Going to the Sun – and Back Again

The four of us agreed yesterday to get up early this morning and continue our journey across the Going to the Sun road.  The plan was to leave the rv park around 8:00, drive over to St. Mary, which is the little town on the east side of Glacier National Park, and have a lunch there before coming back.

Sunshine was elusive this morning, after a rainy night.  It was cool and cloudy when we left just after 8.   We made few stops, but Jim was anxious to try out the new camera, so Mark did stop at Lake McDonald for this cloudy look:

We might have been going to the sun, but you couldn’t tell from this view!  It was more like Going to the Clouds!

Once we got past the summit of Logan Pass, we got below the clouds again:

Yet another roadside waterfall: By the time we came by St. Mary Lake, we were seeing some blue sky and sun:

Before finding a place to have lunch, we took a side trip to Many Glacier.  We’ve noticed that the glaciers are not really very impressive.  Everywhere we go, we see articles and exhibits explaining that the glaciers are disappearing as a result of global warming.  This is an excellent area for scientists to study the various impacts caused by the change of climate.

Our annual parks pass is getting quite a workout while we wait for Mark to turn 62 and get his pass soon:

Time for lunch.  Our choice today was Johnson’s Family Style Restaurant in St. Mary:

It turned out to be a good choice – Dortha and I both had a grilled veggie sandwhich on homemade bread with homemade soup – yum!

After lunch, we reversed our route and started back across the Going to the Sun  road.  The sun was making an appearance by this time, but we are noticing a definite haze in the air, due to fires further west.

Still, we managed to get a few good pictures:

All day we had been keeping our eyes open for wildlife.  Finally, just past the summit of Logan Pass, we came across this mom and baby:

The wildflowers are incredibly beautiful up high on Logan Pass, but with the traffic and construction, not to mention clouds, it’s difficult to capture their intense color in a picture:

Before leaving the park, we stopped at Apgar Village for a look around.  One more picture:

Then it was time to come home and settle in for the evening.  What a fun day!