Day Three-Drive through Glacier National Park

We wake up on Saturday and enjoy breakfast with our hosts before we pack up our things and find a place to have our oil changed. We are in an older car and need to pay special attention to how it's doing since we are counting on it getting us from point A to point B without stranding us on the side of the road. Anywho, we find the Jiffy Lube and spend almost $300 to make sure all the lights and liquids are taken care of. The crew was really nice and we think they are honest about their recommendations so we take them.

A couple hours later the hose they replaced and told us would not last long needs to be looked at so we stop in a small town on our way to Glacier at the local NAPA and they guy behind the counter gets under our hood and makes us a new hose to fit. (who does that?) We give him a nice tip for spending an hour on us in the hot sun and we are on our way.

We get to the entrance of Glacier National Park around 5:30 pm and we begin our drive. We find a nice hike to take with the time we have and LOVE the park. There is a huge beautiful lake as soon as you come in with dramatic rocky mountains surrounding you at every turn. We park in a nice parking lot and hike to a beautiful view point, take pictures then hike to two different waterfalls. The hike was great, the trails are well maintained and natural. The smells of all the trees and plants is wonderful and we are loving the mountains. We find the shuttle bus stop and they shuttle us back to our car so we don't have to walk all the way back.

We need to start thinking about getting through the park and finding a camping spot. We drive the rest of the two hour drive on the Going-to-the-Sun road and find out there are no camping spots left and it's dark. We end up getting a chicken sandwich at the A&W in West Glacier and drive to Kalispell where we spend the night in a parking lot. Really, not too bad although next time we will grab our sleeping bags as it gets COLD at night.

Day Two-On the road through ND and Montana with a stay in Helena

The second day of our trip I woke up at a decent time, despite our late arrival in Dickinson. I tried running to get my blood flowing for the day and quickly realized that my body thinks I'm crazy so I went for a nice walk and saw a fox in the yard. How cool is that? I got ready and got Chad out of bed and we were on our way by 8:30 am MST.

I drove so we stopped at the Painted Canyon rest area which gives you a glimpse of Theodore Roosevelt Nat'l Park and then took a quick drive through Medora, ND where I spent two summers in high school working at a cafe. Chad has never been here and I thought he'd like to see where I hung out when I was younger.



We were on the open road again and the wind was blowing I would guess 35-50 miles an hour right at our car. Let's just say we didn't get great gas mileage on this day. We have our first trip mishap in Forsyth, MT by locking our keys in the car where we stopped for gas, at the gas pump. Lucky for us we begin to remember how nice and helpful people can be once you leave the city as the gas station attendant called the local locksmith for us. He was there in less than 20 minutes and charged us $10; we were pleasantly surprised and can't stop talking about it and telling everyone.

I got back on the road and drove us all the way to Bozeman where we stopped for gas and Chad began to drive us to Helena to visit Adam and Mara and their son Ross. We got there in good time and Chad made them Lime Halibut as a treat for letting us spend the night, Mara makes great cheesy potatoes and treats us to Huckleberry ice cream. (we soon learn that huckleberries are huge out west in the mountains) We have a great time with their son and catching up on all we've missed since they moved from Fargo, ND. We had a late night with some wine and beer and then it's off to bed around 2:30 am.

Day One-Overnight in ND

Chad finished work, we packed the car and set off on our quest for a new home out west. We left Minneapolis at 7:45 pm CST on Thursday, August 21 and settled at my mom's house in Dickinson, ND at 3:45 am Mountain time. We visited with my mom and Keith for almost an hour then they got ready for work and we went to sleep. It has been a good trip so far, kind of a late start but we made good time and will get to sleep in a comfortable bed tonight.

To be good road trippers I have treats for the trip along with a packed cooler to help us save money on meals. We bought water at Costco, along with fruit and veggies, salad, grilled chicken, dressing, lunch meat, bread, crackers, cheese, yogurt and granola and soda. We are off to a good start to save money and time on the road.