Beech  and it's leaves.       

Lilac bushes

In downtown Spokane along the Spokane River we strolled through the RIVERFRONT PARK and saw the Spokane River Falls, the Clock Tower and the Red Wagon.

This is an interesting metal sculpture of runners.

Spokane River Falls

Nearby in the town of Mead is a very small zoo called Cat Tails.  It is a sanctuary for rescued big cats.  You know, lions, tigers and bears.  They have two bears too.  Cat Tails is also home to the only school which teaches exclusively zoo-keeping.

Next stop is Montana!