Day #12 St. Mary, Glacier National Park to Waterton, Canada

We had breakfast at the Park Cafe close by the St. Mary Lodge and Resort and were on the road again by 9:15. Service at the cafe was very slow.

Great Grandma had bought KC a stuffed bear in Yellowstone and she grew very attached to it, hugging it while napping in her car seat.

There were quite a number of people who were surprised to see four generations traveling together and commented on the pleasure of seeing it.

At last! We were in Canada!

And so were the bears!

What a surprise! In all the years where we've been warned about bears, this was the first time we'd actually seen them in the wild.


This mama black (looked brown to me) bear with three of her cubs went right by our car on Akamina Parkway. Tiffany quickly rolled up our windows... just in case, especially with KC wanting to stick her head out for an even closer view.

We thought there were only two cubs until we saw the third slow poke come moseying out of the woods.

Surprisingly, we saw bears two more times while in Canada. I guess the bears like Canadians just like we do.


Lake Cameron was covered with ice and snow. You wouldn't think KC was from Chicago. She had such fun stomping on snow and rolling snowballs.


And yes, we took a million photos here. I'll spare you and post just these few.


A Canadian visitor (I just love LOVE the Canadian accent) said this bird was a Camp Robber or a Whiskey Jack. When I checked my Pocket Guide, it's listed as a Gray Jay.

When I think about it, it must be funny to listen to our group. We had a Midwestern accent, a baby accent, a Japanese accent and a Hawaii accent... well sort of. Local people say Art and I haven't quite perfected the Island speech yet.

We stopped along this roadside to look at all the gorgeous wildflowers. I don't have enough adjectives to describe the beauty of the day.

I wish I knew the name of this flower.


This is a Larkspur.

Lungwort is rather a funny name for this shy flower.

Red Rock Canyon was also full of different wildflowers.


We stayed at the Bear Mountain Motel and were surprised to be charged less than we thought we were going to have to pay. We are quite aware that the Canadian dollar is doing better than ours right now.


Despite the little chill, nobody passed up the chance of having ice cream.


We took a walk around town and managed to find a park where KC had a fabulous time.


Dinner was at Zums right in Waterton. Tif drove her grandmother, grandaunt and me back to the motel while Art walked back with KC.

When we were all settled for the night, KC asked, "Can I have a foot massage, Grandma?"

She remembered my giving her foot massages when they were in Hawaii last December.

Our trip was coming to a close and I really didn't want it to end.

We had only one day left to be together.

Day #11 Apgar to St. Mary, Glacier National Park

Auntie Grace gets up at 3:30 every morning. She says she saw the skies turn red around 5:00 AM. Art got up at 5:30 and was only able to catch a hint of the crimson left in the skies.

I was barely awake and caught Tif looking out on the deck and just contemplating the beauty around us.


We were in a second floor suite. Mom and Auntie Grace were on the first floor. We could see them soaking in the morning magic from above.

These cliff swallows never stayed still, but were always darting to and fro. Incredibly, this pair decided to pose for Art.


Art took a morning walk and strolled onto a pier to take this photo of me.


And then we were on our way to see more Glacier sights.


Running Eagle Falls:
"This falls is named after Running Eagle (Pitamakan), a Blackfoot tribeswoman who lived around 1825. As the story goes, she gravitated to the skills of a Blackfoot warrior. She became a great hunter and was incredibly brave in the face of her tribes’ enemies. At one point, Running Eagle was instructed by the village elders to go on a vision quest in order to find her true calling. It is said that she went on this quest near the falls. Running eagle was able to tell of her adventures in the Medicine Lodge ceremonies while also becoming a member of the Braves Society of young warriors. She continued to lead successfully war and hunting parties until she died in a battle against a party of Flatheads near the Sun River."


I'm so glad my brother, Dennis showed me how to photomerge photos on Photoshop so I could give you a more complete photo of what we were seeing. (Please click to enlarge.)


