6,500 Miles With the Crazies - A National Parks Road Trip Extravaganza

[Songbird76]

July 19th

The girls were hoping to wake up early and get one last swim in the pool before we left. Yeah, that never happened. We did have high hopes though, because our next hotel was part of the same chain and the pictures appeared to show a really similar set up.

We had our complimentary breakfast, got some gas, and then hit the road. Today was a relatively easy driving day. We were going from Fargo to Medora and we'd be gaining an hour, shifting to Mountain Time, as we approached Medora. I had been having allergy and sinus issues, which is always a concern when we travel. My meds were starting to kick in, so David took over driving and I was out! I think I may have woken up briefly while we were driving through Bismarck, but that was it. By the time I woke up, we were on Mountain Time, and were just outside of Medora. We decided to stop at some trapper themed restaurant for a late lunch. Well, actually, first I needed more gas. I took a pic because it's my friend's name and I was joking with him that he owns a gas station in western North Dakota.

The restaurant was next door, so very easy to pop in for lunch.

This was the first place we encountered with reduced hours due to pandemic related staffing shortages. While we'd see this in a lot of places, a woman from the Houston area stopped to talk to us and apparently, many of the small towns up there are just starting to die away from people leaving. Apparently, Medora and the little areas around it are suffering from this as well. I'll spare you her long story about family moving up there and the RV they got, but she said even before Covid, people just started moving away for other opportunities. David was wearing his old Astros baseball cap, so it sparked this whole winding conversation. Honestly, a lot of it reminded me of the random people we meet at Disney....we were just doing the same while on the road all over the country. I thought about incorporating something about this into the trip report title...in such divisive times, it's nice to see how similar and friendly we all really are...but I didn't want to have it turn into a thing.

In any event, we were seated and I took some pics.

David and I have a long-running joke about Jackalopes, so this was pretty funny.

Lunch was OK. It was pretty hot in Medora and I was hoping to do a little bit of hiking, so I got a salad. Everyone else at heavy, so I knew we weren't going to be up for as much as I'd hoped. Oh well...no time like the present. We moved on to our first national park of the trip!

This is also where the pictures start becoming more of a challenge for me with a trip report. Up until this point, it was just me using my phone, but both DSLRs came out when we got to the park. In the early stages of the trip, I was hoping the kids would use my old one and I'd use my new one. We weren't really settled in anywhere, so when the kids pushed back on using the other camera for this park, I was good. Still, I had my main camera and phone going at the same time...since I can get some wider angle shots of landscapes with my phone and it's easier to post to Facebook that way so that my mom would know we were still alive. LOL

So, first observation...it is hot. It jumped to 106 shortly after I took the pic. This wound up being the hottest day of the entire trip...and that's saying something with some of the destinations in our lineup.

Second observation was actually a series of comparisons against Badlands NP. I'll be honest...I think the geological features of Badlands NP are more impressive. The colors are bolder and there are more peaks vs. domed tops, which make it more visually striking. That being said, there is a considerable amount of history with this park and Theodore Roosevelt. When you consider the entire National Parks Service and what he did to preserve and protect these kinds of lands, his beautiful place to seek refuge surely deserves the same care. I regret that we wouldn't have time to make it to the north unit to see some of the structures in use back when he came to these lands, but it was still very cool to know you were looking out on a place that was dear to him.

The first overlook is right off of the highway and requires no payment or formal entry into the park. Which also reminds me, like most national parks, much of the land around it is also protected. I could probably find the name on a map, but I believe it's a national grassland surrounding the perimeter. Oh yeah...something else around the perimeter...a fence. I can't recall fences at other parks, but they do it to keep bison and feral horses from moving out of park boundaries. Other animals can pass freely.

There were a few more in this area, but at some point, it starts to blend. We made a quick stop into the visitor center and gifft shp along the highway, and I took a moment to acknowledge one of my favorite groups of "literary" works...

Nice quote...

And adding our pins to the map.

We're also maskless at this point. It wasn't until later in the trip when the CDC changed its guidance and masking requirments were put back into place in the parks.

We hopped back into the car and it was time to head into the actual park part of the park. It would also be my first time using my new annual pass!

We basically went from one visitor center to the next.

