Days 12 and 13

Monday June 28

We woke again to another hot breakfast buffet at Ruby’s. After chowing down, we headed to the campus of the University of Montana. One of the things I want to do on the trip is to stop at various colleges to give the kids a sense of what they’re like. The university campus is attractive. I got the sense that it was well designed. There was a cool quad in the center part of campus that the rest of it emanated out from. (I guess that’s the idea, huh? Pretty standard stuff that quad thing.) My favorite sights were the bronze grizzly bear statue nearly in the center of the quad (in honor of the schools’ moniker, the Grizzlies), the Native American Studies Center (a new modern structure), and the football stadium. The campus is quite compact and seems much smaller than that of the U of M.

I found a way to get into the main seating areas of both the basketball arena and the football stadium-this despite the fact that the doors were locked. I think this taught the kids a valuable lesson; if the first 99 entrances are locked and padlocked but the padlock on the 100^th one is not completely fastened and can be opened through a vigorous jiggling, then that is as good as an invitation to enter. Not only did I get on the field, I walked through the locker room where one of the coaches was talking to a few of the players. The kids were scandalized by this. They fully expected the police to swoop down on me at any moment.

I also climbed half way up Mount Sentinel to the big “M” on its slope. The “M,” or some version of it has been there for almost a hundred years and is a very popular local hike. I say I hiked it because Addie wasn’t feeling quite up to the hike so the kids sat in the van listening to Glee with the air conditioner on while I trudged up. It was a taxing hike but the view was phenomenal.

We then had lunch at a burrito place. All in all, Missoula gets three thumbs up. We had some really good food, met some nice people, and recharged our batteries. It’s a nice funky little town.

Upon leaving Missoula, we drove 180 miles to Glacier National Park. The ride was mostly uneventful. We stopped at a roadside stand to get cherries. Luckily, they were local not from Georgia or somewhere equally far away. We spent the next half hour eating cherries and spitting the pits out the windows.

The drive to Glacier was very pretty, especially when we traced the edge of Flathead Lake. Montana is so scenic (but then again so is Wyoming).

Our camp set up at Glacier went well. The tent went up fine. She sits straight and true (well mostly straight and true). We had time to make turkey tacos for dinner and take a walk around the campground before sitting by the fire to make s’mores.

Tuesday June 29

Today was our first full day in Glacier National Park. I’ve been lucky enough to be here twice before. It is a gorgeous jewel of a park.

We’re staying at the Fish Creek Campground, which is on the west side of the park. Our site is a good one. The creek is right next to us but is down a slope through a thicket of trees. We can’t really see it but we can hear it. It’s a loud constant rush. This is good because there are a lot of RVs nearby and they are supplying their own rush of generator droning.

We decided to go whitewater rafting on the Middle Fork of the Flathead River today. This was great because Addie doesn’t really like water (at least boating on water) too much. She enjoyed last week’s float trip on the Snake River though and had graciously agreed to try a rapids trip. The trip did not disappoint! We were out for about two and a half hours on a series of class two and three rapids with names like “bonecrusher,” “jaws,” “pinball,” “screaming corner,” and “oops was that your kid that just got swept away, what are you gonna tell your wife?” I think we were expecting rapids named “Sally,” Meander,” and “lollygag.” The trip was great though. We all loved it. One side of the river was national forest while the other side was the national park. So it was a beautiful route. The rapids were fun and not too scary. The water though was incredibly cold. Each time we ran a rapid, it was a bracing experience as the water swooshed into the raft. Once we reached a placid stretch of river, the kids and I (and three of the four others on the raft jumped in). I don’t like cold water much and this was painful. I realized later (too late) that I was the only one who went in who wasn’t wearing a wetsuit. I tell you, there were certain parts of me that felt a level of intense and abiding cold that really weren’t cut out for it.

Following the raft trip, we went for a late lunch at a local place. Just prior to walking in, Carson spied through the restaurant windows a sight that sent us into raptures. Could it be? Yes, more Amish. I’m talking generically here. They may have been some type of similar sect. But you get the picture; we’re talking old-fashioned hats, whiskers, the whole enchilada. Thinking fast and acting real nonchalant-like, I sent Carson back to the van for the camera thinking we could do the old surrepitious photo thing.

It turned out the camera was AWOL. After searching the van and not finding it, retracing our steps, etc., we figured we had one lost camera. After initially not finding it, I began to suspect that god was smiting us. I believe in a vengeful, old testimenty god. It was clear to me what was going on. Even Benedict was in on it. The diminutive papal see is not fond of the Amish (he thinks they’re ornery, theological thorns in his side), however, he views them as fellow travelers and our curiosity as being disrespectful of all religion (which is probably not far from the truth). So in my desperation over the loss of the camera, I made some promises to the big guy chiefly concerning the ceasing of secretly photographing future Amish encounters. Then Addie found the camera! It was a miracle. I considered setting up some type of shrine on the roadside to commemorate the deliverance. However, after the initial euphoria wore off, I became bitter, deciding I had struck a bad deal. But I guess I’m stuck with it now. In the future, I will attempt to respect the privacy of any future Amish I encounter.

Since the camera incident involved having to retrace our steps to see if we had left it at one of our previous stops, it meant we skipped our late lunch. Accordingly, we had an early dinner back at the campsite. This time we had mosticholi with sauce and ricotta cheese. It was tasty. I’m well set up in the food preparation department. I have a big Coleman two burner propane store and a smaller one-burner gas stove. I also can cook food on the grills and fire pits provided at the various campsites.

We capped off our day by going on an hour-long scenic cruise on Lake McDonald (within the park). While this was a little pedestrian and tame to us seasoned rapid runners, it was still fun. The views of the mountains from the lake were stirring.

We had cocktails at the lodge following the cruise. I had two locally brewed ales. Carson got a huckleberry cream soda and Addie got a lemon aide. We played a game of rummy 500 while we watched the sun set over the mountains from our table. Carson completed a stirring (and from my perspective) a wholly unexpected comeback to beat me. (Addie pretty much had third place wrapped up from the first hand.) After throwing some rocks in the lake and making sure we had watched all the sun’s colors vanish, we headed back to our tent and bed.