We drove from Missoula, Montana to Columbia Falls, Montana in about three hours. At the same time, Bob and Charlotte Capp left Spokane, Oregon to join us for about ten days of fun at Glacier NP and Yellowstone NP. WE arrived at the Columbia Falls RV Resort and were able to park the RV by around 2:00. Bob and Charlotte were scheduled to roll in around 5:00 so we prepped the garage/bedroom for the Capps.

We have not been impressed with the hospitality of the people running this RV park. The price is fairly high at $60 per day and it costs $3 per day to park the Capps car and then $3 per day for each of them. It ends up being $9 per day more for our guests. If we want to wash the RV, the cost is and extra $8. On top of that, we were only allowed enough room for our RV and the truck. We were not allowed to put the rear deck down except to unload. The manager came by to remind us about the rules for rear decks while we were unloading our kayaks; this did not go over well. He also made several more passes by our location to see that we did not break any "rules." He did not seem friendly at all; maybe it has been a long season and they are ready for the end of it. Overall, we did not feel welcome; bummer. Likely will not return to this park and we would not recommend it to others.

On Sep 3rd, our first full day here, we decided to take a drive pm Going to the Sun Road that goes up and over Logan Pass. It was a beautiful day and a fantastic drive. The scenery is very hard to match and may even surpass Yosemite and Yellowstone for majestic mountains and forests. See the photos. It is really hard to describe the beauty and majesty of these mountains as you climb along the Going to the Sun Road. You simply have to go see it for yourself. I would highly recommend that whoever sees this blog should put on your "bucket list, a trip to Glacier National Park. You will not be disappointed.

On Sep 4th, Lisa had to work in the morning. She had a four-hour executive managers training session to run from the RV, so Bob, Charlotte and I decided to go for a bike ride. Bob and Charlotte rented two E-Bikes from "Ed," a local vendor. If you have never ridden an E-Bike, you are in for a very pleasant surprise. The E-Bikes have a lithium battery that powers a motor in the rear wheel drive assembly and it will propel you down the road at speeds of up to 30 miles per hour; without pedaling. I rode my Cervelo S3 road bike, so it was pretty easy to stay with Bob and Charlotte on level ground and on the descents. They both kicked my butt on the climbs though. I really had to work hard to not fall too far behind during climbs and then try to make it up on the level ground or the next descent. What was really cool was that Charlotte really took to the E-Bike and mastered it very quickly. On the flats, it was fun to draft behind Charlotte. We rode for 26 miles. Bob and Charlotte had just a little less than half of their batteries left at the end of the ride. The owner of the rental shop stated that a person could make the entire climb on the "Going to the Sun" Road with just one battery; hard to believe. Luckily, the return trip is all downhill.

On Friday, Sep 6th, Lisa's birthday, we decided that a day trip to Polebridge, Montana and Bowman Lake in Glacier Park would work since we had had a fairly hard rain storm the night before. The road to Polebridge is on about 25 miles of dirt road, so the truck was quite dirty before we finished the trip. Polebridge has a small market called the Polebridge Mercantile. It is well know for its pastry shop in general and its Huckleberry Bear Claws in particular. We heard about this place from the Tress Chapin, who is the curator at the Livingston, Montana Train Museum. He said that we had to go there and not miss it. He was right; great food! They also make a wonderful cinnamon roll that I prefer over the bearclaw. They are made very similarly to the way my mother used to make them. Only problem is that they ran out before I could buy a second one to take home; rats! After we left Polebridge, we drove about 13 miles to Bowman Lake in Glacier National Park. We had wanted to kayak this lake, but the weather was too changeable, so we settle with a trip to explore the area and then hike near the lake. The lake is beautiful with high mountains surrounding it. The mountains climbed up into the clouds and there were several layers of fog at lower altitudes; pretty neat. We took a hike around the lake, but decided to cut it short because we did not have a gun or bear spray with us. We were only about 20 miles from Canada at Bowman Lake. We drove back to Columbia Falls where I decided to wash the truck; I couldn't stand all of the mud on it. Bob helped me wash it and get it ready for our next adventure. After some time at home, we cleaned up and went into Columbia Falls to have a birthday dinner for Lisa at the Three Forks Grill, a nice restaurant. When we arrived back at the RV, we had a cake and celebrated Lisa's birthday. It was a really great day.

On Saturday, Sep 7th, we decided to drive to the eastern entrance to Glacier National Park and then go kayaking on Two Medicine Lake. The reports were that the weather would be much better than the day before. Lisa had a business call with her boss, Suzanne, for about an hour, and then we took off for the 70 mile drive to Two Medicine Lake. The day turned out to be perfect with beautiful skies and calm winds. The lake is beautiful and located at the base of several very high mountains. The water was like glass. We had our single kayaks and Bob and Charlotte had rented an inflatable tandem kayak. The rental kayak was pretty hard to control since it would not track straight. After a while I could see that it would be better if I traded kayaks with Charlotte and then Bob and I could work with the rental; we did just that. It was a little hard for both Bob and I to get the inflatable kayak to track, but after a period of time, we got better at it and made progress with it. We all decided that there would not be an inflatable kayak in our futures. We kayaked to the back of the lake and found a nice place to put in to shore for a picnic lunch. The temp was great; the water was not that cold; the winds were non-existent, so the water was flat and smooth. We had a really great day on the lake. Be sure to see the photos of this lake. After our kayak trip, we journeyed to East Glacier where Bob bought lunch for Lisa and me. Lisa had a Bison Burger and I had a taste of it too; it was pretty good. We then began the journey back home.

On Sunday, September 8th, we decided that it was time to go on a scenic float trip down the middle fork of the Flathead River. We signed up with a rafting company called Glacier Raft Company located in the village of West Glacier. At 9:00, we returned the inflatable kayak that Bob had rented the day before and headed out for West Glacier to go on our three-hour, "scenic" float trip down the river. It was a little cloudy at first, but it warmed up and the winds were light and variable. The water was super-clear and we could see some fish in the water. The scenery was outstanding as we were in Glacier National Park. We saw two bald eagles; one was all brown (immature eagle) and one had a beautiful white head and white tail feathers. We also had a red-tail hawk fly right over us to a tree on the shore. We also saw three deer wading across the river right in front of a fishing boat; pretty neat. Our guide was Maddy who was on one of her final guided trips for the year; the weather is turning and before too long, the rafting shops will be closing down for the season. After we returned home to the RV, the weather began to darken and by early evening we were having another significant rain storm. We do not yet have plans for tomorrow, our last day at Glacier.

On Monday, September 9th, it was a rainy day so we decided to go to Whitefish, Montana so that I could get a haircut and then we wanted to see a movie called "Overcomer" about a girl runner and her relationship with a family and her father. It was a very good movie that we all enjoyed. Then to MacDonald's for some food, food shopping on the way home, and back to the RV; the rain had started again. We just rested for the rest of the afternoon and prepared for our trip to Island Park, Idaho in the morning.