Intentional Tonic
Glacier National Park, Part Two: Happy Campers (Aug 2015)
Frankly, when we left Billings, we seriously considered going home and taking a “staycation.” But, we are of hardy stock and continued on. JR drove and I navigated. Someone didn’t want to sit in the passenger seat while someone else drove the speed limit. Mmm hmm.
Roughly eight hours later, we pulled into our campsite. This time when we tried to use the power jack stand, it would not cooperate. We were weary. And we were wary…of our decision to make the drive. As navigator, I had wisely spent some of my time Googling the potential problem (fuse). Luckily the camp store had a new fuse (20 amps was the ONLY spare we didn’t have, sheesh) and that did the trick. Whew! No big deal. Guess how many spare fuses of every voltage we have now? We are supplied for armageddon.
We set up and made dinner. We had steak and asparagus with chimichurri pasta. It never tasted better. I think it has something to do with eating outside. We don’t do it enough and it just makes everything better! And, we had a guest (look closely):
We disconnected from email and internet (forced – no coverage), played cards, took a few walks with a very excited Scarlett, and went to bed happy to be there and looking forward to a great trip.
I rarely beat JR at 500. Grrr…
We spent the next day in the park. Wow. It took us thirty minutes in line just to get in the park. We had been hopeful the fire would have reduced the number of visitors, but no such luck. Instead, we were all stuck on one side of the park together!
Trail of the Cedars
“Tourist” boat ride (on a very smoky Lake McDonald), otherwise known as “JR’s least favorite thing to do!”
Notice that the lake is like glass
Here’s the lake on a better day:
Photo courtesy Jack Bell
The next day, we loaded up the kayaks to put in at Lake McDonald. We wanted to cross the lake and go explore the other side. It was quite the paddle. There are exactly two pictures of the first crossing because it was too cold to stop paddling for pictures. Between the wind and cold water, we were soaked and frozen. In August! Oh my. Thank goodness for extra layers, rain jackets, and a warm PFD layer! If only we’d kayaked the day before! Luckily the trip back across the lake wasn’t as bad. We lashed our boats together, put out JR’s anchor, had snacks, and enjoyed the quiet. After patiently waiting for us to return, Scarlett got another good long swim that day. What a good girl.
I’m out there!
I call this JR’s “vacation face.” So happy!
Vacation face again!
When we got back to the campsite, we had, shall we say, a “problem” with our sewer hose (which we lovingly refer to as the poop tube). A poop tube is one of the items you need but is not included with the purchase of your camper. When we picked out our poop tube, we went middle of the road, cost-wise. This day, we drove over to Kalispell to an RV store and got a replacement. After all of our previous mishaps, you better believe we bought the fanciest dang poop tube and poop tube drain-angle-holder-thingy you’ve ever seen.
Why we cheaped out on such a vital piece of equipment the first time around, I’ll never know! Rookie mistake. As we looked around the campsites in the next few days, we noticed everyone had the nicer poop tube setup.
The image in my head anytime we have to deal with the poop tube. Can’t help it!
Truth be told, at that point we’d had enough of the Park crowds. That was good, because I’d planned a day in Whitefish. We drove over early the next morning and found a good breakfast spot (you all know how JR loves his breakfast!). Not that I didn’t enjoy it too, Loula’s has the best grits west of the Mississippi! Yum!
Next on our itinerary? Zip lining at Whitefish Mountain! Yes, zip lining for the girl who does not like heights!
Stayed tuned for Part III: Calm Fun? Do we survive the zip line adventure? Hmmm, I guess this might be a little anticlimactic! Maybe the better question is “Does Jen survive or end up in the Whitefish psych ward?” Stay tuned!
