As I made some delicious cinnamon swirl french toast, Dave got into his morning routine of packing the tent. In years past I pack my tent before I start cooking and the kids pack theirs after they eat. It's been so nice to have Dave thrown into the mix especially now that he's gotten into the groove of setup and packup.
I decided to take the interstate route today as it would be another work day for Dave. It added another 45 minutes or so to our drive, but I had a Trader Joe's on our list so it would be worth it. While the winding roads, canyon gorges, and mountain passes are so much fun to drive through, they aren't fairing to well with his internet connection. Dave spread out in the back seat of the car while I had my new navigator up front handling music. He was more of a Ninetendo DS player today though.
We were getting low on gas but I knew where there is a Trader Joe's there is a sizeable city so I decided to wait until we got off he interstate. We passed the city of Great Springs which seemed odd. When we left at our exit it looked like we were driving into a ghost town. And when the GPS announced we were at our destination I didn't even slow down. I found a gas station about a mile away while Dave tried to figure out my mistake.
In one pass of my trip planning I use the Trader Joe's website to find locations we'll be driving near and add them to my list. I'd added one for Great Falls, Montana and my GPS even had it listed. As I pumped gas Dave found this particular Trader Joe's was a fishing supply shop that was now permanently closed. And the closest one was in Spokane, Washington. We got some travel candy to make us feel better and got back on the road headed west hoping we had enough groceries for our stay in the woods. Grammie was supposed to be stopping at some point as well so we weren't too worried.
The detour to Great Falls took us away from the mountains. At one point I really felt like we were in Oklahoma again. But about 45 minutes before we were supposed to arrive they appeared again and the disappointment of the day was replaced with excitement for the next four.
Once we got into the Visitor's Center right inside the park I sent Grammie a text but they were quite a ways behind us. We grabbed junior ranger books for everyone and headed to our campground to check in. But as we were driving up to the ranger station there was a big, bright sign saying there had been frequent bear activity in the campground and no tent campers would be allowed to stay. We were disappointed but glad we would be safer at the new campground 5 miles down the road.
We settled into our new mountain home nicely with Dave snacking and working, the kids finding a rock to climb, and me getting things organized for our stay. We headed back up to the Visitor's Center on the chance Grammie would be close but she was still about an hour away with some crazy winding roads to go. I stopped at our general store for some beer and ice and decided to also grab some bear spray. The chances were low we would have an encounter but I really wanted the opportunity to hike and enjoy the park without worrying about bears.
Ever since we'd arrived to Wyoming we'd heard about all kinds of fires happening in Montana, Washington and Idaho that were filling the skies to the west with haze. We didn't know better so the view was fine in the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone. Here we really began to see it. There was a fire in the park that had already consumed 1600 acres and the smoke was all around us. There was even small pieces of ash falling from the sky occasionally. The sun was orange and the day was already cooling off at 4pm with the smoke blocking much of the sun. We were disappointed again, but tried our best to make the best of it.
I called Grammie to let her know our campground change and to try to figure out where to meet. She was to be camping just outside the park so we decided to meet them at our campground for our night program. Just as I was putting our veggie taco dinner on the table Grammie and Ryan pull into our campsite to join us - perfect timing! It turns out they were actually staying the in the campground we were transferred from so Ryan got a little nervous about the reason why as she was Grammie's partner for the next 2 days.
Once we were all finished and the dishes were done we headed to the night program. We had learned the east portion of Glacier National Park originally belonged to the Blackfeet Native American community and tonight's program was a music performance of stories by a descendant of the native members of the tribe.
We laughed a lot and sang a little as we heard Native American tales and history brought to life. It was a great introduction to the park that we all enjoyed. Grammie and Ryan left us with plans to meet up at the Visitor's Center for the movie and exhibit walk through before our first day.
We were lucky enough to be visiting another International Dark Sky park these few days. The moon was beautiful low in the sky as we left the program. It was not going to be very dark this night!
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