Glacier National Park, Part I

There was no hesitation for me when Bradleigh told her mom, "I have six days off and I know I'm welcome to go with you to Priest Lake, but what I'd rather go to Glacier National Park."  "I'll go with you," I said.  "And, if you do all that time consuming searching for a place to sleep, I'll even pay for it."  She began looking at campgrounds, sleeping in tents, then RV's parked in a campground, rooms with waterbeds, Yurts, and even hammock camping.  I finally had to remind her that I totally preferred a real bed and running water.  We giggled through our search for an AirBnb at the last minute, but actually did find a few rooms with two beds, so that cemented the deal for us.  Bradleigh works crazy hours at a local hospital, 12 hour shifts, six days in a row, so we began our trip the day after her last shift ended at 3AM so she could try to get acclimated to sleeping at night instead of during the day.  We decided to drive to Sandpoint for our first night's stay and I found a reasonable AirBnb with two beds not far from Lake Pend'Orielle.

Bradleigh got a little nervous as she drove up and down a gravel road to this home, our first AirBnb stop outside of Sandpoint.  We called it "sketchy" but actually the beds were soooo comfortable, which made up for the fact that we had to travel through the family living room to get to our bathroom.


I felt less anxious reading the host's signs scattered throughout the house.

 We enjoyed a nice dinner and lovely walk, admiring the sunset and flowers, and then had huckleberry ice cream for dessert.

Our next AirBnb reservation was in a lodge in an old RV park near West Glacier, just six miles from the park.  I called it the Catholic room because it used to be Catherine, the owner's, bedroom.  It appears she choose not to redecorate it after she moved downstairs.

We began our adventure in the park by renting kayaks and paddling around Lake McDonald before dinner.  The fires at Sperry Creek hazed our view of the mountains, but not our spirits!

Day One we took the advice of everyone who has ever been to Glacier and hiked to Avalanche Lake.  Lovely, easy, 5 mile hike along Avalanche Creek.  The footbridge crosses the creek near the Trail of the Cedars, a handicapped accessible hike.  The Sperry Creek Fire inhibited our views of Bearhat Mountain and Little Matterhorn, but we took victory pictures nevertheless.

This little creature had no fear as we rested on a bench.  He actually climbed up Bradleigh's back looking for peanuts or other crumbs.  

 We finished our first hike before noon so Bradleigh decided she could drive up to Logan's Pass on the Rising to the Sun highway.

 The views were stunning and we stopped whenever we could pull over to get out of the car.  The big problem on the road and at Logan's Pass is limited parking.  We could find to place to park in the parking lot so we headed back down the hill.   When we found a spot just a half mile from the center I begged Bradleigh to walk up, behind another gentleman, on the narrow road to the visitor's center.   She reluctantly did it and she bought a T-Shirt and I visited with a park ranger about the hike to Hidden Lake, just 1.5 miles from the visitor's center.

The boardwalk trail involved a lot of "knee-ups" but the wildflowers and views were so worth it.  

I took this picture of a family carrying their snow ski's - the father said to me, "where's there is snow, we will go."

The view from the Hidden Lake overlook actually took our breath away.  Much less smoke in this area.

We had a great time today, even if we were a bit indecisive about how to spend our afternoon.   In the end, sometimes the spur of the moment decisions are the best!

Happiness Attacks

I enjoyed a lovely vacation with my sisters and Marilyn's daughter, Karlee in Littleton and Westminster, Colorado last week. It's not always possible, but I try to read the daily scriptures and reflections from a Benedictine periodical called, "Give Us This Day."  The reflection on Sunday, titled "Happiness Attacks" caught my eye and I decided the title is appropriate for this blog post.  Melanie Svoboda's reflection focused on the scriptures, particularly the Transfiguration.  She describes the euphoria the apostles felt on the mountain top as happiness attacks.  She encourages the reader to recognize that "God's beauty or goodness or love breaks through the surface of our everyday....even though His presence is often hidden in the trials and ambiguities of daily living."  I didn't get pictures of every happiness attack, but here are a few....

Spending quality time with my sisters!

And Karlee, especially decorating her classroom.  Notice the lovely dress she's wearing - she and her friend, Nicole, took a sewing class and each made a dress.   Lots of happiness for me listening to those young women tracing the pattern pieces!

 We did a lot of work with and for Karlee in her third grade classroom.  We labeled cubbies and containers, put colored stickers on books, and made a tulle curtain to cover up the ugly blinds on her windows!

We were exhausted after two days of work, up and down ladders; on and off the floor.  Teaching is not for the older generation!  Karlee plans to teach cursive handwriting and lots of thinking strategies.  I found a set of posters describing the thinking strategies and Karlee had to teach me the meaning of such words as inference, schema, and synthesize.  Connie, a former teacher, totally bought into the words and reassured me that third graders would understand and be able to verbalize the strategies!  Gosh, that's not what I learned in third or any other grade for that matter!  

 Lots of Ryan's baseball games were cancelled due to rain this summer, so we got to watch a make up game tonight.
Grace posed with her "found" pink scarf.

The kids table and chairs from our family home often enable happiness attacks!  The table provides the platform for all the budding artists in this family.  Connie's working on Ryan's requested orange cat picture!

Happiness attacked me when we shopped at Joann's for fleece fabric to make four blankets.  Grace got really excited when I found this fishing fleece.  It was the first blanket she sewed for her Dad!

She chose the butterflies for her neighbor, Tammy, who suffers from MS.

Lots of happiness the day Grace made crepes for me.  She gets cookbooks from the local library and Maureen is teaching her to cook.  The crepes were perfect!

Connie and I had serious happiness attacks when we navigated the Denver Light Rail system, all the way from Mineral to Westminster, where Karlee lives.  And, the best it cost us $1.30 each one way because we are senior citizens!  The stations are just five minutes from Maureen's home and the same for Karlee's home in Westminster.

We Kop girls had a major happiness and laughter attack when we looked at the photos of our family home, which is currently for sale in Cottonwood.  The emotions of shock and disbelief overcame us...green kitchen cabinets and a purple wall in the living room!  Our only disappointment was that there were no pictures of the downstairs bathroom so we don't know if the multi colored tile disappeared or not!

I loved our Saturday morning visit to Hudson Gardens.  The Gaekes often ride their bikes to this lovely event center, but we just walked around and admired the gardens and walking trails.

This little bunny acted like someone's pet.  He/she didn't seem bothered as we got close.

Lovely Grace among the lily pads.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch at this unique restaurant in downtown Littleton.  Maureen told us the story of a woman who owns and operates the restaurant and customers pay whatever they want for their food.  Over 120 volunteers each month help serve the food.   We were happy to support this wonderful endeavor.  Their core values:

Our Core Values.  We will…

Invite, welcome and love all people
Show you the beauty in simplicity
Focus on food that is friendly to your own kitchen
Use what we have and limit the excess
Give back often and with joy

We are project crazy people so Karlee and Marilyn spray painted two benches!  Maureen loves the green color and the happy pillow Marilyn made for her.

God's beauty and love broke through many moments of this vacation and I experienced many happiness attacks.  I'm grateful that my sisters were willing to travel with me and grateful to Karlee and Maureen for the wonderful hospitality!