Summer Vacation, Part 4: Glacier Hikes...

We ended up camping for three nights at St. Mary in Glacier Park. One morning my hubby was kind enough to stay with Daniel at the campsite so I could have my first summit climb in Glacier.  Bonnie and Frank took Daisy and I up Mt. Oberlin.  It's not a long climb but it is incredibly steep.  Daisy had already done this climb when she was 8.  She "climbed" down the whole thing on her rear.  This time she stayed on two feet all the way up and all the way down.  :)

When we got to the top this little lady greeted us.  She walked over to that rock turned around and looked at me as if to say, "Okay, go ahead and take your picture.".  The view from the top was breathtaking and it's hard to describe the thrill of finally being on top of a mountain in Glacier, even if it was a small one.  The summit is not very big and its a LONG way down on all sides.

Looking down.  The line going across the green a the top of the picture is Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The height would make anyone a little dizzy.

We climbed down a different way and we came to a spot with all kinds of little pools and streams.  It was something out of Eden.  I could have spent all day lingering here.  (With bear spray, of course.) :)

The next day Daisy graciously stayed at the campsite with the dog and Rue, Daniel, Bonnie, Frank, Melanie and Patrick all hiked up to Lunch Creek Basin.

There are some spots where you have to scramble up and Daniel tackled them like a pro.  At the "toughest" parts we had his little Bob harness on him and Rue kept him very close.  I am glad to be getting him used to this kind of stuff. I want it to be second nature for him as he gets older.

 

Lunch Creek Basin.  The last time Daniel was here he was 5 weeks old.  I carried him up in the Snuggli.  This time he carried himself up.  I changed his diaper in that meadow.  Gone are the days of me carrying him in the backpack on hikes.  He's just too big now.  I have to say even though I enjoyed those days it is nice to have all the weight on my back.  I am really happy I put all the effort in to bring him on hikes with us starting when he was 5 weeks. Those are priceless memories that I wouldn't trade for anything.  

It was quite windy in the basin.  It felt like all the wind in the park was being funneled through there.  Rue found a nice little shelter for Daniel.

Daniel in his little harness.:)

 Going down was harder than going up for Daniel.  Rue was so sweet and stopped to give him a little pep talk.  Can you see Bob saying hi to the camera? :)

The day we headed back to Kalispell we drove into Many Glacier and did some touristy stuff.  The is the view from the Many Glacier Hotel.  

Big sky!  Uncle Frank took us the scenic way home.  This is looking west toward Glacier.  I love Montana!  

Whew! Done, finally! And this is only a fraction of all the pictures I took on our trip! I took almost 500 in all!  

We have had a blast this summer and it's not over yet.  Tomorrow we are heading up to do a hike near Mt. Rainier, the Naches Peak loop.  It's the fated hike where I sprained my ankle and was in a walking boot for 2 months last year at this time.  I don't plan on spraining my ankle this year! 

Summer Vacation, Part 2: Montana...

So much for me getting back to blogging on a regular basis! There has just been too much fun summer stuff to do.  Plus we went on another camping trip.  This time closer to home in Olympic National Park. That post will be up in a little bit.

Our 5 1/2 hour drive to Kalispell, Montana ended up taking about 11 hours.  About 20 minutes past Plains, Montana a tire on our little utility trailer blew. 

To make a long story short, after me driving back and forth to Plains with Daniel and Daisy several times to try and track down a tire iron (in small town Montana places close on Saturday night and don't open again until Monday) I finally got a hold of a towing company and the man and his wife met me at the Conoco in Plains.  He told me he would charge me $60 to drive up there and change it himself or he would sell me his tire iron for $20. I gave him $30 and almost gave him a hug too but I restrained myself.  :)  When I finally got back to Rue it was dark but he changed the tire like a pro and we were soon back on our way.  We made it to his aunt and uncles house at 12:30am.  We should have gotten there around 6pm.  But now we have a memorable family vacation story to tell everyone.  :) (And yes, that was making the long story short!)

One evening we went into Whitefish and walked from Rue's cousin's house to downtown Whitefish and the Amadeus Festival and listened to a free concert for a little bit.  Daniel was so engrossed in the music, he sat and listened the whole time.  I love both their grins, they are exactly the same.  :)

This is Sam.  He loves little kids.  Daniel fell in love with him right away. He is such a sweet little dog.

 

Daniel and his second cousin Ty loved walking Sam home.  :)

Back at Uncle Frank and Aunt Bonnie's house Bonnie showed Daniel how to feed lettuce to the chickens.

I can't even begin to describe how lovely Bonnie and Frank's little corner of the world is.  They are nestled right up against the mountains with gorgeous views out their windows.  I love waking up in the morning, getting my coffee and sitting on the couch looking out the front window.

My next post will be in Glacier!  :)

To be continued...