We mainly went in because the kids wanted another stamp for their book and I'm shopping for ornaments for my new National Parks themed Christmas tree. A friend was looking to rehome her old tree and I gladly took it off of her hands. While in the center, we saw this really cool representation of Roosevelt...and it was wearing his actual clothes.

OK...well, the kids need to use the non-work computers for school stuff, so I'm going to stop here. Coming up...our tour around the park.

I thought Medora was an old gold mining town, but I'm not finding anything about that. I know we went there one year. We had friends who moved to North Dakota, and we visited one summer and traveled a bit, and we went to Medora....we went to the outdoor theater thing they have there, which was a lot of fun. But I thought we had toured an old mine, but that must have been somewhere else. It all kind of blends together.

 

[Songbird76]

Always enjoy your TRs. You're lucky to be able to travel to so many places, and it's great that you and your family always make the best of everything.

Your pictures add a lot to your various descriptions as well. Aside of bigger attractions, etc., I tend to pick up on minor details as well. For example, the Conoco sign caught my attention. Don't think I've ever see that in my area before (or it was years ago, if it was there). I read that Shell and Phillips are more or less under Conoco. It may be that different parts of the country display any one of the three, but, in specific areas. (None of that is particularly exciting, but I sometimes focus on lame things. )

My cousin came to Wyoming for my brother's wedding and she got a real kick out of the names of gas stations. All the 7-11s were changed to "-n-go", and there's another called "Pump-n-pak". And "Loaf n Jug". Who knows where they come up with these names! The one in my home town is boring: Big D, and it's a Conoco.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Happy Birthday!! I hope the cake was delicious! My husband is great at remembering those important dates, but he's not a planner. I still have to make my own cake and everything, but I would have to do that here anyway, since they don't have cakes like back home.

Oh yeah, I forgot about scotts bluff and chimney rock. I've been to those. We also went to a church camp in Nebraska....Beaver Valley and if I remember correctly there was an old stage coach line and a civil war era fort near there? Fort Robertson or something....let me look it up. Fort Robinson...I was close. We went there when we picked up my brother from Church camp. My mom always liked to hit historical and natural sites on vacation. With my dad, it was cattle ranchers...we had to stop at every cattle ranch we came across so he could talk with the rancher about breeding, etc. It made for a very boring trip through Nebraska when I was 14. Nebraska just makes me think of that trip...it was awful. We came back through South Dakota, too, but we had been going to South Dakota since I was knee-high to a grasshopper, so I knew all the sites there and it didn't leave as much of a bad taste in my mouth, though we did stop at one rancher friend's house, and that was traumatizing. They were VERY nice people, and I think he was a former South Dakota state supreme court judge, and his wife was the sweetest woman, but they had their 13 year old grandson staying with them and he was in the barn doing some work and they were about to go get him to introduce us all since my brother and I were similar ages, and my dad said to me "Now don't you be drooling all over their grandson. These are good people and the last thing they need is you using your feminine wiles on their grandson!" I was sooooooo embarrassed. I was only 14 and really conservative and pretty much a prude. Well the woman must have seen the tears in my eyes and she said "You know what? I was going to go into town and pick up the mail. Maybe Susan would like to keep me company while you boys go out and shoot!" So I never actually met the grandson at all. She took pity on me and saved me from more humiliating comments from my dad. And then I came home with a really bad ear infection, and it was followed by the trip to my dad's lawyer so he could discourage me from going to college, because women don't belong in college and it's a waste of money. But Nebraska doesn't really bring about fond memories because of that trip.

I think I've shared our anniversary issue...where he insists we were married a month earlier than we actually were. So, I gave up a long time ago.

I can see how that would make you feel differently about Nebraska. It's a lot to remind you of your visit to the state and obviously, not memories you or anyone would really enjoy. It's just unfortunately how some adults can really tarnish experiences for a kid.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

I thought Medora was an old gold mining town, but I'm not finding anything about that. I know we went there one year. We had friends who moved to North Dakota, and we visited one summer and traveled a bit, and we went to Medora....we went to the outdoor theater thing they have there, which was a lot of fun. But I thought we had toured an old mine, but that must have been somewhere else. It all kind of blends together.

