Day 6: Glacier National Park, Montana

We decided to spend our anniversary visiting the “Swiss Alps of America” in the Many Glacier are of the park. Another benefit to staying near the east entrance of the main part of the park was that we were not very far from the Many Glacier area. We read online that you needed to get there early to get a parking spot so we got up at 4:30am in order to make the 45 minute drive up to the Many Glacier area. We headed out the door by 5:30am and we got a spot. From there we ate our breakfast, put on our hiking books, and prepared ourselves for the Grinnell Glacier Trail hike. This was what we were most excited about, as it is rated the best hike in the whole park, plus you’d get to see (up close) a glacier that will soon be gone. This hike is also your best chance to run into a 600lb grizzly bear! Needless to say I was nervously carrying my bear spray as we set off on the trail. Soon after we began the trail we saw orange signs saying that 2.5 miles in the trail was closed because someone found themselves 15ft from a grizzly bear a couple days prior. Bummer, but that was okay because we could take the trailhead to Grinnell Glacier Lake – a shorter hike that took you to a beautiful body of water consisting of all of the glacier water that had melted from the Grinnell Glacier. The hike was pretty and some areas were very hard to walk through since it felt like you were just walking in the middle of a tall meadow. Who lived in there? Who knows! Again, we had our bear spray close by in case anyone wanted to say hey. The lake was simply stunning and the reflection off of the water was a smooth mirror. While I would have loved to enjoy this lake all day, the mosquitos and flies did not care how much bug spray you put on your body – they were snacking on you. Regardless, we enjoyed our smashed pb&j lunch at the lake and watched the many who did not bring bug spray stick around for less than 5 minutes. We packed our trash in a scent proof bag for the hike back but before we departed we wanted to make sure we collected a little bit of glacier water. We each filled a small container with the water from the lake and then set out on our way back to the trailhead. We moved our car from the Grinnell Glacier Trailhead to the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn parking lot and checked out the cute little area. We shared some mountain blackberry ice cream as a treat. Doing research on All Trails led me to find out that if you visit Fishercap Lake (only a 5 minute hike from the Swiftcurrent Motor Inn area) you are likely to see a moose. Although most people see this elusive creature in the early morning hours or in the later afternoon – we decided we would give it a try at 2pm to see if any were in there. To our surprise, we saw a bull moose enjoying himself. He was beautiful and all alone – dunking his big head under water to snack on some water plants and surely cooling down from the 90+ degree heat. It was an honor to watch him for the entire hour and a half that we did. After that we changed parking lots once again and headed for the massive lot at the Many Glacier Lodge. They designed the lodge to look like a Swiss one and they even have their staff dress as though they are in Switzerland by wearing costumes. Funny that even in Switzerland they do not do this – but I love the dorky nature of it all. We decided to eat at the grab and go place in the lodge for dinner. Dining options are limited in the park to begin with since there are only lodges with food – but add the pandemic to the mix and there really were limited options for dining. You have to go outside of the park to find a restaurant or a gas station. We each enjoyed a cheeseburger & fries. I got a rhubarb cider while Megan got a local beer. We crept around the lodge looking at how majestic it all was then we went back to the car for the drive back to the cabin. Once at the cabin we celebrated our anniversary by opening the bottle of prosecco that we had brought along with us and some beef & cheese sticks from our hiking snacks. Classy.

Day 7: Glacier National Park, Montana – Helena, Montana

We loaded up the car, said goodbye to the cabin, and decided to check out the Two Medicine area of the park in the southeast before heading to Helena, Montana for the evening. The Two Medicine area is a quiet area of the park and I wanted to take a photo at Paradise Point with my University of Iowa flag. Yes, I am THAT girl. While looking on the map, we saw that right next to Paradise Point was Pray Lake. How cool! We made our way to Pray Lake and took some silly photos with “our” lake. We stopped at the general store in the Two Medicine area and I bought a book on bear attacks. The lady working the store not only grew up in Des Moines but she also went to Lincoln High School (where Megan taught) and she also went to DMACC (where I work). Small world. She and her husband come live and work up in the park every summer. Finally, we said goodbye to the most beautiful national park we’ve ever been to and hit to road to Helena. Once in Helena we checked into the hotel and took our dirty laundry to the Little Dipper Laundromat. Like total dingos we didn’t realize that the speed queen dryer would be that speedy in drying our clothes so when we treated it like a normal dryer by inserting enough coins for half an hour - we burnt ourselves and ruined one of my shirts. You could probably cremate a body in there – that’s how hot it gets. Damn you speed queen. We ate at an amazing diner at a local place called Shellie’s Country Café. Not only was the wait staff amazing but the food was very good. I got the brunch burger and added peanut butter & mayo. Megan got the mushroom swiss burger and tots. We shared a scoop of huckleberry ice cream for dessert and called it a night.

Day 8: Helena, Montana – Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

We peaced out of Helena and made our way towards West Yellowstone. Our initial plan was to go to Canada, but with the border closed we had to make way for plan b – the Grand Tetons. We decided to drive through the west entrance of Yellowstone and make our way south to the Grand Tetons. We visited Yellowstone in 2015, so we just swung through to reminisce. Once we were in Grand Teton National Park it was much quieter. We checked into the Jackson Lake Lodge and our 2nd story room had a balcony overlooking a peaceful meadow. We decided to drive an hour away to Jackson Hole, Wyoming for dinner at Snake River Brewing and it was fantastic. We shared a pretzel with queso but it tasted like a damn pretzel/biscuit hybrid. So good! Then, we shared a small truffle mushroom pizza. I enjoyed a Jenny Lake Lager while Megan had a Hike It Out Hefe then a Wheat your Heart Out beer. We got a 6 pack of Jenny Lake Lager and a 6 pack of Hike it out Hefe to go to save for when we were home in Iowa. Leaving, we were on a race against time to get back before it was the darkest of darks. There are no street lights or lit up cities – it’s just you and the nocturnal animals. The giant sign that read “ELK ELK ELK ELK ELK ELK 45MPH” was nightmare fuel enough – so driving back as it grew darker and darker scared the dickens out of me. We made it back to the lodge, sat out on the balcony and saw a shooting star at 11:11pm. Wild. The stars really twinkled out in the extreme darkness – Saturn looked extremely bright.