Ending Our Trip in Missoula, Montana

We spent the last few days of our trip at our friend's house in Missoula, Montana.  We rested, did a little sightseeing, had some great meals, and mostly talked about our time together in the national parks.  

 

It had been a great trip!  The boys loved getting three new Junior Ranger books.

 

 

They also got two new Junior Ranger badges and a Junior Ranger patch.  Yellowstone does patches instead of badges.  Cruz added to his pin collection.  He also got a new lanyard at Yellowstone to display them on.

 

They decided this trip to start collecting patches.  I am not sure yet how we will display them.

 

We were in Glacier National Park all day on David's original birthday.  Once we got back to Missoula we visited a local cookie shop and got him a large chocolate dipped peanut butter cookie.  We put a few candles in it and sang to him.  

 

There is a playground park and splash pad within walking distance from the Mason's house.  We made a few visits there to let the boys play.

 

We spent one day at Maclay Flat.  We walked the trail, ate a picnic lunch, and let the boys swim. 

 

 

Playing at Maclay Flat in Missoula, Montana.

We walked into town several times.  One night we ate a delicious Mexican supper and stopped by an ice cream parlor for dessert.  We visited a park at lunch where they have a variety of food trucks set up and live music.  We spent an afternoon at a local playground.  We also had a wonderful date night on our last evening there.  Our friends took the boys out and we walked into town for a yummy Italian meal.  Afterwards, we went for a long walk around town. We ended the night playing cards with the Masons and saying our goodbyes.

 

gorgeous Missoula sunset

 

 

We flew back into New Orleans and then made the drive back home to Mississippi.  We were ready to get home but oh so sad to leave.  

 

The national parks were amazing! I am very thankful for the ones we have been able to visit this year.  We are already talking about others that we want to see in the future and starting to do some research so that we can make that happen.  

If you have or know a family with a fourth grader, they get a free pass to all national parks beginning September 1 of this year until August 31, 2022.  Visit Every Kid Outdoors to print out your free pass.

Glacier National Park Day 2

Our alarm went off at 4:30 a.m.  We were on the road soon afterwards.  We wanted to make it to Logan Pass early to try to beat some of the crowd.

 

We drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road to get there.  It was a beautiful, scenic drive in spite of the heavy cloud cover.

 

You have to arrive early to get a parking space.  They fill up quickly. 

 

View of the parking.  It was so cloudy!!!

 

Our first hike of the day was to Hidden Lake Overlook.  It was around 3 miles round trip.

 

Shortly after starting the hike, we saw this deer eating.  We stopped for a while to watch it.

 

 

The elevation made it a little hard to breath.  We had to stop often to rest.

 

I loved seeing the patches of snow in the distance.

 

Ben watching a chipmunk play.

 

This is what we were wanting to see.

 

This is the view we saw instead.  Only clouds.  There's a beautiful lake out there but sadly we did not get to see it.

 

Hiking back down the trail.

 

Glacier National Park

 

 

 

 

Another view of the parking lot when we returned.  I loved seeing the U.S. and Canada flags flying.   We made a quick stop by the gift shop and then got back on the road.

I loved the trees.  They reminded me of Christmas.

 

St. Mary Lake

The pictures do not do it justice.  It is beyond beautiful!!!

 

 

 

 

We stopped to let the boys play and throw rocks in the water.

 

 

 

 

We stopped at Sun Point for a picnic lunch.

 

We then headed out on another hike to see a few waterfalls.  

 

We saw breathtaking views of St. Mary Lake along the way.

Purple is my favorite color so you can imagine my joy seeing these purple flowers everywhere!

 

Our first stop on the trail was Baring Falls.

 

 

Next on the trail was St. Mary Falls.

 

 

 

 

The boys are like fish.  They like to be in the water.  Even if it is freezing cold.

 

I could not believe how beautiful and blue the water was.  It was definitely the prettiest I have ever seen.

 

 Enjoying the views.

 

We didn't make it to Virginia Falls.  It started to drizzle so we got out our ponchos and started the hike back.  It never rained hard enough to really need them but after getting soaked the two previous days we were not taking any chances.   Plus, we thought it was funny to wear them.

 

Ready for the rain and a little disappointed that we didn't get any.

 

An overlook view on the hike back out.

We stopped for a rest by the lake to let them play one last time.

 

 

 

We stopped at Baring Falls again too to let them play.

 

This amazing day was actually David's birthday. I cannot imagine a more beautiful place to celebrate. Glacier National Park is now one of our favorite places.  It is unbelievably stunning.

 

As we were driving back down the Going-to-the Sun Road we spotted this bighorn sheep.  We stopped to watch it eat.

 

Leaving the park area.  We were a little sad that our road trip was coming to an end. We had seen and experienced so much over the previous several days.  The trip was amazing!  Definitely a once in a lifetime experience.  I will treasure the memories that we made forever!

 

We stopped in Kalispell for supper at Chick-fil-A.  It is currently the only location in the whole State of Montana. We then continued the drive back to Missoula.  The boys slept much of the way.  This trip had definitely worn them out.  We were all tired!

We spent a few days in Missoula with our friends before flying back home.  I'll share a little about that in my next post.