Yeah...the musical was dark that night. I'll be getting to that in a little bit. It looks like it could be a town with mining history, but I think all I found was a railroad town involved in meat shipment. Who knows. There could have even been a mining attraction at some point, just because that can be fun for visitors.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

My cousin came to Wyoming for my brother's wedding and she got a real kick out of the names of gas stations. All the 7-11s were changed to "***-n-go", and there's another called "Pump-n-pak". And "Loaf n Jug". Who knows where they come up with these names! The one in my home town is boring: Big D, and it's a Conoco.

It's funny you bring up Loaf n Jug. We saw one of those for the first time during our 2019 trip. I laughed about the curious name, but it turns out it's tied to the Kroger brand and I could use my fuel rewards at the pump!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Always enjoy your TRs. You're lucky to be able to travel to so many places, and it's great that you and your family always make the best of everything.

Your pictures add a lot to your various descriptions as well. Aside of bigger attractions, etc., I tend to pick up on minor details as well. For example, the Conoco sign caught my attention. Don't think I've ever see that in my area before (or it was years ago, if it was there). I read that Shell and Phillips are more or less under Conoco. It may be that different parts of the country display any one of the three, but, in specific areas. (None of that is particularly exciting, but I sometimes focus on lame things. )

We have Conoco in Houston, but I don't remember seeing them on the east coast. Like @Songbird76 noted, there are a number of chains that you find as you move around the country. I still love seeing Sinclair because I like the dinosaur logo. Alon, Maverik and Cenex were chains we saw more of this trip that I don't recall seeing as much of before.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Before I start back up from where I left off, the gas station talk reminded me of something funny from our first day. When we got into Kansas, the highway turned into a toll road after a while. It seemed odd to me, since I thought it was the interstate, but we just had to go with it. When we went to exit and pay the toll for our ticket, it wouldn't read it...I didn't even notice the gate for the booth went up before anyone ever responded to my call for assistance. I guess they turned on the cameras and this woman asked me if I was from Texas. I'm like...yeah. I guess our Harris County Toll Road tag for the Houston area works in Kansas! Who knew!

So, back in Theodore Roosevelt NP...while we all like amazing landscapes and things like that, we all tend to like parks that offer more wildlife. Bison, prairie dogs, feral horses, deer and pronghorn were what we were looking for upon entering the park. We've gotten pretty good at spotting prairie dog towns and we saw one shortly after starting to drive into the "loop." Part of it was closed, so it wasn't really a loop.

There are prairie dogs all over this park. It's to the point where you really need to mind your speed and keep a close close eye on the road so you don't hit them.

Bison were our next animal we were hoping to see. I think Sam was the first to spot this herd. I had the great idea that we get out and hike a little closer to them. We were about 1/4 mile in when I was given the ultimatum about heading back to the car. So, I just took what I could.

Maybe it's also because I wasn't just taking bison pics, but it's hard when you're surrounded by pretty places.

Fine...I'll take more bison pics!

We all went back to the car to move on. I just wasn't expecting even more bison just up the road. Everyone was pretty cranky...some of us wanted to stop and some didn't. I think being in the car was already wearing on us, but I was stopping in hopes that I got something a little bit closer.

I was being given that look like it's time to get in the car and move on...so I did. We got out some overlook, and some of us wanted to hike farther than others. It was warm and I hadn't fille up any of the water vests, so I didn't want to have hydration issues.

And then back in the car to go a bit higher.

The pic above sums up an issue we had for a lot of this trip. I usually take pictures while we're driving and David would often do the driving in the parks to allow for this to happen. That was also usually a rental car and we were in my vehicle for this trip. So, I was doing more of the driving. While he got better as the trip progressed, he really doesn't understand getting pics as we drive to cover the driving and along the way experience. As you can see from the heads up display, I was at 0 MPH. So, I'd stopped middle of the street (nobody behind me) just to get this pic.

We got to another overlook shortly after that...

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We got back into the car and turned around to head back to the entrance. Construction had everything else closed off. On the way down, I spotted something and pulled off. I think David really needs some new glasses, because this is one of many things he just couldn't see until we were closer.

So, what are they? Feral horses.

