Miriam's Madness

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Day 7

Montana Saga – Day 7

Quite a difference in our previous sunny skies. Notice the layers of dark, angry clouds to a "normal" layer of rain clouds.

Alan writes:

Great Day! Best day of the trip so far. I’ll let Mimi tell you about the animals we saw and she photographed so well- I’ll just talk about the trip to East Glacier. This is by far the wildest and most remote part of the park. All the literature about the park says it’s the heart of the park and I believe it. We drove Hwy. 2 again but this time passed the west entrance and went all the way to Browning. I remembered two things about Browning. One was that the mountains suddenly ran out here and we rode on through decreasing altitudes of plains or prairie with the occasional arroyo, gulch or box canyon. The second was that Browning will never win any beauty contests. I know that’s harsh but there is nothing pretty about this town. Here we turned north on state Hwy. 464 and returned to open spaces and natural beauty. This was a roundabout way of getting to East Glacier, traveling the bow instead of the string, but it afforded incredible views from a distance of the peaks whose summits were hidden in gray clouds. Once in the park we noted that there was much less people and the roads were less numerous and less kept, all resulting in a kind of more personal feeling with the landscape. Here, I commented more than once that you could simply step off this road and also step off the grid. We stopped many times to view wildlife through binoculars, sometimes at distances of more than a mile. Though the total numbers were less, you could create a quick crowd by angling your binoculars and camera at a specific distant point and cars and people would stop and congregate and ask what you were seeing. We met some folks from Michigan and a sweet lady from Texas this way. After exhausting the viewing possibilities (not really!) of this portion of the park we exited and drove up Hwy 89 north to state Hwy. 17 which ran north and west to the Canadian border. This road was even less maintained and we encountered numerous free-range cattle that seemed to have a distinct preference for the road itself! We rode looking for Grizzly bear but, once again, we were un-successful. On the way back we ate at a place called the Cattle Baron Supper Club. One of the folks at the park said that it was rated in some magazine as one of the 10 best steaks in the country. I think this may have been a piece of carefully planted urban/local legend. I think someone may have said, “That’s one of the biggest steaks I’ve ever had,” and this morphed to “one of the best,” and then “one of the 10 best,” etc. You know how these things start! The meal was pretty good when we got past the idea that they would just as soon not bother with serving us. After splitting this supper Mimi and I returned down Hwy 89 encountering free-range cattle and horses and then, closer to Kalispell, elk and deer. We arrived back at our little apartment spent but happy with a great sight-seeing day.

Mimi says:

Wow, this was a LONG day of driving. Heading around to the east side of the park from our starting point was a 2 ½ hour drive. But I was rewarded with a F.O.X. Yes, as we were heading up a beautiful stretch of hwy from Browning to Glacier (Many Glacier entrance) I was scouring the landscape for any signs of wildlife and caught a glimpse of a gorgeous fox out in a field. Once again Alan trusted my instincts, hit the brakes, turned the car around and found a spot to pull over so that we could get a picture. Made my day! The other photo op that I wish we had taken advantage of was on our way home after dinner. We were both exhausted…it was probably 11:00 and we had another hour or so of driving left…I had taken over that responsibility since Alan was about to fall asleep (at least until I started driving haha). I learned that Alan is extremely nervous about driving late with the possibility of animals jumping into the road. (So kids, when you want to get back at dad for mornings driving into Greenville for school you can wait til he’s really elderly and take him out to the country for a late night driving experience! ;o}) We came over a hill to find two beautiful elk standing in the road. A mom and her calf…and they were too quick for me to pull over and get the camera. Oh, and back to dinner – I was never so happy that we had decided to split a meal. It was a late dinner, probably 8:30 before we stopped, and we ordered the ribeye. The menu didn’t specify the size of the steak and we were too tired to care … and when our waiter, Ben, set the plate down in front of dad we had never seen a steak so big in all our lives. We think it must have been at least at 32 oz steak. It covered the plate and was at least 1 ½ inches thick. Now you can understand why that last 2 ½ hours was an especially difficult drive. We were STUFFED! My other miss of a photo op was the plate!

Buffalo!

Hwy 464 from Browning to Glacier - no blue skies

Mr F.O.X

Beautiful reflection of sky and mountains in the lake!

Back to the park - East entrance

Alan looked at this mountainside for hours through his binoculars. Can you spot the 5 mountain goats?

Where is the bear that goes with the blueberries?

