West Glacier (MT)

Sept. 12, 2011 - Today we decided to drive the Going-to-the-Sun Road across Glacier National Park.  It’s a spectacular 50-mile road cutting through the heart of the park.  The road was designed to blend in with the natural environment.  It is a work of art with its quarried rock supports and arches and tunnels.  There is major road construction going on now to repair surfaces and rock walls, but the delays did give us lots of time to gaze at the wonderful views of Glacier’s mountains and valleys and wild flowers and waterfalls.  We were thrilled to see a small black bear cross the road in front of our car.  We even saw two mountain goats high up on a snowfield when we hiked 4 miles on a trail at Logan Pass, 6646 feet in elevation, to an overlook of Hidden Lake.  This was the same trail that Tom and I had hiked some 30 years ago, but we hadn’t made it to the lake.  Maybe in 30 more years we will make it all the way down to the lake! 

We turned around near the east end of the park and returned to West Glacier on the same spectacular Going-to-the-Sun Road.  It was nice to get back to our RV site to relax with good books and wine/beer.  Tom’s trying Montana brews - tonight’s was Golden Grizzly Ale.

The RVers next to us had just returned from a five-day backpack trip in Glacier.  They are from Alberta, Canada and travel in their fifth wheel trailer to wilderness places.  They did see grizzly bears on their hike.  I’d love to backpack in Glacier someday, but I just can’t imagine sharing the trail with grizzly bears!  Besides, this RVing lifestyle is really starting to grow on me!

Pat on Going-to-the-Sun Road

Black bear (taken through car window)

Hidden Lake in Glacier National Park

West Glacier (MT)

Sept. 11, 2011 - A layover day... After a late breakfast of blueberry pancakes, we headed into Glacier National Park to kayak on Lake McDonald.  We paddled up the west side of the lake.  The mountains at the head of the lake were shrouded in a smoke haze from a wildfire burning in the Bitterroot Mountains west of here.  We found a nice pullout along the shore for a lunch break.  Someone had created an artistic stone design on the shore using small, colorful stones.  A larger rock was etched with “Barbara was here 9-10-11.”  It was a special surprise to find her stone artwork.  We paddled against a light wind heading up the lake.  On our return trip, the wind changed about a half mile from the boat launch and we were paddling into a strong wind.  Tom has never seen such an immediate wind change on the water!

We ate dinner at the Belton Chalet in West Glacier, an old lodge dating back to 1910.  It was our first restaurant meal since we began our trip.  We checked at the main desk to see if we could use their internet connection, but they wanted $5.00 to connect.  We passed on that, and discovered that the office of our campground has a great free connection.

Tom on Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park

Circle of Stones

Cusick (WA) to West Glacier (MT) - 248 miles

Sept.10, 2011 - Got an early start to our day.  We were on the road by 8:45 am!  Drove out of Washington, across the Idaho panhandle, and into Montana.  We are on Highway 2 now.  It will take us all the way to Munising, Michigan.  By late afternoon, we had made it to West Glacier, just west of Glacier National Park.  We’re in Mountain Time Zone now.  We are going to stay three nights at Glacier Campground so we can relax and explore Glacier National Park.  We’re nestled into the trees tonight listening to the Amtrak train whistle as it arrives and departs from the West Glacier train depot. 

While traveling in the RV today, I started reading The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame, aloud to Tom.  It’s a classic that I remember reading when I worked as a children’s librarian in the Janesville, WI schools.  Tom has never read the book, but he was very familiar with one of the passages:  “...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”  We’re planning to paddle our kayaks in Lake McDonald tomorrow.

On the open road...

Winthrop (WA) to Cusick (WA) - 235 miles

Sept. 9, 2011 - We kayaked on Pearrygin Lake after breakfast - a wonderful way to start the day.  Drove the Subaru into Winthrop to buy a few groceries before getting on the road with the RV at 11:50am.  Then it was a steady day of driving through 90+ degree temperatures.  By late afternoon, we wanted to find an RV park for the night.  Our iPad has been so helpful to locate RV sites, but it failed us today as we looked for a site along the Pend Oreille River in Washington.  The first two places listed were actually RV resort communities that you buy into and they were both abandoned.  We saw a billboard sign for another RV park, but that one was also a resort that you buy into.  A woman at that resort community told us about a DNR site nearby on the Skookum Creek.  So, we drove the RV down a gravel road for a short way and “dry camped” for the night - no electric or water hookups.  We ate a light dinner - a tuna wrap and chips with Roger’s chocolates from Victoria for dessert.  Tom was surprised to get truffles on this trip!  Even though we have battery power to use in the RV when we can’t hook up to an outside source, we called it an early night and crashed at 8:30 pm.  Waking up in the night, I could look through the back window above our heads to see a forest of tall trees reaching up into the stars... 