(I have no idea who these people are, but for some reason, I like them in the pic)

We hopped back in the car and continued to head down when Sam spotted some other things way off in the distance. I didn't feel like getting out, and while David saw nothing, I hooked up the big telephoto on my camera and let Sam go out to take some pics.

As you can see, she spotted a ton of feral horses.

We drove a little bit further and she spotted even more...

I know they're "just" horses, but it's kind of neat to think they've been on their own for generations and aren't someone's domesticated animals.

It looks like this was my last pic before heading out of the park.

After this, we drove through town...which is really just a few blocks...maybe a bit more, and checked into our hotel. I had higher hopes since it was the same chain as the night before. The lobby had similar vibes to the place in Fargo...a bit older feeling...but similar. The room wasn't nearly as large, the bathroom was more beat up, and well, it just wasn't as nice. But...it's not like there are a lot of options in a remote spot like this and while there was no slide...it still had an indoor pool. So, the kids were good.


Coming up...we attend the Pitchfork Steak Fondue, we try to walk around a bit, and we just prep for the next leg of the trip.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

We're still on July 19th...

I don't like to research each and every little thing for a trip. Some things do need to occur organically for it to be fun, but I worry more about dining options when we're in smaller places. I think I was looking into the Medora Musical when I stumbled upon the Medora Pitchfork Steak Fondue. Just the name alone had me curious. It a nutshell, you get a steak that's been cooked fondue style on a pitchfork. There's also a salads and sides bar to go with it, iced tea, lemonade and desserts. It's definitely a bit of a tourist trap, but there also weren't a ton of options for dinner. I had booked this well in advance just to make sure we were set for the evening, but the musical was dark that night, so it probably wasn't a huge deal. The outdoor theater for the musical is adjacent to the area for the fondue, so it makes sense that the fondue would book up on musical nights.

We drove up to the top of what I guess would be classified as a large hill and headed in. We got checked in, got stickers that said steak, got our meat, loaded up our trays and found a seat.

The food was mediocre at best...the sides were bland, potatoes only came with butter and sour cream, the fruit was under-ripe, and while I knew going in that I wasn't going to get a rare steak and was doing this for the novelty...I really wanted a rare steak. They aim for medium with all of their steaks, but I'd seen a number of people post that theirs were rare, so I was still a bit hopeful. I also saw several posts saying it's so much food that you should only order 1 steak for every 2 people, but we had to disassemble our steaks and do some crazy sharing to get things close to the way we like it...and even then...there were portions that went uneaten because they were just too well done. Since I like rare, I got the center of most everyone's steaks. David and Kendall are medium rare, so they got the next part. Sam is more of a medium to medium well, and she doesn't like steak very much, so she got all of the overcooked stuff she could handle. It's funny, because she likes the taste of it when it's more rare, but suffers from an issue I see with a number of friends...not being able to separate the idea of fully cooked with foods like chicken from steak. Like I'd never want rare poultry, but fully cooked steak is destroying good beef in my eyes. I grew up with things being cooked well done and I had to learn as an adult that many foods I hated growing up are much better when not cooked to death. On the plus side, we had a gorgeous view and live music.

See, they really do use pitchforks...

When we'd arrived, people were dancing and drinking and the music was going, but things shut down very early and while I didn't feel like we were being kicked out...the place was clearing out fast. I think we had a 6:15pm reservation and by 7pm, it felt like they were all in clean up mode. So, we finished up and left. David wanted to explore the town a bit.

It's a cute little town, but I was just done and ready to go back to the hotel. David opted to walk around for a bit, so we drove back and he met us there when he was ready. Yeah...small enough for him to just walk back. The kids just wanted to swim. Sadly, no slide in this pool either.

Nothing left, but to get some rest for another long day of driving.


Coming up...we head into Montana for a bucket list park.

 

[Songbird76]

I think I've shared our anniversary issue...where he insists we were married a month earlier than we actually were. So, I gave up a long time ago.

I can see how that would make you feel differently about Nebraska. It's a lot to remind you of your visit to the state and obviously, not memories you or anyone would really enjoy. It's just unfortunately how some adults can really tarnish experiences for a kid.

