Very lazy day. After three straight days of driving, it's nice to be without a schedule. We didn't leave camp until after 10:30 and then went less than a mile to the Visitor Center. Whoop-de-doo. Then after roaming around a strange Visitor Center, we came back for lunch at noon. Real big morning, eh?
The winds shifted around lunch and blew the fire smoke back in. By late afternoon, the distant horizons have totally disappeared and the mid-horizons are too faint to try to discern. Only the very near horizons are visible.
We drove up the main road and noticed that every single pullout was totally filled. That kinda took away our enthusiasm for taking a short day hike. Usually, when the pullouts and parking lots are full, everyone else is taking a short hike, too. It's only when you can get more than a mile from the trailehead that all the people vaporize. And we didn't feel like walking more than a mile. So much for that idea.
We did visit the Rising Sun boat ramp and we might take one of the 90 minute tours on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, we got lucky. How so? Well, back in early February, we booked ourselves into four nights here at Glacier and two nights at Waterton. Trouble was that we couldn't get a campsite for Sunday night. We've been real worried about that reality for months. But today we got lucky.
We waited until the mid-day lull at the campground check-in station and then walked over and politely asked if there might be an early cancellation for Sunday night. Luckily, they had just received a cancellation and we snagged site A42 for Sunday night. We can exhale now as we aren't homeless Sunday night. With our Golden Geezer Pass, a night here only costs $11.50, and that includes free showers, too. Such a deal.
After nailing down Sunday night, we drove into Saint Mary to gleefully pay $3 a gallon for gasoline. Hey, when you can find gas in the middle of nowhere, buy it and don't quibble about the price. We're going to Many Glacier tomorrow so topping off the tank today is a good idea.
Then we checked on the price of milk in the local market. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? SEVEN FIFTY! That's right. A gallon of milk is $7.50 here. That will be the all time highest price we've ever paid for milk. $5 was the previous all time high in Portal, Arizona, last year.
The winds shifted around lunch and blew the fire smoke back in. By late afternoon, the distant horizons have totally disappeared and the mid-horizons are too faint to try to discern. Only the very near horizons are visible.
We drove up the main road and noticed that every single pullout was totally filled. That kinda took away our enthusiasm for taking a short day hike. Usually, when the pullouts and parking lots are full, everyone else is taking a short hike, too. It's only when you can get more than a mile from the trailehead that all the people vaporize. And we didn't feel like walking more than a mile. So much for that idea.
We did visit the Rising Sun boat ramp and we might take one of the 90 minute tours on Sunday. Speaking of Sunday, we got lucky. How so? Well, back in early February, we booked ourselves into four nights here at Glacier and two nights at Waterton. Trouble was that we couldn't get a campsite for Sunday night. We've been real worried about that reality for months. But today we got lucky.
We waited until the mid-day lull at the campground check-in station and then walked over and politely asked if there might be an early cancellation for Sunday night. Luckily, they had just received a cancellation and we snagged site A42 for Sunday night. We can exhale now as we aren't homeless Sunday night. With our Golden Geezer Pass, a night here only costs $11.50, and that includes free showers, too. Such a deal.
After nailing down Sunday night, we drove into Saint Mary to gleefully pay $3 a gallon for gasoline. Hey, when you can find gas in the middle of nowhere, buy it and don't quibble about the price. We're going to Many Glacier tomorrow so topping off the tank today is a good idea.
Then we checked on the price of milk in the local market. Are you ready? Are you sitting down? SEVEN FIFTY! That's right. A gallon of milk is $7.50 here. That will be the all time highest price we've ever paid for milk. $5 was the previous all time high in Portal, Arizona, last year.
Not much happening back here in camp. The temp rallied up into the mid-80's today, roughly a 30 degree gain from yesterday. Susun is Such a Sweetie. She's washing the truck this afternoon. Can you imagine just how sweet that is? SWEET! Meanwhile, Little Yonni is sitting inside the nice cool trailer pecking away at the laptop keyboard. He's a lucky man. Thanks, Sweetie!
Oh, you might have wondering why we called the Visitor Center “strange”. Well, here's a partial list of reasons: A) NO interpretation on the geology of this National Park; B) NO explanation of the modern history of the National Park; C) All interpretation totally slanted toward the perspective of three tirbes that claim ownership of the park; D) a front liner who didn't have a clue about some pertinent details of Waterton National Park and E) One of the smallest, most bereft gift shops we've ever seen in a major National Park.
The Native American perspectives concerning their ownership of this park were pretty “borderline” as far as the type of interpretation you normally see in a National Park. If was as if the NPS simply turned the entire exhibt area over to the three tribes to say whatever they wanted with no checks or balances.
Frankly, it felt strange and that's why I called the Visitor Center strange. But that was no big deal. Life is filled with strange things, right? And we all move on and Life Is Good. We are very Happy to be here and every day is a Great Gift!!
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