Road Trip: Heading out of Glacier

Leaving Glacier National Park after a scenic drive through the park.  Heading to visit family in Spokane Valley, WA.

 Date       Stop    Odometer   Location                                        Time

6/10/2013	0	208094	Glacier National Park	9:05 AM
6/10/2013	1	208153	St. Mary- GNP	12:21 PM
6/10/2013	2	208272	Lakeside, MT	3:42 PM
6/10/2013	3	208412	Superior, MT	6:15 PM
6/10/2013	4		Kellogg, ID
6/10/2013	5	208541	Spokane Valley, WA	7:30 PM

Leaving Glacier National Park.  We are hoping to see the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park. Follow the jump for the journal entry and more Glacial photos!




Monday 6/10/13

Heading to Spokane today.  We had beans and toast for breakfast while we broke camp as a quick hot meal after another cold night.  Our plan was to drive up to St. Mary (on the east side of the park) and go through the park on the Sun road to the West entrance.  We found out to our disappointment that the Sun road was closed in the highest mountain passes, so we couldn't drive all the way through.  All we could do was drive 15 miles in and then back out.  After coming back out the East side of the park, we had to drive around the park boundary.  It was very slow going because there were a lot of hills and turns in the highway near the park.  Our car is having difficulty with hill climbs at these high elevations, and we weren't moving very quickly. 

We still got some good views and sights in the part of Glacier we were able to visit.

Making a quick breakfast.  Coffee in the kettle and beans
in the pot!

Beans and toast, our favorite quick meal.

That's the whole route.

Two Dog flats

St. Mary Lake

Lone Goose Island on St. Mary

Panoramic look at St. Mary

One of the last remaining glaciers in the park

Go no further...

Erosion from glacial melt

A deep, narrow gorge carved from the meltwater

Frog checking out St. Mary one more time

Later- Almost to I-90 in Montana.  Still in Salish and Kootenai Native American lands, and many road signs are in both English and the tribal language, not sure the name of it.

It turned out to be a much longer drive than we ever could have imagined.  All that climbing set us back SO far.  Even getting to the interstate didn't speed us up as much as we'd have liked.  We kept on the interstate from Missoula to the Idaho border.  We gained an hour crossing the timezone, so that helped our schedule.  We stopped at a McDonald's in Kellogg, ID to use the internet.  We ordered two decaf coffees, which weren't ready.  The employees forgot to call us when they were finished, so they comped us two apple pies.  Nice!

Lookout Pass was a very pretty drive.  Too bad we were in a bit of a hurry so we couldn't do much stopping to enjoy the sights.  

We arrived at our family's home after getting a bit lost in Spokane Valley.  We met some new family members and had a wonderful supper.  It felt very satisfying to have some meat after living on dried and canned foods for most of the week.  They also had ice cream, which was even more welcome.

We met their backyard chickens and their duck.  While we were all gathered outside, a quail landed in the yard.  One sure doesn't see that in Iowa!  We (and Frog) played with their new baby chicks in the basement while we shared good stories and good times.  Later that night, we took our first showers in days, which felt incredible.  I got to shave in a home bathroom, not a gas station messy men's room, which is decidedly a better experience.

The baby chicks fled before the awesomeness that is...
FROG!

The next morning, we visited with the family and had a great breakfast of duck eggs and pancakes.  Yes, duck eggs.  These were our first duck eggs, and they were prepared excellently.  The eggs have a thicker white, more yolk, and a very rich flavor.  We also got a good tip from our cousin and mother of three year old twins.  She puts shredded veggies in her pancake batter as a way to trick her boys into eating vegetables and it gives the pancakes a little bit of sweetness.  Thanks for the tip!  Back on the road.