Day 21--July 11, 2011

Wow—three weeks since we left home and we’re still speaking to each other and haven’t left the dog by the side of the road…

East Glacier is definitely different than the west side.  We are told that’s because the tremendous winds dry out the vegetation.  We can attest—when we arrived three days ago, there were gusts of up to 70 mph.  Gave us some sympathy for hurricane and tornado victims who face double that.  We had to feel sorry for the poor blokes in the campground who were trying to set up tents, akin to Everest.

We continue to be astounded with the amazing vistas we are experiencing up here.  Peaks covered with patchy snow, rolling hills dotted with trees and shades of green, brilliant blue sky and white fluffy clouds—and no people!  You can be driving for miles and not see another car.  Balance those views with how many tons of snow they get for how many months and you can see why those hardy souls who live here have this place to themselves.  In addition, only about a third of all visitors stay on the east side, so we like the quiet here a lot better.

This entire area, including Glacier NP, is claimed by the Blackfeet Nation.  Their tribal headquarters is located in nearby Browning.  I am glad that the park is set aside for everyone, but I’m sure the Blackfeet got the usual raw deal in the original treaties.  To be terribly un-PC, my mother used to call me a member of the Blackfeet tribe during the summer when I would go barefoot all day and need to wash my feet before going to bed.  Considering that she had great respect for Native Americans (including a bit of Cherokee ancestry) and that my Dad brought a Mayflower voyager to the mix, I’m as much of an American mutt as you can get.

This year marks the longest wait for the Going to the Sun Road (which crosses the park) to open.  We had planned our trip for late June because of snow issues, but are missing the opening by a day.  The pavement is cleared, but there are no turn-arounds between major viewpoints.  So, as we head to Canada tomorrow, the road will open the next day.  We may swing back down here after Waterton Lakes just to drive the road to the summit.

Haven’t had any more crazy wildlife encounters, but we took a dusk drive last night and a cuddly looking black bear darted across the road just in front of us.  Good thing Manskills was driving slowly—might have had bear steaks for dinner.  Yuck.

We drove to a gorgeous lake called Many Glacier which has a beautiful Swiss-style hotel bordering the lake.  We were told that they were going to use that hotel for Jack Nicholson’s “The Shining” (that book and movie still make me shake).  However, they switched to a Colorado hotel, but used footage of him driving up from our campground to the hotel for his interview at the beginning of the movie.  I might have looked differently at the hotel we visited if it had been filmed there.  As in, I might not have gone inside.