Yeah, with South Dakota, we had been there so many times and had had so many great experiences there, it didn't really color my opinion of the state as a whole, I guess. But we've only really ever driven through Nebraska on our way to other places, so I had no concrete memories of Nebraska to minimize the damage of that one trip.

That's interesting about your husband...I don't think I've ever heard of someone being a whole month off before. I wonder why he thinks it was a different month?

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Yeah, with South Dakota, we had been there so many times and had had so many great experiences there, it didn't really color my opinion of the state as a whole, I guess. But we've only really ever driven through Nebraska on our way to other places, so I had no concrete memories of Nebraska to minimize the damage of that one trip.

That's interesting about your husband...I don't think I've ever heard of someone being a whole month off before. I wonder why he thinks it was a different month?

I would have had to drive through some of Nebraska no matter how I did this, but part of me regrets not going with plan B to get us to Medora. Plan B involved driving from Wichita to Chamberlain, SD to see the Dignity statue and then head to Rapid City for the evening. If there was still daylight when we got there, we probably would have gotten a picnic dinner and seen a little bit of Custer State Park and then in the morning, do whatever the earliest tour was at either Wind or Jewel Cave before driving up to Medora. Plan A got us into some states on our "never visited" list, but Plan B would have helped us tie up some unfinished business...so to speak...in South Dakota. We were pleasantly surprised with Pipestone and I like seeing so much of my states visited map filled up...so no real regrets, but Plan A might have been a bit more interesting.

After a number of years of getting it right and even going on trips to celebrate, he somehow got it in his head that we were married in June vs. July. So, here I am...mid June...expecting nothing...and he greeted me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers when he got home from work. Here I am thinking he's suddenly learned the art of doing things "just because." When a few hours passed without more than a thank you from me, he gloated about me forgetting our anniversary. He hates being wrong and I don't think he wants to be that cliche of a guy that forgets his anniversary, so not even wedding band engravings, marriage certificates, etc. will change his mind. It's just stupid.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 20th

I was really looking forward to this day. This was the day that we headed into Montana for our time in Glacier National Park. This was one of my bucket list parks, so I was pretty pumped.

We got out early and were in Montana in very little time, but we were on the far eastern side in the middle of the state and we needed to go pretty far west, into the northern portions of MT. I remember passing the Yellowstone River pretty early on and got warm fuzzies thinking about how we followed it out of YNP back in 2018, all the way into Billings. Shortly after that, we made a turn to the north and drove past the longest line of rail cars I've ever seen. Supposedly, it's something like 85 miles of rail cars not in use. We only drove past about 30 miles of them, but they're all lined up on the tracks with the occasional gaps for crossroads. There really was no good way of taking picture or even video of this.

I had planned a midday stop at Bearpaw National Battlefield, but everyone just wanted to get from pt a to pt b, so we scrapped it. We did stop in the town of Havre (assume it's pronounced like Brett Favre) for some lunch at a little 50s style diner.

As we drove further west, my hopes to see pretty mountains off in the distance were kind of dashed. It was so hazy and smoky from the fires that we didn't see much until we were almost at our destination. Speaking of...I'm not sure the best way to describe this, but picking a spot to stay at Glacier is sort of a mess. It didn't help that we'd never been, but I really thought I was doing well by picking lodging in the town of East Glacier Village. It certainly wasn't bad and we were a super quick drive to the Two Medicine entrance, but the rest involved long drives. Had I known the route to the St. Mary's and Many Glacier sections I'd seen on the map was a scary mountain pass and the faster way involved driving back into town (with more food and better hotel options), I would have booked there. Nearly everything we did took us back through the town of Browning and portions of the Blackfeet Nation's land. On top of that, while I knew Going-to-the-Sun-Road connected the eastern St. Mary's entrance to the western Apgar entrance and knew that it was a slow way to get back and forth, I wasn't expecting the construction on HWY 2 along the southern boundaries of the park to be so bad that the timing was about the same. I also figured there had to be other ways to access the extremely popular Many Glacier area, but it's kind of like its own island at the northeastern corner of the park and with the additional construction on the road in, the 75-80 min drive just to get there became a 130 min drive...and it was about the same- maybe actually a little worse- on the way back. Oh, and the western side...had we stayed over there, which has a lot more options because of the size of Whitefish and Kalispell, we still would have had a longer 45-75 min drive just to get to the Apgar entrance. By about 2 months out from our stay everything within a 400 mile radius of the park was sold out.

