The girls led us in worship this morning. They performed a musical about Cain and
Abel
and related the story to God's grace and
forgiveness of our sins. They read
scripture and led us in worship music and prayer.
We filled our bellies at Montana Coffee Traders
just up the street from our townhouse and then made our first visit into the
park. We started at the Apgar visitor
center to look around and grab the girls' junior ranger booklets. This visitor center was very small in
comparison to some of the other large parks we have visited. Our goal for the day was to hike to Avalanche
Lake and a few other stops on Going to the Sun Road. The park ranger told me parking
would be nearly impossible this time of day.
We could take a shuttle, but found out that would be a 1.5 hour
wait. We brainstormed and practiced squeezing everyone into one car, but that
just wasn't going to work. We decided to
head up anyway, knowing we may have to wait a while to find parking. It was a forty-minute drive mostly through
forest with Lake McDonald on our left.
When we got to the parking area, it took us all of two seconds to find
two parking spots. Don't tell us we
can't find parking, people!
Angie giving SE a lift
None of us wanted to admit it, but a selfie stick would have been helpful.
Thankfully this hike was shaded most of the way, as
it was a very hot day. The trail began
as the Trail of the Cedars on a boardwalk.
We continued on to the Avalanche Lake trail, that wound up through a
forest with a beautiful creek and occasional waterfall in the beginning. There was a good bit of uphill on this hike
so we took several stops along the way to rest the little legs in the
group. We also stopped to wet our frog
towels in the river. Thank you, Alison,
for letting us borrow yours! These
helped tremendously and I am sure greatly decreased the amount of complaining
from the little folk. I also came
prepared with candy to help the little folk along the way: non-complaining kids randomly get
starbursts! I am not above bribery for a happy hike. Most of the trail was
through the forest and very dusty - poor James and his never ending sinus
infection. It was evident why this trail
was named Avalanche. There were so many
snapped trees and complete mountainsides that had been wiped out.
A friend had told me that once you reached the lake
it was like entering a fairytale land.
That is the perfect description.
The lake was calm and serene (minus the loud tourist smoking cigars next
to us) and is surrounded on three sides by towering mountains with streams of
water endlessly flowing down. This place
is straight out of the Lord of the Rings.
I looked for Hobbit footprints but didn't see any...
We continued around the lake a little ways to find
a quieter spot. The Lilli and SE were
the first brave souls to do the polar plunge.
Can you say glacier-fed lake, people??
The daddies soon followed. Angie
worked on me, but I repeat GLACIER-FED LAKE!
We later heard that the lake had ice up until about three weeks ago.
Sadly it was time to hike back down. We were a little over-ambitious in planning our day. We originally were thinking we might hit two more spots after this hike. It was approaching early evening and I don't think any of us had more in us! Time to think about dinner.
Little Bunny Foofoo hopping through the forest!
Add inch worm to the animal list
After our hike, we were filthy, tired and
hungry. After several recommendations,
we ate dinner at The Backroom at the Nite Owl.
They are known for their fry bread, which is basically fried dough
served with honey butter. It was yummy! Chris joined us for a beer as well.
James and I hit the grocery store, and yes I took a
picture of the butter. The butter here
is packaged differently in flat rectangular boxes. The same brands as back home, but different
shapes. Why is that?
