Friday August 6th Glacier National Park

Today we spent the whole day in Glacier National Park. The first lodge on the "Going-T0-The-Sun-Road was the Lake McDonald Lodge build in 1914.

The "Going-To-The-Sun-Road" is listed as one of the best scenic drives in America and we were not disappointed. Yvonne was not too thrilled since there were numerous drop offs and the road was very narrow, but she survived. It was a 50 mile trip over the mountains from West Glacier to East Glacier. We saw numerous glaciers, only about 50 left today. In 1830 there were over 250 and they were much bigger.

The weather was cool today and at the top of Logan Pass it was in the low 40's. The sky was a bit too cloudy to get any great pictures, but hopefully you get the picture. Glacier was well worth going out of our way to visit.

This lodge is the Glacier Park Lodge. It was build in 1912 by the Great Northern Railroad. If fact Amtrac still brings passengers to the hotel on a daily basis.

Thursday August 5th Vist to Glacier NP

Slept in late and decided to drive into Glacier National Park and get information so we could plan out full day trip into the park on Friday. After visiting the Visitor Center at the West Entrance we drove around the west side of Lake. McDonald. This is a huge lake with crystal clear water. After leaving the park we drove into the city of Kalispell. Stopped by Costco and picked up some fresh tuna for the barbecue.

Wednesday August 4th More Montana

Left Bozeman early this morning and drove to Kalispell Mt where we will spend 4 nights. On the way we had problems with the car and had to stop at the Wall-Mart (thank God for Wal-Mart) in Missuola Mt to get a new battery. They were great and got us back on the road in 30 minutes. From Missoula we traveled through some great scenic areas including Flathead Lake. This lake is the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River. Its 30 miles long and 15 miles wide with a 160 mile shoreline. We traveled up the eastern side of the lake. Arrived in Kalispell late afternoon and were really impressed with this area. They have all of the shopping you would expect anywhere including Wal-Mart, Costco and Best Buy located close by. Our campsite was large and the views of the mountains were great. Looking forward to visiting Glacier National Park only 20 miles away tomorrow and Friday.

Tuesday August 3rd Bozeman MT

We decided to spend another day in Bozeman to check out the area and do some shopping. Downtown Bozeman was a busy place with lots of restaurant's and shops. Ivan and Randi took off early this morning for Yellowstone National Park. We decided to skip Yellowstone (we visited it in 2004) and instead head to Glacier National Park. We heard the glaciers are disappearing so wanted to see them while we can. Also, Glacier is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Monday August 2nd Traveling in Montana

Continued our journey through Montana today as we drove from Little Bighorn to Bozeman. Nice scenic drive on Interstate 90. Today is our 36th Wedding Anniversary so Ivan and Randi are taking us out to dinner this evening. Bozeman is a stopping off point for Yellowstone National Park. Yvonne and I passed through here in 2004 on our way to Yellowstone.

Sunday August 1st On the Road Again

Today we drove from the Mt Rushmore area through Wyoming into Montana. We arrived at our campground just a few miles from the Little Bighorn Memorial (Custers Last Stand).

The Battlefield is lined with markers which represent where soldiers of the 7th Calvery died in battle on June 25th 1876. We attended a ranger presentation which presents the facts for both the indian side and the whites side. Very interesting. There is an indian memorial as well as a memorial for Custers troops. Custer was later reburied at West Point.

When they say Montana is "Big Sky" country they are right. The sunsets and views are truly amazing.

Saturday July 31st Wind Cave National Park

Decided to visit Wind Cave National Park this morning. We drove through part of Custer State Park again and continued to see more wildlife. We saw buffalo also in Wind Cave NP. This area has some unique scenery and the caves. The lines were too long for us to get a tour of the caves but we did see a movie about the history and video of the caves. Wind Cave is the fourth longest cave in the world with 132 miles of passageways with boxwork, frostwork and popcorn crystals. This is out 7th National Park.