This trip was exhausting, fun, worthwhile, and it'll be quite a few years before I venture all the way to Glacier National Park again.
We started the trip on the morning of the 4th of July driving straight to visit Sheehan's grandparent's Shanda & Don Furniss in Rexburg, ID (Terri Walker's mom and stepdad). They have a huge, beautiful green yard that is just a dream. The kids loved playing on their property after an hour's drive and they especially loved Grandma Furniss' dog also named Lincoln. We had burgers with them then ventured over to Gaye Bush's house who I believe is my Dad's great cousin (Gaye Bush is Uncle Gayle's daughter who is Grandma Marjorie Haub's brother).
We all arrived and parked our campers on Gaye's property and were able to visit with her a time before leaving to get our spot settled at the firework viewing area. The crowd was massive getting to the fireworks but we parked strategically and had our map ready for our escape plan. There was NOT enough food for all the people so that was a disappointment and I had to wait in line for 40 minutes for the port-a-potty. Otherwise, the kids had a great time playing and the firework show was most definitely the largest firework show I've ever seen. The Melaleuca Idaho Falls show does claim to be the biggest firework show west of the Mississippi and I think that was accurate. They had the radio synced to it with presidential quotes and highlights from soldiers. I teared up a little. Devin brought his dog Reeford and Ezra held Reeford while he shook so scared during the firework show. It was so sweet. The firework show was very well done. There were over 100,000 people so it was crazy parking and just an astronomical crowd but so worth it. I'd go again in a year or two and it's only a couple hours away.
Gaye and Her Mother
The next morning we woke up and got on the road to get to Butte, Montana. We kept expecting the weather to get cooler and cooler the farther north we got and that just wasn't the case! I kept reassuring everyone we'd be relieved of this hot July sun once we hit Glacier National Park. It was in the 90's there! I could not believe. We had to cut the trip short from exhaustion dealing with the kids and the heat!
Alyssa, Julianne and I read the book, "Empty Mansions: The Mysterious Life of Huguette Clark and the Spending of a Great American Fortune" for bookclub. One of the mansions she grew up was in Butte, Montana called "The Copper King Mansion" so it was the perfect stop to catch a break and take the tour. The kids were a little restless throughout the tour but I still enjoyed the stop. We ate some popsicles at a local park before getting back on the road again.
The next stop ended up being our FAVORITE and now we know to just stay at this hidden gem and not bother camping in Glacier. Tamarack Resort at Seeley Lake Montana was amazing! You camp right on the lake. They had full hookups (no hookups or cell service in Glacier). I think they even had wifi. We are most definitely going back. It was beautiful! We spent one night here and there was an earthquake that shook the campers. I wasn't sure if we should be worried like a tree was going to fall on us or something but Dad reminded us all we were safer out in nature than inside a building. We spent longer than we intended at Tamarack Resort because it was just that awesome! Beside the mosquitos, (that were rampant everywhere) in Montana and Glacier it was the best part of the trip.
We eventually drove in to Glacier National Park and did our first short hike. Unfortunately the stream we were expecting was all dried up and the "lake" was also about gone so it just looked like a mosquito ridden marshy pond. We ended up at Lake McDonald Fall though which was roaring and beautiful. Shortly after the sun started to set, we had to pick up the kids and run back to cars to get away from the swarms of mosquitos. We managed to get into a restaurant last minute to eat some dinner but we were too late for the ice cream. We piled back in our cars and made our way back to our campsites in Apgar Campground. We found the most difficult part about visiting Glacier is their tram system is overcrowded and their parking lots are also full so it's hard to get out to stop and see the sights. We were additionally a little impatient trying to keep the kids entertained while waiting for trams. Yosemite's tram system is far better than Glacier.
The next day in Glacier we thought we would explore Apgar Village a little but their visitor center was really just a help desk and gift shop. So we got on the tram to head to Logan Pass the midpoint of the park. The views were amazing and fortunately the kids were so wore out they fell asleep (except Lincoln) on the drive up to Logan Pass. In our short time visiting the pass we actually saw quite a bit of wildlife. Ezra decided to throw a tantrum and was so upset he didn't see he was backing up right into a big horned white mountain goat. That was a little scary. Then we saw a crowd gathering and a nice stranger let us look through their binoculars to see a mama grizzly with her baby bear. The visitor center at Logan Pass was again quite small. We didn't trust the kids to be able to scale the snow that was on the mountain trail to a scenic overlook so we skipped that and headed back to get some dinner before going back to the campsite. We ended up at Lake McDonald lodge because we heard of the conspiracy of Hitler living out his years there and that there were swastika's (which there were). The kids enjoyed just throwing rocks into the frigid water on the Lake and the adults enjoyed that we finally had a moment to sit where the kids could just explore and play. Like I said earlier, it was SOOOO unexpectedly HOT and a couple family members were flu-ish so we decided to cut down one day at Glacier and head home early.
We made a pitstop in Missoula, Montana to see the entirely handmade carousel. Again it was so hot, but the kids enjoyed the ride. The men picked up some food at the Notorious P.I.G. restaurant in Missoula which ended up being really, really good! We got on the road again and ended up at the Marriott back in Idaho Falls so we could get real showers and sleep in nice, clean beds before trekking home. We swam in the hotel pool the next morning then headed home.
It was a great trip and we saw a lot in the amount of time we had. The kids were so happy and loved being with their cousins and Poppy and Gigi. It makes me tired just looking back at the pictures but they are good memories.
