Awesome Summer Adventure (part 1)

Here’s the first installment of this summer’s Awesome Summer Adventure :) We’re crazy, I know :) but this summer’s adventure had us flying into and out of Seattle, then driving to Montana to go back to Glacier National Park… Where we spent 7 glorious days which included an overnight on the Canadian side (Waterton Park) and then on to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons for 4 days, drive back toward Seattle (OMG, please don’t talk to us about Idaho…) with stops at Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens… Ending with a Red Sox game in Seattle on our last night… 17 days and 1986 pictures!!! I promise I won’t post THAT many :) just some of our favorites… Click on the photos to see them full size.

First up… Glacier National Park… I have to start by saying that Glacier is my all-time favorite place in the whole world. Hands down… and we’ve been a lot of places :) Mike and I went last summer during the (not so) Great Train Adventure… and it was so amazing that we needed to take the kids there… But, we didn’t take the horrid train this time :)

So, to get started, if you go to Glacier, you’ll see a lot of these signs… Bear Spray was the first thing we bought (it’s kinda like pepper spray on crack) which isn’t a spray you use as a repellent, but if a bear charges at you, it’ll stop them…

Our first hike… To Avalanche Lake… The guide books describe it as a “Calf-burning climb” and it seems like 2 miles straight up :) but it’s well worth the effort!

Lots of water along the trail… Magical water with glacial flour in it giving it a beautiful blue-green color.

Stopping for a GIANT burned out tree stump

Cresting the ridge, you get a glimpse of what’s to come…

Then… There it is!

Holy cow… it’s amazing… I always describe it as “How to Train Your Dragon” it reminds me of the “scenes” from that movie only, it’s not animated… it’s REAL :) we sat on a log to have some snacks and water… take a peek at those logs in the background behind Mike and Kathryn…

So, we’re having snacks… Taking pictures…

and Kathryn asks Mike to get up and stand in front of where we were sitting so she could take his picture… He stood up, turned to face us, and HOLY CARP>>> Bear!!

Here you can see where we were sitting in relation to where the BEAR was walking across the logs!!

WOW!!! A BEAR on our first hike!! The bear didn’t pay any mind to us, just walked along the logs for some yummy snacks (berries and flowers) across the lake.

Oh, yeah… We LOVE Montana :) The mountains are just amazing…

And, then there’s the magic water…

One Big Happy Family :) (very thankful for the many friendly people who took family photos for us :) we returned the favor, it’s so nice to have pics with all of us!)