Rockport (WA) to Winthrop (WA) - 98 miles

Sept. 8, 2011 - Leisurely morning... I just love drinking a cup of tea in bed first thing in the morning while I'm journaling.  I don't do that at home!  We were on the road by 11:00 am today.  The drive through North Cascades National Park was gorgeous - high mountain spires still holding snow fields and aqua blue lakes created by a series of dams.  A sign outside the small town of Marblemount just west of the national park proclaims that it is the "Entrance to the American Alps."  We hiked to Blue Lake, a 4.5 mile round-trip hike with a 1,050-foot elevation gain.  The larch trees were just starting to turn yellow.  We saw a chubby little pika scurrying through the rock boulders.  Two mountain goats, a female and a young one, were grazing 20 feet off the path as we passed by.  There were even fish in the alpine waters of Blue Lake.  It was a great hike.

Tonight, we're parked in a private RV park near the shores of Pearrygin Lake.  Silverline Resort is only a few miles outside of Winthrop (WA).  It has nice sites for RVs with a view of the lake in one direction and a view of the mountains in the other.  We sat in lawn chairs behind our RV tonight to watch the sunset over the mountains.

Pat at Blue Lake in North Cascades National Park

Tom on trail to Blue Lake

Sequim (WA) to Rockport (WA) - 123 miles

Sept. 7, 2011 - We started our trip at 10:40 am on Wednesday, Sept. 7.  Everything I’ve read online about stress levels rising as two people pack the RV and get things ready to roll is so true.  I stayed up until 12:30 am the night before to get things ready, thinking I was going to be ahead of the game.  Woke up at 5:30 am the next morning and really thought I was going to be ahead of the game.  But no -- I wasn’t ready to go by the time Tom had the Subaru hooked up behind the RV and was ready to roll. 

Once we were on the road, though, we both felt the excitement of a road trip in our new RV, hauling our favorite toys - kayaks, bikes, and hiking gear.  A woman on the ferry trip from Port Townsend to Whidbey Island commented that we must have won the lottery to have a new RV, new car and new kayaks.  We didn’t win the lottery, but we have decided to spend our retirement years following “blue highways” and enjoying all that the road has to offer.  (P.S.  Our car isn't new.  It was just really clean because Tom washed it before we left home.)

By the time we arrived at Howard Miller Steelhead Park in Rockport, WA on the Skagit River, we were ready to relax.  It has become our routine to select a site as soon as we arrive at an RV park or campground, register, park the RV, then go off to explore the immediate area.  We are right on the Skagit River, a wide, clear, wild and scenic river.  Setting out our lawn chairs on the shore of the river, enjoying a glass of wine and beer, it wasn’t long before we saw an eagle flying down the river!

It is so much warmer here than our Olympic peninsula.  It didn’t take us long to change into shorts and sandals.  I found a large, flat rock along the shore that I could sit on to read my book.  Tom also relaxed along the river with a book.  The start to the day was hectic and stressful, but the end of the day has been a dream. 

Washington to Michigan

Our travel plans have been made.  We're driving Highway 20 through northern Washington, one of the most scenic drives in the state.  We'll catch Highway 2 in Idaho and stay on that route all the way to the Upper Peninsula in Michigan.  Wednesday, Sept. 7, is our departure date.  We are so excited about traveling the blue highways across the northern United States.  We're prepared to paddle the lakes along the way, fish the streams, hike and bike the trails, eat the local food (especially trout if Tom doesn't catch any), shop at any General Stores and Farmer's Markets we find along the way...

The RV is about ready to go.  I've made hundreds of trips out to the driveway to load it with food, dishes, traveling clothes, and odd 'n ends.  The tow bar and brake system have been installed on the Subaru and appear to be doing what they are supposed to do.  At least, the car is following closely behind our traveling home and turning when we turn.  I drove the RV for the first time last Friday.  Tom was beginning to wonder if he was ever going to get me behind the wheel.  That thing is BIG!  I'm sure I'll be more comfortable with it by the time we get to Michigan.

We'll be in Munising, Michigan by Sept. 20 where we will be meeting friends for a four-day backpack at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore on Lake Superior.  We'll spend another week in northern Wisconsin visiting friends and family.  We should be in southern Wisconsin by Oct. 8 where we will be staying for the next three weeks.  Then it's on the road again on Nov. 1 to head back home.

In front of our house on a foggy day (Sept. 5)