Sunday 16th July

Sunday and the weather finally catches up with us. We have been dodging this heatwave that is traversing the western part of the USA for a few days now. Today we ran into it with full force 36 degrees. First we needed to crack out a 3hr drive. Few things to note, Mummy reading Harry Potter to the boys. The signs and areas having Native American writing.

What’s the best thing to do in 36 degree temperature? That’s right, an outside museum! Welcome to the Miracle of America Museum.

Couple of wins, one we didn’t know that today was a “History Day” and two the museum recently won some funding to make more exhibitions interactive.

Things started well, Daddy took Elliott to the toilet and got talking to a lady with her three kids. She was from New York and was going to Glacier tomorrow. She noted “this place is bonkers but brilliant” which is probably the most beautiful summary.

The museum operates an interesting policy if you see the green stickers you can touch and play with the exhibits.

As we walk into the backyard of the museum there is a huge mix of cars, boats, trains, farm equipment. Entire shops have been created with local dentistry’s and general stores setup.

The first person we meet is driving a boat/car that looks like it came from Mary Poppins. He is the owners son and tells us that his Dad has been running this place for over 40 years. It started as one building and has now expanded in every direction.

He noted that his Dad has a fascination with military and military vehicles. As this was a live day, the boys took rides in a Soviet military motorbike from 1968.

They followed that up with a trip on a fire engine, the boat/car while Mummy sang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Before we were told to head and queue up by this giant thing.

Dad wants to drive it. That’s all we are told. The next thing we know 30 people are loaded into the back of this. Hold onto the bars!

Then a man nearly his 90s fires it up and drives it a breakneck speed around the entire estate. As we scaled the hill an overweight American child fell into his Dad, who then toppled and pinned Daddy against the side of the truck!

Everyone got off and thanked the lord we were still in one piece. There was a train, it was running when we arrived. Unfortunately it broke down during a refill, the man shouted “it’s harder to start her on diesel”

Each barn/section had its own theme. Too many to name, one thing was the use of dummy’s in the exhibits. Kind of creepy and very weird, especially in the school house when a lady dressed as a dummy rose from her chair and started talking to the boys.

This barn was dedicated to TV and Film, rows and rows of old camera, lighting, televisions and printing equipment. Most of the items are donated to the museum from local people.

So many classic cars!

The outdoor UFO section was a big hit with the boys, one of the spacecraft had a green tag. Nate spent nearly 10mins inside the craft.

Didn’t need to use this today!

Nate’s hero! He flips between Big Foot and Evel Knievel at the moment.

Some things were a bit questionable, heavy pro gun influence and some African American exhibits which wouldn’t be allowed anywhere.

To the museums credit they did put huge signs up explaining the exhibits and their position on racism.

We toured the main building towards the end, the majority of the exhibits were WW2 military themed. Lots of interesting pieces, some for sale! WW2 shell for $500? Not sure it will pass US customs and Virgin Atlantic’s baggage restrictions.

The museum was a hit for Elliott “Normally museums are behind glass and you have to do lots of reading, this one you could touch things and play with them!”

We left the museum and headed for the hotel, only a short drive away. We saw online that the restaurant The Shoe had great reviews and views over Flathead Lake. It didn’t disappoint!

We are tired but lovely and chilly in our 68 degree hotel room. Tomorrow is our first day in Glacier National Park.

Monday 17th July

We left the Red Lion Inn, after some breakfast and a quick swim. We timed things to perfection as the heavens opened during our swim. We said our goodbyes and locked in for a long drive.

After swapping Glacier stories with the waitress last night, we were determined to crack out the long drive to see Eagle Rock Falls. If you look at the route on the map it’s pretty crazy, but these falls are supposed to be spectacular.

As we drove, we went deeper and deeper into Native American land, signs had English and Native American. We have seen statues, shops, schools and flags for the Blackfoot tribe. It’s amazing to see and we want to research the history further!

After a loooong drive we arrived at Eagle Rock Falls (a great 80s soft rock band name) but an even more impressive waterfall. We are placing Eagle Rock at either position 1/2 on our waterfall list.

The car park had around 10 cars which is a good sign. We asked a couple about the hike and they just said “you’ll love it”

The most amazing thing about the waterfall was how it appears. If someone designed a waterfall with the most impact, presence and beauty it would be Eagle Rock Falls.

Due to the lack of people, we could take our time, climb rocks, play in the glacial waters and see who could skim stones the furthest.

We were amazed by the colour of the rocks, bright reds, yellows and greys. The water was crystal clear and the wind…well, it was very windy!

Mummy was determined to swim or just dip her toes into the icy cold waters. Mummy said if Libby was here she would be off swimming!

After 4.5hrs of driving we arrived at North Forty, Whitefish, Montana. The message we received was Glamping Tent. Yes, we booked a glamping tent (facepalm) for two nights. No shower, no running water, one bed. Mummy looked the 16yr girl dead in the eye and said “Glamping Tent…”

After Mummy laughed like a hyena and Daddy called a brief family meeting that consisted of what are we going to do, and are there any other lodges available? Luckily there were, we took a $ hit and upgraded to running water and electricity. Lodge 43 will be our home for the next two nights and we couldn’t be happier!

Tuesday 18th July

50 miles of winding roads that have sheer drop-offs over the mountain side. Fun? Yes Scary? Yes, but it provided us with some of the best views of our trip.

We set our alarms for 06:00 and we were out the door before 07:00, which is good for us.

The drive up to Glacier was interesting, and a bit ominous. We saw a large SUV parked on the side of road, the front smashed to pieces. In the road, was a large Elk not moving. It must have just happened as nobody had left the SUV. Scary stuff and not something you can plan for!

