#epicroadtrip Day 2

Glacier National Park. Now my 2nd favorite national park, after Zion. And it's also #1 on my "Must Go Back" list. We had only one day. And we didn't have the luxury of being able to use the shuttle system within the park because we had to get to the other side to continue our #epicroadtrip. I highly recommend using the shuttle system if you ever go there because otherwise you will not be able to park at the places you want to park at and then you will not get to do the hikes you want to do and then you will not see the infamous mountain goats that walk on the sides of the cliffs.

Even though the day was somewhat disappointing due to not being able to do 2 of the hikes on our list, it was still an amazingly beautiful place. And I was very worried about driving on the "Going to the Sun Road" - being that it was all on the edge of a cliff and way up high and all that. And honestly, driving up to Artist Point here at home is scarier. Glacier has barriers almost all the way, so I didn't have to close my eyes hardly at all!! I have a thousand pictures from this glorious day - sunny, not hot, with incredible & majestic creation all around us.

We stopped at a few little turnouts on the way up, past Lake McDonald. Beautiful cascading rivers and rocks to run on. And yes, those are my children on the rocks beyond the "Danger" sign. Their father went first. I could do nothing.

We LOVED the Weeping Wall and spend quite a bit of time hiking around in the wildflowers and climbing up some rock faces.

This area was a cross between Little House on the Prairie (the TV show) and The Sound of Music for me. The girls just envisioned The Sound of Music. And we (or at least Becca) broke into "The Hills are Alive" several times. 

More amazing views were captured along the road...

^^No, that mountain was not steaming...that's from a plane and it just happened to look like it was coming from the mountain.

We found a quiet pull out with lots of big flat rocks to sit on and enjoy our picnic lunch.

And we finally saw a glacier! 

And just like that, Glacier was over. We'll be back.

On the road out the east side of Glacier, there are cows. Actually ON the road. And you have to drive very carefully so as not to hit them. And then we drove on some more barren Montana roadways (#bigsky #bigstate) to Great Falls, MT, where our evening was spent with the big girls running, the little girls swimming, dinner at a hole-in-the-wall Italian place that was delicious (thanks, Yelp!), and a good night's sleep before day 3 - a day of mostly driving.