We started out heading towards Glacier National Park in Montana. This is the first glimpse of the Rockies that we got. As you can see they are in the far distance and very hazy at this point.
Here the girls are standing in front of one of the historical landmarks in Montana. We were continuously seeing signs that pointed to historical markers. We finally decided to stop at the Blackfeet Nation marker. Not only are they known for being brave, but they were also extremely influential in creating and implementing the current American Indian Sign Language that is used today.
Here's a picture of Jessica & her friend Melanie in front of Rockies. As you can tell we are still a bit of a ways away, but thought since we stopped for the historical sign we might as well pivot and take another picture.
Montana is known for their wildlife. They have numerous birds, mountain lions, grizzly bears, black bears, goats, and the list goes on and on. However we didn't really see any of those, but we sure did see a heck of a lot of cattle.
Oh and we got really lucky and saw some wild horses. That was pretty cool!!!
And here we are getting even closer to the mountains....
And closer....
And closer yet...
And here we are on our first hiking trail, actually in the mountains. This one was a pretty easy trail we took the route that was .6 miles one way. So only 1.2 miles total.
Here's another one of the girls on the same trail..
It may have been a short trail, but the end point was fabulous. We ended up out in the middle of the lake on a large rock formation. Here's a few shots...
All of the rock pretty much looked like this here. The sedimentary rock which make up a majority of the mountains here in glacier have such a fascinating array of color and textures.
Still more pictures from the first hike...
See, I told you we were on a rock in the middle of the lake. :-)
The views were simply breathtaking. The photos do not do them justice.
For our second hike we decided to be a bit more adventurous. This next hike we decided to go to St. Mary's falls. This one was 1.2 miles one way. Let's just say the 2.4 miles were more of a push than the first one. There was more of a change in elevation, plus it was twice as long. And the waterfall was definitely worth it.
Yes the little blue and pink dot up on the cliff are Jessi & Melanie. To show hi up they are I had to go to the entirely other side of the river.
Just a random creek in the woods.
We were on going to the sun road and it pretty much is like driving on the side of the mountain.
It was weird to realize that we were at cloud level. I think the girls really got a kick out of this.
There were beautiful flowers everywhere on the sides of the road. However, it is not the easiest road to take pictures on since you need to really pay attention to where you are going.
Here's our impromptu science experiment. What happens to an unopened bag of chips when you make a somewhat dramatic increase in altitude? You guessed it... the bag puffs up like a helium balloon.
Just some random shots from the car as we drove on the Going to the Sun highway. Sorry for the blur
See the divide between the healthy trees and the ones that had been through a forest fire? Kind of crazy. Most of those same trees looked that way three years ago when Erik and I made the trip. I'm curious how it will look in another three?!?!
After a day of hiking and driving we stopped for a cold one.
We had to stop in Idaho, just to say we did. Here are the girls outside the visitor center in some french sounding town in Idaho.
And we finished of the day with some BBQ at the Longhorn.
After the first picture Jessi realized that the bear had babies.
And of course she had to be a cheeseball like her mom. :-)
Here the girls are standing in front of one of the historical landmarks in Montana. We were continuously seeing signs that pointed to historical markers. We finally decided to stop at the Blackfeet Nation marker. Not only are they known for being brave, but they were also extremely influential in creating and implementing the current American Indian Sign Language that is used today.
Here's a picture of Jessica & her friend Melanie in front of Rockies. As you can tell we are still a bit of a ways away, but thought since we stopped for the historical sign we might as well pivot and take another picture.
Montana is known for their wildlife. They have numerous birds, mountain lions, grizzly bears, black bears, goats, and the list goes on and on. However we didn't really see any of those, but we sure did see a heck of a lot of cattle.
Oh and we got really lucky and saw some wild horses. That was pretty cool!!!
And here we are getting even closer to the mountains....
And closer....
And closer yet...
And here we are on our first hiking trail, actually in the mountains. This one was a pretty easy trail we took the route that was .6 miles one way. So only 1.2 miles total.
Here's another one of the girls on the same trail..
It may have been a short trail, but the end point was fabulous. We ended up out in the middle of the lake on a large rock formation. Here's a few shots...
All of the rock pretty much looked like this here. The sedimentary rock which make up a majority of the mountains here in glacier have such a fascinating array of color and textures.
Still more pictures from the first hike...
See, I told you we were on a rock in the middle of the lake. :-)
The views were simply breathtaking. The photos do not do them justice.
For our second hike we decided to be a bit more adventurous. This next hike we decided to go to St. Mary's falls. This one was 1.2 miles one way. Let's just say the 2.4 miles were more of a push than the first one. There was more of a change in elevation, plus it was twice as long. And the waterfall was definitely worth it.
Yes the little blue and pink dot up on the cliff are Jessi & Melanie. To show hi up they are I had to go to the entirely other side of the river.
Just a random creek in the woods.
We were on going to the sun road and it pretty much is like driving on the side of the mountain. 
It was weird to realize that we were at cloud level. I think the girls really got a kick out of this.
There were beautiful flowers everywhere on the sides of the road. However, it is not the easiest road to take pictures on since you need to really pay attention to where you are going.
Here's our impromptu science experiment. What happens to an unopened bag of chips when you make a somewhat dramatic increase in altitude? You guessed it... the bag puffs up like a helium balloon.
Just some random shots from the car as we drove on the Going to the Sun highway. Sorry for the blur
See the divide between the healthy trees and the ones that had been through a forest fire? Kind of crazy. Most of those same trees looked that way three years ago when Erik and I made the trip. I'm curious how it will look in another three?!?!
After a day of hiking and driving we stopped for a cold one.
We had to stop in Idaho, just to say we did. Here are the girls outside the visitor center in some french sounding town in Idaho.
And we finished of the day with some BBQ at the Longhorn.
After the first picture Jessi realized that the bear had babies.
And of course she had to be a cheeseball like her mom. :-)
1 comment:
Kari says, "Those were some pretty awesome photos!! And I hope you guys have fun on your vacation." Shari says, " Thanks so much for sharing the gorgeous scenery with us." It was good to see Erik in some pictures. Now we need to see Angie!!Thanks for giving Melanie this wonderful experience!!"
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