Hiking in Glacier....

                                                                      Hiking in Glacier!

Round two in Glacier we decided to take a trail near Lake McDonald. While walking we saw some very colorful mushrooms that we just had to stop and snap some pictures of. This trail was right next to a river which was very nice, and peaceful.  We went from forest, to river, to dense forest in an hour. Something we noticed in the dense forest was how much the trees creaked. It was a little spooky thinking these big trees might fall.  On our way back,( we did not bring raincoats this time thinking we will be fine.) We got caught in a rain storm. We were literally running through the forest trying not to trip on anything. How many rain stories will we have by the time our trips over!? We also did a little walk around the lodge.

 

 

 

Glacier National Park.....

Welcome to Glacier….

We arrived at Glacier National Park! Staying at Indian Creek campground in between stops, where we got a much needed laundry day done. The campground we were staying at is called North American Campground only five minutes away from the Park’s entrance.  Our first trip to the Glacier we went on a Scenic Hike up to Avalanche Lake .The Lake’s name refers to snow slides that roar down the steep slopes during the winter and spring.  We went early so it wouldn’t be that crowded. Once you get out of the parking lot there was a paved trail that led up. Where we saw a humongous tree. After the paved trail, you get on the real trail going uphill, while walking you pass a roaring river, and then you incline. Once we got to Avalanche Lake we got a few minutes, and then it started raining. It was beautiful rain or shine. We headed down passing tours and a lot of people coming up. Since I was wearing a red raincoat  (I got many comments that I looked like little Red Riding Hood!)  By the time we were going down it was raining so hard, you felt really bad for the people on the tour. We got into our car and headed up to Logan’s pass. Luckily It stopped raining. As we went up the pass let me paint a little picture about Logan’s Pass roads. Narrow. While we were getting to the top we got hit by the fog. You could barely see in front of the car.  At the Visitor Center where we planned to take our walk. It was so foggy that the walk just faded away. We headed down and went home. We had a great time exploring Glacier!

 

 

 

 

 

St Ignatius Church

 

St Ignatius Church is a beautiful church in Montana! As you walk up to the church you are in awe of its beauty. St Ignatius church was built in 1891. In 1840 Fr. Peter Desmet came to Montana in request.  In 1841 he established St Mary’s mission at Stevensville. In 1854, St Ignatius mission was founded to serve the religious and educational of the Salish and Kootenai people. Within 35 year the mission included a large school, a sawmill, printing press, flour mill, hospital, farm and present church. After looking at the beautiful church! There was a park down the street where we went to eat our lunch! Unfortunately we got attacked by yellow jackets, and  had a dash for the car!

 

The most amazing thing ever is that these murals were paint by the mission cook! He did a fantastic job! It was incredible in here!

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Virginia City!

Virginia City

Welcome to Virginia City a real ghost town!  As we entered Virginia we parked the trailer, and eagerly headed out. Virginia City is truly an amazing ghost town. It’s not like you are looking into empty stores, you are actually looking into fully stocked shelves! Pretty amazing! Right? Walking down Main Street you have everything you need in a town. Clothing stores fully stocked shelves with variety of patterns, hats, and boxes full of shoes. Looking at the shoe repair shop brought back some memories for our parents. At the General store there were fully stocked shelves of cans, lots of kitchen ware, and fabric. There was actually about two to three general stores fully stocked some more than others. The clothing stores were really cool to see what the clothing they wore back then the “newest” styles, shoes, hats, and trunks. The toy store had toy cars, dolls, xylophone, and play horse and carriage. At the bell telephone Co there was the very historic switchboard. What a job!  The stagecoach and horses had mostly pretty buggies, not good for the hard trails they would encounter on their way. There was also a barber shop with nice reclining chair. Catch up on a nice nap while getting you haircut! The old church was built in 1875. It was only 70 years old when they left.  I really enjoyed looking at all the old buildings, and learning about the history behind it! Some of the buildings haven’t been used since the last day of business 1945! It was very interesting to see!

 

 

 

 

Yellowstone Pictures!

Yellowstone 2…

After going to Yellowstone twice, and doing school. We decided to go to where the Madison Earth quake occurred. Here’s some back ground. “On the Evening of August 17^th 1959 an earthquake hit the Forest Service Campground it was 7.5 on the Richter scale. 80 million ton of dolomite came crashing down, killing 28 people.” It was devastating. At the sight of the earthquake we got to see the memorial rock naming all the people who died during the earthquake, Madison River, Earthquake Lake, and walking around reading the different signs.  After seeing the sight we headed down the road and stopped to take a walk. We walked down to Madison River. While down there we saw where the cabins were and how they shifted during the earthquake. What an interesting place. We enjoyed looking around!

           

The mountain slid down during the earthquake, and went across the road to the other side.



Memorial Rock.

The day before we left for Glacier, we headed over to the store in Yellowstone Holiday. Melissa and I were so excited when we were asked to help out in the store. We learned how to work a cash register, clean the glass on the soda machine, learn how they worked the cabin cleaning, and mingle with the hosts! Later on in the day Patrick came with us and we had some ice cream, and helped close up shop! What a fun day it was! 

                                                       Sunset at Yellowstone Holiday