So we got up and left a the crack of ... noon. Just getting 6 people ready and out the door can be crazy sometimes! It started with Nicole waking first and going on a bike ride, and then I got up and went and sat by the river with her, and Nathan came out and stood on the stump in front of us, so I had to snap this picture. :-) Finally, the other 3 woke up so we had breakfast, and then had to get lunches ready, yada, yada, yada, and before we knew it, it was 12:00pm! So finally, we headed into the park. The first 20 minutes was all territory we had covered earlier, but I have to say, I was surprised at how crowded it was for a Thursday! Several people had warned us that Yosemite would be crowded, but it didn't seem all that crowded. But today at Glacier National Park, we couldn't find a parking space at any of the turn outs or the visitor's center at Logan Pass - it was just so packed! And the temperature was really warm - in the upper 70's / lower 80's! Maybe it was the gorgeous day that brought out the extra people, I just know there were lots of them! Despite the warm temperatures, we still saw some snow and also some gorgeous mountain views:
We finally made it towards the Eastern side of the park, and it really thinned out and parking was no problem! So we parked and ate lunch at a picnic table right next to our car, and took a hike down to a waterfall...that was a lot of fun!
It had been a little warm hiking to the falls, but upon arriving there, everything cooled off with the mist from the waterfall - it felt SO good! Nicole took some more pictures of flowers, and I just have to include a couple here. Check out the size of that dandelion!
We hiked back to the car and completed the drive to the eastern side of the park and the visitor's center there. Then, we parted ways with Tim for a couple of hours as he had a couple of client appointments. The boys did some fishing, while Nicole and I did some reading. Below are some photos of the boys fishing. Check out Noah's catch of the day - a stick!
When Tim was finished talking to his clients, he showed the boys a nice spot to fish in the shade. Nathan caught a couple of fish there, but they were too small to keep he said. However, he did see a beaver, so that was cool! By the time they packed up their fishing gear it was after 8pm and we still had a 2 hour drive home! We had to choose between 2 routes - 1 route took us back through the park, and the other took us down around the park. We all prayed and then looked up and saw some nasty clouds rolling in torwards the park, so we opted to go around instead. The clouds were so interesting on the back side of the mountains. We watched them "climb" over the mountains and creep down the back side of them - it was quite fascinating! Here are a couple pictures of that:
Nicole snapped some pictures of the sunset as we drove and we all looked for any wildlife. We hadn't really seen anything, and then, out in the middle of nowhere, we saw something I really hadn't been expecting to see. I had been looking for deer or elk or maybe even bear, but not this. It was a lone buffalo - all by itself. It looked so out of place! But it was definitely wildlife, so Nicole got a shot of it. I'll leave you with pictures of the sunset and the 1 lone buffalo. Enjoy!
RSS Feed
