Well, we did in fact end up taking our camera with us, and we're so glad we did! Morgan and Brian and Dave and Lesley also took their cameras, so between us we have a veritable google of pictures (Joel recently explained to me what the word google actually means and I've been trying to incorporate it into my vocabulary ever since).
Anyway, we had a fabulous time. I've heard that Glacier is the most beautiful of the national parks, and I would certainly believe it. We had relatively few inconveniences on the trip: we didn't run out of food, no one was eaten by bears, so we considered the trip a success.
So here's part one of going to glacier. Days one and two:
The first big feat was fitting six people's luggage/camping gear into the back of one suburban.
But the guys were resourceful, and this was the finished product (plus quite a bit of stuff tied down to the roof).
And so we began our six hour drive to Kalispell to pick up our RV. I was given the seat of honor in the back which had more leg room for elevating my easily swollen ankles.
We hooked up the trailer and set off for the remainder hour drive into Glacier national park. Our little campsite was very cozy and had a little trail that took you down to Lake McDonald. The girls set up the trailer, the guys did manly things like make fires. Here's a very common shot of Joel over the next few days. He was our expert fire starter and meat cooker. I think this was the second morning we were there, judging from the rather groggy expression on his face and the mug of hot coffee he's clutching. Whoever created the descriptions of the beds online was very liberal with their use of words like "queen size". Perhaps the bed was queen size in width (although I doubt it) but none of them were made for anyone over 5'3 (which would be everyone on the trip but me).
Oh well. Who really expects to sleep well on a camping trip?
Our second day at Glacier we decided to take a shuttle on the Going-to-the-Sun Road, up to Avalanche campground (wouldn't you want to sleep there? Sounds a little too foreboding to me). From there we did a pretty impressive four mile hike, up to Avalanche lake and back. Here's Morgan and Brian on the shuttle:
And Dave and Lesley:
The hike, although quite steep on the way up, was absolutely beautiful. The area sees so much rain that everything was lush and green, and we hiked next to a river for a good portion of the way.
Morgan also found time to get in touch with the tree-spirits (courtesy of her native american roots):
Here's Joel and I next to the river (Joel was kind enough to carry my very girly backpack.
And Brian, Morgan and Les:
Here's another very typical shot from the trip: guys throwing rocks. I'm still not sure what is so enthralling about that process, but basically whenever we came across a combination of rocks and water, this action occurred:
This is how amazing the river was:
And here I am doing my 32 weeks shot!
Everyone admiring the fast-flowing river (except for me, I don't think I could get down to where they were with the ol' belly in the way).
Dave pretending to be very tall:
None of the wildlife in Glacier was scared of humans. This deer didn't even bother looking at us as it made its way across the path.
Here are the girls at Avalanche Lake, showing off our stylish rolled up jeans (it was very cold in the morning when we set off). I might be smiling, but really I was thinking that a long shower and a gondola ride down the hill would be quite nice. Thankfully the hike back down went much faster.
It was definitely worth the effort. Here's how beautiful Avalanche lake was. The waterfalls coming down the sides of the hills are from a glacier that's just out of sight.
And so after sitting for a while and admiring the view we started off back down the trail.
So there you have it! The first few days of our trip to Glacier! I think I took the majority of the pictures then, so hopefully the next post or two won't be so long. But in such a beautiful place it's hard not to take as many pictures as you can!
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