Glacier National Park

Our decision to go to Glacier was sort of last minute, so Dennis didn't have a lot of time off. It ended up working out great considering we wouldn't have a car. We brought all of our camping gear along and camped at the Apgar Campground located on the western edge of Glacier NP, near West Glacier. It was only a 1/2 mile to the shuttle that took us across the park and Apgar Village where we could eat and shop for souvenirs and across the road from Lake McDonald. It ended up working out quite well.
The first day we took the shuttle on the "going to the sun road" up to Logan's pass which is snow covered all year. The kids had a good time throwing snowballs, but whined about their cold toes!

Glacier is full of gorgeous waterfalls. The water is freezing, but considering the temps were in the 90s the water was a relief!

The second day we went whitewater rafting on the middle fork of the Flathead River. The kids had a choice of the whitewater trip or a float trip and they chose the whitewater! It was a fun trip, the kids loved going through the rapids and getting splashed and by splashed I mean soaked. Again, the water was 38 degrees, but it was a steaming hot day so the water felt good. Sorry no other pictures besides this one as I didn't bring my camera on the raft.

When we got back from the trip we spent the rest of the day skipping stones and swimming on Lake McDonald. The water was warmer than the river but still cold! However, we all jumped in to cool off.

The last day we were in Glacier we went hiking to some waterfalls. The kids were troopers and had fun climbing rocks, skipping stones and playing in the water. There was a man making a Glacier video to put on youtube and he wanted to video tape us hiking. The kids thought that was pretty awesome!

As for animals, we  saw these big horn sheep. Sadie really wanted to see a mountain goat and claims she saw one. We are just going to let her believe that. There were plenty of butterflies enjoying the wild flowers that were in abundance. No grizzlies, thank god!

We got back into Williston at 7pm on the 4th of July and had to drive the 8 hours home that night because Dennis had to work in the morning. It was a long night, but awesome at the same time. We watched fireworks across the plains for 3 hours which was truly a sight. We managed to not hit the raccoon, deer, fox and owl that we saw on the road, but got the skunk! And we killed about a gazillion bugs. The kids loved the whitewater rafting and the fireworks the best and the train ride wasn't that bad either.

A Train Trip

One day I was thinking about how fast time goes and that Dennis and I have about 8 more summers with the kids before they have jobs and sports and don't want to go with us anywhere anymore. Considering that we only take 1 big vacation a year, well, you can do the math. Dennis and I decided we needed to write up a family vacation bucketlist. One of the things that made the list was "taking the train somewhere" and another item on the list was "Glacier National Park". We got to cross two things off of our bucketlist!! Woot for checking things off the list-- I love that feeling!

My cousin got married in Western North Dakota so we decided to hop on the train from there because a) it was cheaper and we were already there and b) it was only an eight hour train ride during the day.  We looked into sleeper cars and those suckers are expensive. We could have traveled by plane to a remote island in the Pacific for the price they want for sleeper cars. This way, we got the train experience with some affordability.
The train ride was great. The seats are roomy. The kids could move around freely, go to the bathroom, and play games without too much restriction. We even ate in the dining car, but we were disappointed in the quality considering the price. But, we wanted the experience... and it was a great experience.

I hear the train a'comin...

We boarded the train in Williston, ND

Ready to board!

This is called " My mom wouldn't let me bring my ipod because I had to experience the train."

Sitting in the club car enjoying the view!

Just entering the park...

"Look!"

We left Williston around 11:00am and arrived in West Glacier around 9:00pm. We had a shuttle van meet us and take us to our campground. I'll tell you more about the vacation later.... Stay tuned.