Disclaimer: This blog entry wasn’t written until 17 years after the trip. It should be noted that it was a huge mistake to have not written it way back when. Sometimes, after writing so much about other days, it happens that at the time directly after the trip (or even during), I convince myself that the details are not that important. Years later, these details are that important, and pulling them out of foggy memories is difficult. The photos help and often leave clues, and then Caroline’s memories are usually far clearer than mine. With that said, here goes.

Wake up, practice the ablutions you’ve adopted, and step into new, unknown experiences so your life might rise like the sun on the horizon. When the final night comes, will you be able to celebrate in the knowledge that you danced through this life, even if it’s just metaphorically? Yes, Jutta comes to America primarily to visit her daughter and maybe me a bit (but only a bit), and then there’s the obligatory exploration of aspects of her ability to bring in the new, to dance with her children in unfamiliar places, often doing unfamiliar things. Today, that involves the three of us driving into the mountains of Glacier National Park here in Montana. Before we got to this park sign, we detoured a brief way up north to the Canadian border, getting there before the sun did, turned around, and headed this way.

We were not those lucky few who could afford to stay within the park’s borders, so we had to drive down from Eureka through Whitefish and Columbia Falls to get here, but upon our arrival, it appeared that everything was just as amazingly beautiful as if we’d slept within Glacier. The lodges in the park are highly coveted and, like all great places, are booked well in advance, but don’t worry if you can’t snag a reservation; just look at the following photos to see that you too can experience the astonishing.

We’ve read that Glacier is crowded; well, maybe that’s true in the summer or up at the Logan Pass visitors center, but right here, right now, things are, as you can see, perfect.

What’s not perfect is the insane road that’s been carved out of the mountainside. Beware those who easily entertain a fear of heights.

Just looking at all that snow triggers my anxiety as I can easily imagine that during the winter, the road we are traveling is a frequent target of the snow gods ready to toss passing cars off the road. Funny how the imagination can impact the pucker factor even when such situations are not really possible or even likely but somehow have crawled into the mind.

The worst part of the road is that you can see it ahead, while the best part is EVERYTHING ELSE!

You know, to be honest, I’m happy to be here before the main summer season gets underway, as with the amount of snow here still draping the mountains, one gets a faint idea of what this corner of Montana looks like during the winter.

That’s Wild Goose Island in Lake Mary, meaning we’ve already gone over Logan Pass, and while I may be mistaken, I think that’s Going-To-The-Sun Mountain to the right and the namesake of the road we are on.

Heading into the Many Glacier area of the park that requires visitors to get on Highway 89 north towards Canada and turn off at Babb, this is one seriously big national park.

We’ve arrived at Swiftcurrent Lake and will now dream for as many lifetimes as necessary about staying at the chalet over on the far left.

After visiting Glacier National Park, a number of people asked if we’d ever been up to Jasper and Banff National Parks, and as sad as it is to admit here in 2022 when I’m writing this post, we’ve still not visited that corner of Canada.

It’s all pretty crazy when you stop to think that this is just a small part of the Rocky Mountain range that stretches 3,000 miles from northwest Canada down to New Mexico.

Being a short 10 miles from the Canadian border, you bet we headed up there.

We could have shared a boring photo of the customs station or sign to Canada, but this roadside Blackfoot Nation Sculpture was way better.

Highway 89 will take us all the way to Gardiner, Montana, today, which is where we’re staying the night so we can visit the next national park first thing tomorrow.

Along the way, we’ll pass through Fairfield, Neihart, Ringling, Wilsall, and Wineglass.

Minutes before, we were passing through Ringling, Montana. It sure is wide open out here.

You just know that this had to be the last photo of the day as we cross the Yellowstone River with one fairly strong rainbow and a hint of pale one to its left. Yep, this is how life should be: rainbows welcoming us back to Yellowstone, where we’re going in the morning.