No matter where we were staying, we were also starting to feel pretty far from home and were trying to wrap our minds around the fact that we'd driven here...and would have to get back too!

Part of why I'd done so much research on lodging after booking was that I'd read some "interesting" stories on the place I booked. Reviews were good, but everything spoke of having to go to a convenience/grocery store/deli a couple of blocks away to check in and an odd little parking lot where you may or may not find a space. Sure enough, we arrived at the Whistling Swan Motel and there was a sign directing us to head down to the little store to check in.

After waiting behind a woman buying some groceries, the owner behind the counter checked me in...told me my keys were in the room...to leave the keys on the dresser when we check out...as well as leave the door unlocked. So, we drove back to the little motel, and sure enough, some old-school keys were waiting for us.

From the outside, it was really nothing exciting...

Even our view of the mountains, which was already obscured by smoke, was also being blocked a bit by the tracks for the Amtrak line running through this little area.

Then I saw the old door the owner salvaged that's on unit 7, and was reminded of the people who said he'd really done a lot to spruce the place up.

So, it was time to check things out...

We had a bit too much air flowing under the door and would need to put a towel there at night to keep out the bugs, but not bad for a little old motel.

We took a quick drive through the town...

...and then make our way to Glacier for the first time this trip. We'd be here from July 20-23, so it was also finally some time to settle in for a bit.

Coming up...our first little tastes of things in the St. Mary's area.

 

[ajrwdwgirl]

The tabletop from that 50's restaurant looks like the same tabletop from the 50's Primetime! Or at least I think it does.

 

[KellBelle]

I have no idea what the overpass art represented, but I thought it was neat and I can tell we're in the Sioux City area.

First off.. YAY! I love your road trip reports!

I can't tell you what the heck that overpass art work is, but I was surprised to see it in your report! It is in Council Bluffs, IA, just across the river from Omaha. I live in that general area and pass under/next to it often!

Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!!

 

[HouCuseChickie]

The tabletop from that 50's restaurant looks like the same tabletop from the 50's Primetime! Or at least I think it does.

It may be. That boomerang pattern is pretty popular. I wound up buying true vintage, but when we added the diner room in our house, I found a company that makes new tables like this and this is one of the pattern top options.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

First off.. YAY! I love your road trip reports!

I can't tell you what the heck that overpass art work is, but I was surprised to see it in your report! It is in Council Bluffs, IA, just across the river from Omaha. I live in that general area and pass under/next to it often!

Looking forward to the rest of your adventures!!

Oh wow! It's kind of funny that you bring this up. I have friends who grew up in IA, and they both colored my opinions on the state and going to visit long before this trip. The areas we drove through, including this Council Bluffs part, look nothing like what they described. I believe said friends are from areas farther east in the state, but I remember remarking to David about how neat the landscape of this area was. I guess it's from the river, but it was all unexpected for us...in a good way. It's pretty distinctive overpass art, so I can also see how it would be so recognizable. I thought it was pretty cool.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

July 20th continued...

Tonight would be our first lesson in lodging locations. I had started relying on my vehicle's nav system since my second phone cable in the car finally died (brand new car and no wireless Apple CarPlay. We also had absolutely no service the moment we stepped outside of our motel room. So, it was suddenly a real blessing to have onboard satellite nav. As soon as I plugged in directions to the St. Mary's park entrance, I realized it was sending us back the way we came...through Browning...and that even this late in the day, we were still looking at about a 45 minute drive.

The drive was relatively simple, minus the free range cattle. We've been in areas where there were cow crossing signs, but the livestock was always well contained. In our drive to the park, I must have dodged at least five cows from two separate herds. At least cows, unlike bison, will move out of the road as you approach. Still, it meant having to be extra careful with animals. It was after 5pm when we got to Glacier's park entrance, so they didn't care about my Going-to-the-Sun-Road pass, but still checked my parks pass. Sadly, this also meant the visitor center was closed. Still, we decided to walk around a little.