Just wanted to be sure you understand what Alan was interested in. (Not the dust and dirt.)

Even big horned sheep. (without the big horns!)

Beautiful sunset.

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Day 6

Montana Saga- Day 6

Alan writes:

Mimi and I woke a little later this morning and went to breakfast after a short walk here in Kalispell at a neat place called the Split Rock Café. She had a “Scramble” and I had the “2^nd Street Wrap.” I won’t spend time describing them but if you ever get here try them out. After brunch, we split for Libby planning to drive a triangle and arrive back into Kalispell after supper. I think that Michael and I rode on Hwy 2 into Kalispell but don’t remember it being so ugly. At the end of the day I realized that the pretty part was from Idaho to Eureka along the Kootenai River. Mimi and I began to joke about designations for the roads we’ve ridden and came up with a few. Here they are. ASAH (Almost Stunning Almost Heaven); POUR (Plain Old Ugly Road) and AAAC, that Mimi calls the triple A-C (Avoid At All Costs). These are just stops along the spectrum. You can tell that we drove more plain and ugly ones than beautiful. Montana State Hwy.37 was scenic, remote and worth the drive from beginning to end. Mimi finally saw her bear, a cute little yearling that posed for us before retreating into the woods above the road. I told her that the only thing that could make this day better for wildlife would be if she saw dolphins swimming up the Kootenai River-but then again, we’d still be there watching them! Our route led from Kalispell to Libby (surely one of the ugliest towns in Montana), Libby to Eureka and Eureka to White Fish. I don’t remember White Fish from Michael’s and my time out here but it is a pretty little town, similar to Highlands, NC. We had supper at Whitefish Lake Restaurant, a great place at a local golf course. Mimi and I are both feeling a little full and sluggish. The original plan called for us going back to The Split Rock Café for dessert and coffee while listening to their local talent. That plan has been altered in favor of a little TV and bed. See you tomorrow.

Mimi says:

Another great day seeing beautiful sights. The Kootenai River was pretty, but the Koocanusa Lake was amazing! (90 Miles long!) Then the town of Whitefish was quaint and I wished that we had arrived earlier to enjoy some of the shops. We were able to look around in one place where I wanted to buy a stuffed bear to represent the real one we saw today. I loved my prime rib at the neat little restaurant where we ate for dinner. Favorite event of the day … seeing that cute little bear!

McGregor Lake

Koocanusa Lake

Hwy 37 (bear sighting!)

Town of Whitefish

Dinner at Whitefish Lake Restaurant

Day 5

Mimi and Alan’s Montana Saga- Day 5 Glacier National Park

Alan writes:

Mimi and I woke up early today thanks to a little help from a hotel guest that walks on four legs and communicates with a bark. We had a nice breakfast at our hotel and some of the best bacon I’ve ever eaten before heading out to sightsee. Our plan was to check out and head to Glacier National Park- we just started a little earlier than planned. From Kalispell you head east on Hwy 2 through Columbia Falls and in about 45 minutes you come to the west entrance to the park. As a little side note, we got the year pass so we can use it through September 30, 2013 at any National Park. Once in the park the story may best be told by the pictures- both what we saw and what we did not. Alas, no bears (Grizzly or black), no Moose, no Elk, no Wolves, Wolverines or Mountain Lions. We did see Prairie dogs, Mountain goats and a cute little posing Marmot. The scenery is stunning, as you would expect in a national park. It is almost like eating a world-renowned huge buffet. You want to sample everything and save room for dessert but just can’t. About 45 minutes into almost any park in this country and you are overwhelmed, full, powers of description overused. Anyway, enjoy the picture show. Mimi has the hard job of sorting through aver 250 pictures to find 6 or 8 that represent Glacier!

Mimi says:

Amen to that brutha! I did take a lot of pictures because EVERYTHING was sooooo beautiful. And yes, it’s gonna be tough choosing just a few to represent the day. I was sorely disappointed that I had not seen any bears at the end of the day. Every day when we begin our journey I say, “today’s the day we’re going to see a bear!” Maybe I’m jinxing us. I won’t say it tomorrow.

Lake McDonald in Glacier National Park

Notice the heart shaped rock in the center.

Still laughing in the 2nd shot ~ the first time I set the timer and ran over to get in the picture I almost jumped up and fell off the back of the rock.

We were at this spot for 30 minutes due to road maintenance and met some folks from FL and Canada while we waited. We were up so high that we actually felt dizzy!