The Beaver Pond Trail was supposed to be full of wildflowers so we decided to try it.

The Pasque flower is South Dakota's State Flower.


I think this is called Creeping Barberry. It's rather funny that I worked so hard to find out the names of these flowers. I don't know 80% of the plants in Hawaii.


We saw this gorgeous purple Slimpod Shooting Star everywhere in Yellowstone and Glacier.


I know you can't see it very well, but this meadow was blanketed with Shooting Stars. Unfortunately, a dark blanket of clouds also started to roll above us.

This trail was supposed to be only a little over a mile long. Well... I don't think so. It felt like we'd been walking forever. It's a good thing the clouds stopped us because mom was getting pretty tired.



We finally made it back to the minivan and did the rest of our viewing with the car.

By the way: The Going-to-the-Sun Road was still closed due to snow. We've done the road twice before, but erred this time in not checking to see when the road typically opens. It doesn't open until mid-June or later, probably later this month. If you plan to go to Glacier, be sure to check when the ideal time to go is. We actually went earlier than we should. We were just lucky that everything else worked out for us.

Our hotel for the evening would be at St. Mary Lodge and Resort. This was a rustic lodge with not many places for hanging things but there's really not a lot of other places to stay at in this area.

It didn't matter. We slept well.

The next day, we'd be on our way to Canada.

2011 Travel Plans: Yellowstone, Glacier, Canada, Tetons, Rushmore...

How cool! Today's date is 10-10-10!

Art is busy today working on travel plans for June of next year. We were planning to do that Alaskan Cruise (on hold until August). The whole saga of our June travel plans was a journey in itself.

We were hoping to have my brother and sister-in-law join us. We tried to match their vacation times and budget along with the needs of my mother and aunt. Eventually, they decided that a trip to Yellowstone and Glacier would be better. We planned that out, too. However, that also went down the tubes.

Therefore, we decided to go ahead with the Yellowstone and Glacier National Park trip for June anyway with just my mother and her sister. Art and I have been there twice before, first with just our son, Jon and the second time with a friend from Japan. I'm posting some photos of that 1995 trip with Jon here.

However, because we waited a bit too long, many of the national park cabins and lodges were already booked up so we had to make the trip in early instead of late June. OK, that's fine. We may see more spring wildflowers, unless there's still snow up north. Some people will remember how my mother really dislikes (hates) the cold.


And then we got to thinking. Would our daughter, Tif and 4 year old, KC like to come along? (I think Tif has always been a tiny bit sad that she wasn't able to go along with us on the 1995 trip.) Or perhaps they could come for half the trip? It will be super helpful to have Tif as a second driver. We didn't think our son-in-law could manage 2 weeks away from work after coming to visit us in December for two weeks.

What a surprise to hear Tif say they'd LOVE to join us! Ed would have loved to come along, but Tif said, "Trust me, he wouldn't be able to survive one of our family trips." Ed likes to take leisurely vacations. We like to plan everything to the minute and squeeze every bit of glory out of our travels.


"You'd drive him crazy, Mom," she said. "He's under so much pressure at work that he'd be frazzled with Dad's kind of vacation trip schedule."

Speaking of which, we need some HELP with finding awesome places to visit between Grand Rapids, South Dakota and Great Falls, Montana. We've already got the Jewel Cave, Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse Monument, Devil's Tower and Custer State Park plugged in.

Much as we loved Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks, Art wasn't quite as enthused about a 3rd trip back to the same places. However, he felt he would enjoy seeing that 1st time wonder reflected in the eyes of my mother and aunt.

Now knowing that our daughter and granddaughter would also be coming along and that our son-in-law has offered to take care of some of the accomodations (extra happy), the excitement is growing by the minute.


Art talked to Jon yesterday and mentioned to our son that we'd be going to the parks with Grandma, Auntie, Tif and KC.

"What? Without me?" he teased.