We met at Glacier with my SIL Mel and her friend Dean. We hiked from the Jackson Glacier Overlook to the St. Mary Falls, then to the Virginia Falls. Here's Mel fooling with Rowan by the lower Virginia Falls, I believe.
Logan Pass was a little snowy and a lot rainy. We saw no wildlife like we have before--mountain goats, eagles, and a wolverine were high points in the past--but the boys got a snowball fight in.
We camped at St. Mary Campground, which was nice but too small, and the bathrooms were disappointing, even for a campground (one had no shelves by the sinks, inconsistent lighting, and no trash can. Not one trash can, which is a problem in a ladies' bathroom. Plus it had a urinal--and yes, it was the ladies' room! I double checked.). Later we went to Fish Creek Campground, which was awesome, though we will in the future stay in the non-generator loop. Here's a new camping treat I found on Twitter: Smoreos. Slice an Oreo in half, put a roasted marshmallow in it, and voila. It was delicious.
Our big event was a backcountry overnight hike from Bowman Lake to Lower Quartz Lake, about 8 miles round trip. This was mine and the boys' first backpacking trip, which was fun. The hike was tough but satisfying, though one moment was pretty rough: straight downhill on loose rock. My SIL, who hikes a lot, even said that part was a bad trail. And the park ranger we met after our hike asked us first thing, "What did you think about that one hill?" He thought it was bad too. Still, we survived.
Lots of deer on this hike, including CD (Camp Deer), who made his home in the campground. He's behind Derick in the picture above. CD hung around the eating area quite a bit, nibbling good stuff from the fire pit and wishing, unsuccessfully, for a handout, I guess.
And here we are in Polebridge at the Northern Lights Saloon after out hike out. It's been about 5 days since we'd showered at this point. I'm surprised we don't look as rank as I felt. Wow. Check out my hair though. Yikes. That beer in the Mason jar, by the way, was maybe the best beer I've ever had, probably made more flavorful by two days of hiking.
Our car in Spokane directly after we left Glacier. This car has definitely been on vacation. I won't show you the windshield, which has five states worth of bugs on it. The worst of the bugs came in the last leg of Minnesota from Clearwater to Maple Grove. We grow 'em big here.
And that was our trip! I've started editing some photos to do a few quick pages. I am looking forward to getting my box of goodies from Fancy Pants Designs; I'm planning on using Happy-Go-Lucky for the family album. The colors and patterns look good for both Glacier and Spokane.
Have you been on vacation this year? If so, where? What's your ideal vacation?
That was quite a jaunt to the west coast and back. Looks like a good time! We didn't venture too far for our vacation this year. We spend the week last week up in Door County. Hot and humid there just like here. We still had plenty of bugs on the front of the van. Driving up, we would see swarms of them along the sides of the highway.
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