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  

Richards Extended road trip: Wallace

We arrived in Wallace just in time to settle into our airbnb that we shared with JB and Mary's family and then meet up with everyone at a local park to celebrate Nona's birthday.

Pauline with 17 out of her 19 grandkids

All the adults

Afterwards I took a few of the cousins around this quaint town.   It was so refreshing to feel like we stepped back in time to a simpler way of life.  

All the travel blogs talk about Wallace having a plaque stating it is the center of the universe.   They say if you ask someone in Wallace about it they will say "How do you know it's not"

After the bike ride (see next post)  we spent some more time wandering the tiny town and visiting/playing with everyone of the trip.   Bart and I stopped by a local diner to try another Huckleberry shake but was gravely disappointed compared to the St. Regis one.  

Our last morning before check up we were all up bright and early on a 4 mile hike to the Palaski Tunnel.   This tunnel is famous for saving a group of firefighters who bunkered down in it after a forest fire surrounded them.   All along the trail was these markers telling the story as told by the main boss Palaski.  I tell you what these men were crazy tough!  

After a few futile attempts to get me or Bart to hold him, Spencer convinced Aaron to do the job.  Aaron to the rescue!!!

After some shopping for souvenirs we all made our way up the mountain to small lake.  It was rainy that day and very cold so I opted to stay in the car and rest while the other ran around and ate lunch.