Glacier National Park - Day 3

Tuesday, July 8

It happened again!  We woke up at 4:15 a.m.  It is daylight outside!  We doze awhile, however we were up and out for a walk by 5:30 a.m.  We walk westward this morning through sleeping neighborhoods, not many folks up at this hour.  However we notice so many pretty flowers as we are walking along.

                                      Lots of dandelions too!

 As we are winding our way back to Megan's house we make sure to pass a small corner grocery store where I get a cup of coffee and Tom gets a bottle water.  Following a short visit with Megan and Nelson, we head out toward Glacier National Park.

Down the hill we go once again......

 This downtown hotel is showing off its patriotism!

We leave Spokane on U.S. Hwy. 2.  Way back before the interstate highway systems were built, U.S. Hwy. 2 was the main east-west route up here, long before I-90 cut a path through these Rocky Mountains.  We drive less than 50 miles before we cross the Pend Oreille (pronounced Panderay) River in the small town of Newport and enter the state of Idaho.  We soon come to the small town of Priest River, Idaho situated at the confluence of the Priest River and the Pend Oreille River.  This is such a beautiful drive as U.S. Hwy. 2 follows the banks of the Pend Oreille River all the way to Sandpoint, Id.

The town of Sandpoint sits on the northern shore of Lake Pend Oreille.  The Lake has 111 miles of shoreline, is 43 miles long and is 1150 feet deep!

We soon come to the town of Bonners Ferry which is situated on the Kootenai River.  Soon afterward we cross a very high suspension bridge over the Moyie River Canyon and dam.

The small town of Moyie Springs pays tribute to the bald eagles which abound.

                           Wait a minute!  That's not an eagle!

We are following along the banks of the Kootenai River as we cross the state line going into Montana when we see a sign saying this is the lowest point in the whole state of Montana at 1,820 feet elevation.  That is really "high country" when you think about our elevation at home is 460 feet!

We go through some major road construction!  We are diverted to one lane at a time on dirt/gravel for several miles.

 

Woohoo!  We are back on paved roadway!  I am amazed at the deep blueness of the sky up here in this north country.

After we pass through Libby, Mt. there is pretty much nothing, hardly any traffic and fewer towns.  We pass through the tiny settlements of Manicke, Happy's Inn, and Kila. Then suddenly our senses are bombarded as we enter the Kalispell-Whitefish-Columbia Falls metro area......lots of traffic, lots of traffic lights!  Wow, it must be the height of the tourist season here!

We continue on to Coram, which is right near the western entrance to Glacier National Park.

Have you ever heard of Glamping?  "Glamorous Camping...the way camping should be."  That is how Glacier Under Canvas bills itself.  This will be our home for the night!

 Can you believe it?  A nice king size bed in a tent!

 And we are all set if the temperatures drop too low tonight.  But I don't think we will need to fire up the wood stove.  We just dragged our chairs outside to catch a little breeze since this area is having an unusual warm spell this week.  It is probably in the 80's today however it cools down into the 50's quickly after the sun goes down. 

Wouldn't you know it?  BooBoo loves sleeping in the woods!

Our tent is called the Safari Tent, however there are plenty of Teepee Tents available here also.

                            This is inside one of the Teepee Tents.

 Then there is a deluxe style with a deck and its own bathroom.

There is a bathhouse available for us, only a short walk from our tent, with nice showers, towels and toiletries.

A short path leading away from the bathhouse leads to the nightly campfire.

 We enjoy chatting with some of the other guests and Tom made sure the fire kept blazing!

 We stayed around the campfire until almost 10:00 p.m. when it finally got dark.  It has cooled down already so we should sleep good in our comfy king-size bed in our Safari Tent! 

What an adventure!