Richards Extended Road trip: Glaciers

Heading to Glacier from Wallace required another stop at St. Regis for their amazing huckleberry shakes.  We decided to try both the Travel Center's shake as well as Frosty's shake that we previously sampled.   They were both pretty fantastic but I preferred the Travel Center's but the others voted for Frosty's again.  Bart ran into a few friends in his line at Frosty's.  

After a quick stop in Kalispell we arrived just in time for dinner at our Airbnb house by the lake.  It had plenty of room for all of us and was in a stunning location.   

Glacier's famous "going to the sun" road was scheduled to be open after the 4th of July but we arrived and it was still closed.  "Gotta love the National Park Service."   We made the best of it and enjoyed some of the beauty that Glacier's offered.    We all started on the "Trail of the Cedars" and then most of the crew headed on a 7 mile hike to "Avalanche Lake".     I stayed behind with Spencer and Pauline because it was really cold and wet and I didn't want to slip in the mud or have to hold Spencer.    Jane reported that she thought this was the funniest hike ever.  "It was so pretty like being in a jungle and a fun challenge to try to avoid slipping in the mud."   

Spencer and I hiked around the trail of the Cedars and enjoyed some Nona time.    When the others came back we ate a lunch and then spent some time on this crystal clear river skipping rocks.  

Bart took a load of tired little people and adults back to the airbnb and the rest of us took an easy hike to "Rocky Point" over looking Lake McDonald and enjoyed the views of the massive lake.  

We then came back to the airbnb.  Most of the kids braved the freezing lake and enjoyed some paddle board time off of the dock.  Sarah and Joe made a fabulous dinner and entertained everyone with a root beer tasting contest.  IBC for the win!!!

I took Jane and Aaron into a nearby town to look for some souvenirs and came across a "Huckleberry Store"   I ordered a shake and a piece of pie.  Jane spotted a pink shirt and was in love and Aaron, who had been looking and looking for the perfect souvenir luckily found himself a pocket knife with his name engraved on it and knew immediately knew he had found his treasure.  

The next day we enjoyed the roads home through the mountains of Montana overlooking so many lakes and rivers.  From now on I'm pretty sure I will forever be underwhelmed by most rivers after seeing such massive ones in Northern Idaho and Montana.  Water is so incredible