So Sarah and I road tripped in a way that will forever change the way I road trip. Even if you are not taking a long drive and just want to see interesting things near you check out Atlas Obscura. It is a guidebook and online map with strange facts, interesting locations, and things to go and see you may not have ever known were there.
We didn't find anything of interest between Lewiston and Coeur D'Alene but I did find an ESGR Statement of Support! It was at Le Peep where we had a very yummy salmon and lobster breakfasts we split. It's really special to find something that links your professional and personal life in such a meaningful way.
By the way, Coeur D'Alene is a beautiful little town on the water with gorgeous houses and a quirky little personality, I highly recommend visiting!
I also suggest the passenger should be awake and ready to Google at any moment. Sarah asked me to look up Wallace, Idaho. On September 25, 2004, Mayor Ron Garitone proclaimed Wallace to be the center of the Universe. Basically he said if you can't prove it to be untrue, it must be true. Therefore Wallace is the Center of the Universe. There's spaceships and man hole covers and everything. It is a fantastically quirky little place!
I also just found out on Wikipedia that Wallace was a location of one of my favorite guilty pleasures... Dante's Peak!! The 1997 film Dante's Peak was shot on location in Wallace, which was portrayed as the fictional town "Dante's Peak" in Washington state, with a large hill just southeast of the town digitally altered to look like a volcano. Many scenes involving townspeople, including the initial award ceremony, the pioneer days festival, and the gymnasium scene were shot using the actual citizens of Wallace as extras.
We were also glad we googled "Kellogg, Idaho." Basically a prospector lost his donkey and found it standing on a mine able ore. So Kellogg became a mining town "founded by a jackass and inhabited by his descendants." We thought we were going to get a story about cereal, but that was way better!
Don't be in a rush to just drive through everything to get where you are going, there are so many fun things to learn and do! That's the biggest lesson this trip has taught me.
We arrived in Glacier National Park and set up camp. We stayed in Fish Creek Campground, which was beautiful but I probably would choose McDonald Lake if I had it to do over again. We set up camp and I learned just how much I love sleeping in my hammock.
Sarah and I got up the next morning, filled our packs with layers of clothing and food and headed to Apgar Visitor Center to catch the shuttle up to Logan Pass. We stopped at Avalanche Creek first where you have to switch transportation and got out to hike for a bit.
Trail of Cedars is the best for being handicapped accessible, having incredible views and very family-friendly. We started there and took it to the Avalanche Lake trail.
The water really is THAT blue!
I loved the light and the way the water carved through the rock.
The rock looked like gold the way the light was hitting it!
We took the fork in the road to Avalanche Lake. It was about 4.5 miles and rated as moderately difficult. Karma also came into play. Sarah and brought extra food and water and gave it a couple who did not bring any. We paid it forward after the Joneses were so kind to help us out in the Sawtooths when we couldn't purchase fuel. The dense forest during the hike was incredible!
I was a little angry during our trip because it was so smokey and so hard to see some of the views.
It was smokey but you can see the glacial amphitheatre with waterfalls and a gorgeous lake.
After the hike we headed back to the transportation area to take the transfer shuttle to Logan Pass. If I have the opportunity to do it again I think I would take one of the Red Shuttles where the roof comes off and you can take AMAZING photos on Going-to-the-Sun-Road. The bus gives you limited options, but still breathtaking and still an very steep drop right off the edge.
What a view!
I still need to look up how this happened!
I was still coughing from being sick and decided not to take the Hidden Glacier Trail with Sarah, it was becoming more and more smokey and irritated my breathing. You can see the smoke rolling into Logan Pass Visitor Center.
There are all kinds of signs to stay 25 feet away from wild life. I kept telling this little Marmot he was going to get in trouble. He tried to steal my lunch and freaked me out by putting his little paws on my hand as I was leaning back relaxing.
We headed back to the visitor center on the bus and did A LOT of shopping. I snuggled into my hammock and Sarah knocked out some reading. It was a nice way to spend the evening. We went to bed early knowing we had our longest drive ahead of us in the morning.
Next up: Bismarck, North Dakota for my daughter's second birthday!
No comments:
Post a Comment