Glacier National Park--Day #2
Going to the Sun RoadSeptember 7, 2008
Anyone who has visited Glacier knows of the road that bears this name. It’s the only way to cross from one side of the park to the other, and what a thrill it is to traverse it!
The day dawned with the unmistakable promise of a day to remember, sunny and bright. We jumped in the car ready for our adventure. Until we found our way to the town of West Glacier, about 60 miles from our lodge, we put off any thoughts of breakfast, which we finally enjoyed in the only restaurant there.
Going to the Sun RoadSeptember 7, 2008
Anyone who has visited Glacier knows of the road that bears this name. It’s the only way to cross from one side of the park to the other, and what a thrill it is to traverse it!
The day dawned with the unmistakable promise of a day to remember, sunny and bright. We jumped in the car ready for our adventure. Until we found our way to the town of West Glacier, about 60 miles from our lodge, we put off any thoughts of breakfast, which we finally enjoyed in the only restaurant there.
We are finding that wild huckleberries are in abundance here in Montana, and Judy enjoyed huckleberry French toast. 
We also have had huckleberry ice cream at the lodge, and we have seen huckleberry pie.. After breakfast we could set our sights on the surprises that we were told awaited us on the roads ahead.
We also have had huckleberry ice cream at the lodge, and we have seen huckleberry pie.. After breakfast we could set our sights on the surprises that we were told awaited us on the roads ahead.Spending at least two days in Glacier Park presents innumerable rich experiences as well as almost unlimited photographic moments. Here are some of the reasons why this is true:
* * Wildlife--mountain goats, big horn sheep, birds, deer, moose
* * Wildlife--mountain goats, big horn sheep, birds, deer, moose
**Heights--breathtaking with sheer drop offs
**Rocky mountains and glacier-formed valleys
**Continental Divide
** Waterfalls
** Pristine lakes--762 of these!
** Boat cruise on Lake McDonald 
**Alpine meadows
**Forests--a million acres 
Thomas Curwin of the Los Angeles Times describes Glacier Park as “a glorious combination of the wild and the civilized, a place where the hand of man is surprisingly at home in a world teeming with predators and untrammeled nature.”
He also explains that the Blackfeet Indians called this stretch of the northern Rockies “Milstakis,” the Backbone of the World. Naturalist George Bird Grinnell named it the “Crown of the Continent,” a title fitting both the park’s location and its mountains’ majesty.
Curwin wrote that as he and his wife watched a waterfall drop into the lake at the base of a glacier, they “felt humbled to know that we were watching snow that had turned to ice from before the time of Lewis and Clark slowly disappear.”
The journey across the mountains came to a close with the unmistakable promise of something we never expected--the most perfect rainbo
w either of us had ever seen.
w either of us had ever seen. Judy saw it first and let out such a gleeful sound that it startled Dick. Here was a full 180 degree rainbow--a blaze of colors ending in Lake St. Mary far below.
When Judy was kidding with another traveler taking photographs there about the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, he replied with a matter of fact tone that if she looked carefully she could see a tiny leprechan decked out in scuba diving gear where the rainbow ended. Experiencing this lovely rainbow provided the perfect ending to a glorious day in the park.
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