I’ve been off the grid for the last couple of weeks to ADVENTURE! My husband, Craig, couldn’t afford to take anymore vacation this year, so the kids and I packed up the van with camping gear and canoe and traveled to Glacier National Park with pit stops in Northern Idaho and Flathead Lake. It’s almost as if my family settled in a location to provide the best rest stop, restaurant, entertainment, and even provided the cutest 2 month old niece! Meet Mara, perfect and all smiles!
After a couple days of enjoying Mara, I mean family, we drove to Flathead Lake for a night before heading into Glacier. I was so surprised by how HUGE Flathead is, as well as the clarity and perfect swimming temperature. I’m usually a pansy about getting in the water, but was easily persuaded in for an afternoon swim. This photo of the kids reminds me of what I heard someone say while on a trail in Glacier as he was taking a group photo of his kids. He was telling his kids how hard it was to get a photo of them all looking at the camera and smiling (he had two boys). I felt his pain, since almost all of my group photos of the kids have some funny looking face. But once I’m home looking through them all, I prefer the ones with the funny or frowny looks, since it reminds me exactly what each kid was thinking or doing at that time. The memories are (usually) good!
Next on the agenda was to camp at Bowman Lake, a fairly remote lake north of the main drag in Glacier. We passed through Polebridge, stopping at the store to enjoy their fabled pastries. I think whatever had huckleberries in it was best.
I’d debated about how much camera gear to bring and erred on bringing extra to play with. It was the best decision, as the kids enjoyed taking photos too.
It also gave them the opportunity to get a few photos of myself.
Back at the campsite Judah schemed to capture wildlife not only with the camera, but in his high tech squirrel catcher. This squirrel had no chance.
Throwing rocks at a floating target in the water was one of the favorite activities, besides swimming, at the lake.
Swimming or splashing, I’m not sure which they did more of.
The clear water was amazing and the rocks were irresistible, since there was always another pretty one to pick up and keep at each spot. Lacey an I were on this particular rock hunting tripas the sun rose, glowing yellow and red through a little bit of smokey haze.
Even with the awesome view, a little color can always make it even better!
Frogs, the safe critter to catch for almost any kid.
After spending three days at the lake we moved campsites to a more central location so we could do the Drive to the Sun and hike up Logan Pass.
The wildlife was fierce.
But even more ferocious was the little sister who saw big brother take her special hat.
Awesome beauty at the top. Even so, I was happy to notice that it was just about the same as one of my favorite and closer place in Oregon: Eagle Cap Wilderness.
This post just barely shows the highlights of our trip, since there were so many. But there’s no way that I could leave off one of the last treats, which was seeing a grizzly bear head along the hill and across the trail.