Many of the most mundane buildings in Montana are made interesting with western statuary.Our original plan was to enter the park at St. Mary's and drive "Going to the Sun Road" east to west. The weather has taken a turn for the worse. As we drove closer to the east side of Glacier National Park, the clouds loomed low and thick, accompanied with a light rain. Aside from losing the beautiful views, it would simply be too dangerous to drive The Going to the Sun Road in fog/ low cloud conditions.
After considering how little was available in Browning and the weather conditions on The Going to the Sun Road, we decided to switch to Plan B.
After considering how little was available in Browning and the weather conditions on The Going to the Sun Road, we decided to switch to Plan B.
We drove Hwy 2 around the southern end of Glacier National Park to the West entrance. This gave us much better options for a motel room and activities in either Columbia Falls or Whitefish. Highway 2 is a wooded mountain road that is beautiful in it's own right. Well worth the drive!
Even at the lowest elevations, the low rain clouds touched the trees.
Even at the lowest elevations, the low rain clouds touched the trees.
Montana Highway 2 follows a scenic mountain stream down from the pass. We made several stops along Hwy 2 to take pictures and to enjoy the aromatic "Christmas Tree" like smells of the mountain forest.
We visited Glacier's West Entrance Visitor Center once today and we will stop by again in the morning for better pictures.
We had an enjoyable late afternoon lunch at the Mackenzie River Pizza Co. in the quaint, restored downtown area of Whitefish, where we will stay tonight.
The weather guessers are predicting 80 degrees and bright sunshine for tomorrow. That should make a beautiful drive over The Going to the Sun Road.
Tomorrow, from the east side of Glacier, we will turn north once again, heading to Banff, Canada and The Icefield Parkway.
The weather guessers are predicting 80 degrees and bright sunshine for tomorrow. That should make a beautiful drive over The Going to the Sun Road.
Tomorrow, from the east side of Glacier, we will turn north once again, heading to Banff, Canada and The Icefield Parkway.
A side note; We are using a Garmin GPS to follow our route. I would be more than happy to share the routes with anyone interested. We are also using a SPOT satellite tracker. The satellite tracking map can easily be viewed by clicking the SPOT logo on the right side-bar of this page. Also, thanks again to those posting comments and sending e-mail. It means a lot to both of us.
Adventure is not outside man; it is within. ~George Eliot~
Beautiful! Glad you chose plan B. As Keaton told me today, "sometimes going outside is dangerous."
ReplyDeleteSo there ya go.
We received more postcards today. Keaton loved the Devil's Tower which he has decided is a volcano. :)
We've been talking up his upcoming trip with Jim. I'll say "you're going on a trip with Daddy!" and he'll reply, "and Paw paw and Gran are on a trip too!"
Rita and I really enjoyed our time in Glacier! Our favorite place was in the northwest corner at Lake Kintla... but.... your car might not like getting there. LOL. Your blog is bringing back many good thoughts. Thanks again for taking us along.
ReplyDeleteDrive safely,
Kevin