Parks - Part IV

 

October 1, 2022

When I was eighteen years old, my university choir traveled and performed on a three-week tour in Europe.  We sang our way through England, The Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, East and West Germany (they were still separate back then). We saw and experienced so many things that were not a part of our US/Midwestern backgrounds.  Among those were castles.  There were castles everywhere.  We must have stopped and toured nearly every one we passed.  After a while, we were saturated.  I actually remember saying with very little enthusiasm, "Oh, look, another castle."

As we drove west and north out of Yellowstone, I was afraid our turtle van residents were getting saturated with mountains.  The smaller, tree-covered ones.  We were almost at the point of saying, "Oh, look, more mountains."  

We drove a long day through the very Western-looking land and spent the night in a quiet little state park.  We drove some more and spent the night at a jazzed-up Harvest Hosts site.  We drove some more and arrived at Glacier National Park.  I've wanted to visit Glacier and experience the Going to the Sun Road the since my twenties,  so this was a really big deal for me.  Please, please, I begged myself, don't be saturated. 

Holy Smokes.  Not saturated.

Every corner we turned was more majestic and awesome and humbling than the last.  It was such a privilege to be here.  We spent three nights, drove the Road both directions, and still wanted more.  More, more, more. 

The most gorgeous picture I've seen of the park's views doesn't come close to what we saw with our very own eyes.  I wish, I wish, I wish I could take just one photograph that would allow you to share the beauty.  Here are a few attempts.  Yes, really that blue, that green, that mysterious, that overpowering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

❤️

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next posts won't have nearly as many photos, I promise.  These two were just such big deals, better-that-we-ever-imagined experiences.  We wanted to be able to get back to some of our favorite memories fast.

It has been a hard push getting through the far northern parks before things shut down even more for the winter.  We have one northerly park yet to visit.  We will be able to relax our pace a little after that.  This weekend we are tucked up in a little riverside campground in far western Montana for a couple days of rest.  We have power, water, laundry and internet.  Such luxuries.