Park City

We packed up on Wednesday morning and had a final farewell breakfast with Kevin.
He seems happy and content. We went by his TV station and met some of his co-workers and did a little food shopping. The hard part was saying goodbye.

We drove north into Idaho. Idaho is a pretty state but looking at lava rocks in fields on the sides of I-15 can be a bit monotonous. It was very flat, and there was only a thin layer of soil over the lava rocks. You sort of looked at the range land, as far as you could see, and wondered about the lava. From where?? Not exactly what we expect to see when in "volcano country." We stopped in Shelley Idaho and camped in a small county park. We missed the opportunity to visit the Idaho Potato Museum because we went by it late in the day, but next time it's a must.


Thursday 5/20 we got off to a late start. I slept in (this is Bill speaking) and we visited with neighbors in a 40' Newmar RV. Wow, it's was like a small home with all the amenities you could want. I still like our little 19' van, but if I had to live 24-7 in a motor home and didn't plan on driving it much, one of those behemoths might be the way to go.

We continued north towards Glacier National Park. We passed through a valley between the Beaverhead Range and the Lemki Range and at some point passed the 45th parallel, the mid point between the equator and the Pole. It was marked with a large sign and we tooted in recognition.

We camped tonight near Sulla Idaho in the Bitterroot National Forest in a campground called Indian Pines.

It was very remote and we were the only people there so we had the pick of the sites. The campground is named for the scars left on the Ponderosa Pines made by the Indians from anywhere from 1860-1900.

The scars are about shoulder height and were made to wound the tree to allow sap to leak which the Indians used as a food source. During our stay it snowed, hailed, rained and it was sunny. Beautiful spot. A forest fire had run through the park about 10 years ago. All the tables were charred black on their tops and many of the trees showed burn damage

Wednesday 5/21- Cold start to the morning but we were snug and warm in the van. We were sorry to leave our peaceful, beautiful campsite but headed north at 10am towards glacier. We continued up the Bitterroot Valley, stopping in Missoula, Montana for gas and a new water pump for the sink and toilet. Gas is cheap (er) here and there is no sales tax.

We continued up to West Glacier driving through beautiful farmland with snow covered mountains in the distance. We also drove up the east side of Flathead Lake which is the largest freshwater natural lake east of the Mississippi.

We camped in Apgar campground in Glacier National Park.

Most of the campgrounds are still closed as is the Road To the Sun through Logan Pass. We had a nice site near McDonald Lake with snowy glaciers and mountains that glistened in the sun.

Thursday 5/22 We left Apgar campground and moved up the road to Sprague campground which is smaller and was about half filled with tents. We were the only RV. After setting up camp, we drove up to McDonald Lodge, an old railroad hotel.
We saw the menu and decided that we would eat dinner there tonight.

We then drove as far as we could on the Road to Sun parking in Avalanche. We took a beautiful walk on the Trail of the Cedars along a blue green glacial river

surrounded by old growth cedar and hemlock. The smells of the forest, the sounds, and clean air were overwhelming.

We came back to the campsite for cocktails and went for dinner about 6:30. The ambiance of the restaurant was wonderful but the food didn't match. It was OK, but not of the caliber of other grand hotels.
The final photo proves that sometimes you can just ignore the rules!