Vacation 2010 - Day 10

Today we had planned a visit to Glacier National Park. We got up at 8 am and packed up the truck and were ready to leave by 9.30. We took US Route 93 north. Once we reached the junction with Highway 40 we followed it east to US Route 2 and followed it to the west entrance of Glacier National Park. We got a annual pass for all National Parks for 80 bucks. That might sound a lot, but by the time this vacation is over it will have paid for itself.
First we checked out the visitor center and Lake McDonald. We followed the "Going to the Sun Road". We got to see lots of forests, rapids, white water, water falls and lakes. Then the road started climbing. We got to see the aftermath of an avalanche. The narrow and windy road was actually fun to drive and is absolutely stunning. I just love driving mountain roads and it doesn't bother me and it reminds me about driving certain roads in the Austrian Alps. That road is definitely the wrong choice for the fainthearted driver or if you're afraid of heights. The higher up you get the more amazing and breath taking the views become. The view right in front of you is absolutely breath taking, you turn around and there is even a more amazing view. Kenny and I took tons of pix and video. Shortly before we reached Logan Pass the road narrowed to a 1 lane road since an avalanche had taken out part of the road a couple of years ago. We were in luck and there was no wait on our side. Once we got to Logan Pass we drive by several snow fields. We also saw a mountain goat on one of the snow fields. That was quite amazing.
Once we passed Logan Pass we had to wait on the east side since there the road also to a 1 lane road, because they were doing road work. We had to wait for about 5 or 10 minutes and that was the perfect opportunity to take video and pix. After that we went down on the east side. The road on the east side is far not that impressive than the one on the west side.
Once we reached St. Mary's we jumped onto US Route 89 and followed it south, until we reached the junction with highway 82. We followed highway 82 until we reached the junction with highway 83. we followed it south to State Route 200 and followed it south until we reached I-15. We were driving through lots and lots of rural area's of Montana. Rolling hills as far as the eye can see. It was pretty amazing. It gave Kenny and I a very good idea what the great planes must have felt to the first settlers. Until this trip I could never imagine that. Driving on rural highways with literally no traffic on a wide open road is pretty much what the average European thinks when it comes to driving in the States. It definitely was quite interesting. One thing we learned is that if you go on a road trip through rural Montana make sure your care has enough gas and you bring enough food and water with you, as it might be a few hundred miles until you can stock up on these items.
We finally reached the city of Helena. I'm talking about a real city and not some tiny, rural townships. We had Wendy's as very late lunch and then continued on the I-15 south. around 7.30 pm we finally reached our hotel in the city of Butte. This leg of the trip was 350 miles long.