We set out at 5am in Monday morning and drove for 9 hours straight in order to reach Yellowstone in time to nab a campsite. Little did we know that the Yellowstone River had gotten so high that almost half of the tent sites were completely flooded.
We were left in a quandary: either stay in a half flooded campsite in overly crowded Yellowstone National Park or drive the additional 8 hours to Glacier National Park in Montana. We stopped for a quick meal of mac and cheese and decided to press onward.
But not before taking a souvenir picture with Boss, our stolen garden gnome and trip mascot, and the sign in front of the Yellowstone sign.
Between the four of us, minus Phil who slept in the truck bed the whole way, we managed to make it all the way to The Rising Sun campground at Glacier National Park at 2:30 in the morning. We were sad to miss some of the scenery but managed to catch a few beautiful shots before the sun went down.
Day 2:
Waking up in that tent in Glacier National Park with over 1000 miles behind us already was an incredible feeling.
After a leisurely breakfast, we headed out to see the sights. We drove up the only road that leads through the park only to find it closed, forcing us to turn around and go around the outside of the park. We stopped by the docks on the way out to check out one of the many striking lakes and brought Boss along. Though tempting we decided to stay out of the frigid glacial water.
After a short and winding drive down the side of the park we found ourselves in the bizarre town of East Glacier, a place Phil and I had visited four years ago on a family vacation. We revisited fond memories of a creepy little wooden spoon store and absolutely mouthwatering huckleberry ice cream . Yum!
On the way back we stopped off at the Glacier sign to take an inverted picture of Boss for his vacation album.
We headed back to our campsite, ate some yummy dinner of things varying from salmon/cup a noodle to poptarts, and sat around the fire until well after dark.
Day 3:
We got another good nights sleep and woke up ready to move on. Everything was soaked and the rain did not let up. We pack our soggy selves and our soggy stuff into the car and headed out for the Canadian border.
We made it to customs and I was not surprised at all when they decided to search our car. Fortunately they only searched the top level, finding only clothes and food. The bottom level housed our firewood and Dawson's metal cello, remained untouched and we were allowed to pass through.
Once in Canada we saw some crazy things. There really is nothing like entering another country where every sign in a new experience and weird things lie around every corner.
We got to sit in traffic in Calgary for a good two or thee hours, before giving up and stopping for some Pho and a beer (don't worry the drinking age in Canada is 18!). We moved on and finally made it to Canmore where Phil was reunited with his good friend Sage!
It was a beautiful reunion and was well met by everyone when Miranda, Sage's mother, offered us warm beds and a shower for our entire stay in the Banff/Calgary area! We'll write again tomorrow and every other day that we find ourselves in the range of some wifi.
The Great Idaho Circlers
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