We are here for the Going to the Sun Road (known moving forward as GTTSR) a 50 mile stretch of road completed in 1930s. The road cuts from one side of the National Park to the other. Reaching 6646ft at the Logan’s Pass Visitor Center.

Nate got us checked in!

First thing is vehicle width. If you are wider than 8ft then you can’t drive the GTTSR. There is a shuttle service to enjoy the scenery without worrying about the drive. The width matters as things get a bit narrow near the top.

One thing you wouldn’t expect in a National Park is road works, but similar to Yellowstone we enjoyed our fair share of queues. We had 9 miles of unpaved road before we reached the start of the GTTSR!

We made our first official stop near the Weeping Wall and climbed the steps to see an amazing mini waterfall. We even saw large chunks of snow still sitting on the side.

Daddy grabbed a photo that will go up on the wall at home!

As we rose higher and higher the scenery got even more spectacular.

Every turn looked like a Bob Ross painting and every view looked better than before.

We completed one way without driving off the cliff (like a family did in 2019) and made it to the Visitor Centre to grab another Junior Ranger badge.

Another intriguing aspect is that this park is shared with two Native American tribes. In the Visitor Centre that took the form of flags and deep historical context that was eye opening. Glacier has been the first park to acknowledge and celebrate Native Americans rather than gloss over what happened.

After lunch, we headed on our last trail (sad face) was one of the best. Trail of the Cedars takes you directly through one of the most sacred forests. 400/500 year old trees and beautiful creeks to see.

Towards the end of the trail, there were a few points to jump down into the creek and play in the water. We ended up spending most of our time in the creek watching the boys play together.

As the creek is directly below the Grinnell glacier the water is icy cold and feels amazing on your skin!

The difference compared to other National Parks is the road sends the majority of people in one direction. This means that pullouts and car parks get full up fast. We overheard a lady say she got to Logan’s Pass at 06:00 and the car park was already full!

Some general USA driving observations:

• Turning right (if clear) on a red light is the most genius idea ever.
• Cars have indicators that are red (i.e the same colour as their brake lights) this makes it very hard sometimes to know when someone is turning.
• Petrol stations have windscreen cleaner brushes and water. I’ve never seen so many bugs on a windscreen before.
• This might be a Montana thing, but Lucky Lils casinos in petrol stations!

Daddy had spotted an old Fur Trading store, which is rare even for Montana. We had to stop to take a peek. Couple of things to note. Large sign on the door that said NO CELL PHONES. Unfortunately no photos but enough memories to be engraved forever.

This is the longest running Fur Trading shop in Montana. It’s 25% paintings, 25% Native American artwork/clothing and 50% absolutely insanity.

Walking through the door you are greeted to an entire black bear, kids hats made of racoon or skunk/mink lounge pillows. There was also a “smalls” section where tortoise bodies sat next to deer toes and beaver teeth.

We tried to move the boys through quickly as the array of Native American weapons was too much not to touch. Swords, axes, bow and arrows along with peace pipes and dream catchers. We left without a purchase, but the owner thought Mummy was from Mississippi and started up a conversation.

After some discussion and anti-bacterial hand gel we headed to grab a quick bite to eat in Pizza Hut. We arrived to a sign that read “we are severely understaffed please be patient” Robin who was about 70ish sat us down and told us they were understaffed and stared a hole on Mummy when she asked for some drinks.

We have another fun day planned for tomorrow but first sleep and rest!

Wednesday 19th July

We left our lovely log cabins, it was a beautiful morning and sitting out on the porch drinking tea and coffee was amazing. The boys are Harry Potter obsessed at the moment and spent the morning running through the woods picking up random sticks and stones for their spells.

As we left we looked back to see who had taken our Glamping tent for the evening. When we looked, it wasn’t there…did we dream it? Was it a conspiracy? Who knows

Made a random stop in a tiny place called Dayton, Montana. We wanted to see the Flathead Lake and this place is built around the lake. All the roads were named A Road, B Road I think the town planners gave up and went to the lake for some beers.

We saw a school, church and a bunch of boats and that was about it in Dayton. We found the old bank, which was very impressive to look at and completely stood out against the other architecture.

Not everyone here is a Trump fan!

The lake was supposed to be the clearest in the world. It certainly was cold, but on a sunny day the boys and Mummy went in.

We couldn’t work out if we were trespassing on someone’s garden (as they don’t have fences) but we played and jumped off the docks. Playing with rocks and swimming in lakes does it get any better?

We even got a double jump video from Mummy and Elliott.

After we left Dayton and the next 2hr drive consisted of a lot of this. Protected reservation land, we passed 9 logging trucks. Daddy was praying we didn’t breakdown!

Some of this.

And this.

We eventually arrived at Quinn’s Hot Springs! A mix of pools and hot springs with a icy cold plunge poll added for a twist.

It’s was an interesting mix of people, some there for a jolly (you can take drinks into the pools), some tourists and some couples. The couples on jollies all seemed to be over 70 and having the time of their lives.

Do you have a tab? Whoa! That would be dangerous – elderly man at the bar!

But the Hunters did what the Hunters do best, swim and play silly games like trying to surf on Daddy.

Mummy continued living her best life.

We grabbed dinner in the on-site restaurant. Mummy has a chicken salad that Faye would be proud of. Daddy had a blue moon cheese burger which might be the best burger he has had on this trip.

Elliott was very interested in the ATM machine at the bar. He thought you could put money into it and win (like gambling) he also called it an Atom which made us giggle. I want to change the money in the atom!

We arrived at our cabin(s) in the woods. One smells of smoke (unfortunately) and the other has a washer dryer the size of a small UK extension.

Tomorrow we are tackling the world famous Hiawatha bike ride!