Oh, and don't let that setting sun fool you. The earlier stages of twilight last for quite some time and predawn light comes way earlier than places in lower elevations. In other words, it's not really dark for very long.

We were right at the St. Mary's entrance and there's a lodge/motel just outside with a restaurant. So we decided to head there. In fact, once I started to get a better idea of where I should have booked, this was my #1 spot I was trying to get in last minute. They actually had a room open up for our dates about a month or so out, but it only had a 2 person capacity. And yes, I thought about putting the kids under the bed or having half of us sleep in the car. David asked if it was too late to send them off to stay with my parents.

I'm not sure why, but I hung out in the parking lot longer than needed. Everyone else had gone inside, but I was taking mountain pics, and while blurry...a magpie showed up for a bit.

It occurred to me that I should go in and find everyone else...and order a drink.

I also tried sneaking in a few pics of the kids...I figured they owed us, since they're the ones who went all the way to Montana to order aligator nuggets. I'm sure it's interesting and exotic to a lot of visitors and it was part of their tasting other parts of the country specials...but we can get aligator at home! So, they owed me!

Obviously, they didn't share my feelings on the matter.

I got bison chorizo quesadillas.

Not sure why, but our server really sort of stood out to me. He kind of reminded me of a surfer dude...but more of the hiking mountain variety. He was sweet and the girls kind of thought he was cute.

After dinner, they explored the gift shop while I went out to take a few more sunset pics.

Loved the looks of the lodge, but decided to make my way closer to the streams coming off of the lake.

After that, it was back to the motel to catch early softball for the Olympics.

We also had a lot of light coming in the door, so I'd be using my eye mask in this place. Even the areas around the blinds had a lot of light coming in. I forget how late this was, but it was late enough that I was used to it being MUCH darker outside.

Ultimately, I think everyone was just happy to be staying in the same place for the next few nights. Nomadic travels can be really hard after a few days.


Coming up...our first full day in Glacier NP.

 

[MinnieM123]

Tonight would be our first lesson in lodging locations. I had started relying on my vehicle's nav system since my second phone cable in the car finally died (brand new car and no wireless Apple CarPlay. We also had absolutely no service the moment we stepped outside of our motel room. So, it was suddenly a real blessing to have onboard satellite nav. As soon as I plugged in directions to the St. Mary's park entrance, I realized it was sending us back the way we came...through Browning...and that even this late in the day, we were still looking at about a 45 minute drive.

Just wondering if you also bring a paper (highway or other) map with you, when travelling out of state. GPS, etc., is very helpful, but that's when it works. Paper maps can be a blessing, even if you only refer to them in a pinch. Anyway, glad you were safely able to navigate through the alternative satellite option, regardless of whether it was the preferred route or not. At least you were all safe and sound.

 

[HouCuseChickie]

Just wondering if you also bring a paper (highway or other) map with you, when travelling out of state. GPS, etc., is very helpful, but that's when it works. Paper maps can be a blessing, even if you only refer to them in a pinch. Anyway, glad you were safely able to navigate through the alternative satellite option, regardless of whether it was the preferred route or not. At least you were all safe and sound.

I do something along those lines. I thought about ordering state maps from AAA, but I decided to take a slightly different approach. There were too many legs of this trip to make a TripTik or even a detailed GoogleMaps printout, so I mapped each leg of the trip and printed it out with a map of that segment and detailed instructions. I kept a folder with these physical mapped segments and direction details in a folder up front...in order...in case we ever hit a point where we needed them. This way, I still had a map of the area with many of the side roads and alternative routes in case satellite went out.

 

[MinnieM123]

I do something along those lines. I thought about ordering state maps from AAA, but I decided to take a slightly different approach. There were too many legs of this trip to make a TripTik or even a detailed GoogleMaps printout, so I mapped each leg of the trip and printed it out with a map of that segment and detailed instructions. I kept a folder with these physical mapped segments and direction details in a folder up front...in order...in case we ever hit a point where we needed them. This way, I still had a map of the area with many of the side roads and alternative routes in case satellite went out.

That's comforting to hear. I always worry about (some) people who have absolutely no backup plan, if something like the GPS goes out, for example. Sounds like you prepared as best you could.