Puttin' On Our Walkin' Shoes

Day 19: West Glacier, MT--Day off!

We pledged to NOT get on our bikes today, so walking became our mode of transportation. Especially since Glacier National Park is not yet REALLY open for the season. No shuttles, no sympathy. It was an interesting demonstration of the effect of privatizing our national parks.

So we walked--1.7 miles to the town of West Glacier and THEN we found out that the Glacier National Park Visitor's Center was 2.5 more miles away! Whining didn't help...so we walked some more!

We walked the bike path to the West Glacier Visitor's Center a Lake Macdonald. It was gorgeous (if only I could show you the pictures!) and we saw a lot of flora and some fauna (a fawn, a young male mule deer, and 2 leprechauns). No bears, Mom!

We visited the visitor's center, shopped a little, wandered to the lake and stopped in all the shops. We also started planning our next trip here! This is a wonderful place and deserves much more than one walking day...

Then we trekked back to town and had a fantastic dinner at the Belton Chalet. This is a neat old original building from when the Great Norhern Railway began to come west to Glacier.

Great food and great ambience--and sharing a bottle of wine made the 1.7 mile walk back to camp a little easier to bear.

All in all, we walked about 8 miles--quite a day "off" the bikes, huh?

This is the farthest I have walked since my surgery on 7 March. And by the way, 7 June was the 3-month anniversary of my surgery as well as my twin nephews (Derek and Morgan) 13th birthday. Watch out world--two more teenagers are on the loose!

We fell into camp and got ready for the big journey over the Rockies.