Glacier National Park, September 15-17

  We left Maura and David on Friday morning, although Maura and I took Deniro for another blood test at the vet's first.
   Then, we drove to Glacier National Park via the east side of Flathead Lake. Similarly to the last time we visited Flathead, it was rainy and overcast.

Flathead Lake

    We took Route 2 East (which is the way we go from NH to visit Maine, too) into Glacier National Park. En route, we saw a bald eagle. We stopped at the West Entrance and took a few photos. That side of the park is closed due to wildfires which we could see burning in the distance. Then we drove to the Isaak Walton Inn in Essex which is quite remote. The Inn was built before WWII to house railroad workers. The Great Northern still goes through daily including two passenger trains. It is tradition to wave to it when it goes by.
   The Inn is rustic - no tvs, phone in the rooms and internet (of sorts) in the lobby.
    We ate dinner there the first night. (There is no where else to eat nearby, so it's a good idea!)

     When we woke in the morning of the 16th, it was 28 degrees! And, it had snowed! We drove to the West entrance of Glacier which was about 60 miles. It was crystal clear with blue skies and white snow, very beautiful. Route 49 was circuitous and gave us wonderful views into the park. The entrance to the eastern side of the Going to the Sun Road starts in St. Mary. It was only open to Logan Pass, about 17 miles. We stopped a lot along the lake, took a few short hikes and lots of photos as it was a perfect day to do that. But, as we approached Logan Pass, elevation over 6,000 feet, it got increasingly smoky and when we got to the pass, there was no point in taking photos. Luckily, we'd had such a lovely morning.
      On the way back down, we did take some photos of the only glacier that can be seen from the road, Jackson Glacier, but it was definitely in the haze. Glacier has lost the bulk of its glaciers which is very sad. They may all be gone quite soon, so we felt grateful to be able to see what we could.
     We also stopped at another entrance, Two Medicine where we took a short hike to a water fall, Falling Eagle and to see one of the Two Medicine lakes.

      We ate at an inn in St. Mary - very good.
       When we got back to the Izaak Walton we went into the outdoor hot tub which was fun and not something we normally get to do in the cold.
       The next morning, we drove back on the eastern side of Glacier and up to the Canadian border.

A few days in Missoula, Sept 13 and 14

  The big drama of these two days was Deniro consuming about a pound of grapes during the night. They can be highly toxic and deadly to dogs and he is puppy. David took him to the vets where they gave him a detox. The scary thing about grape poisoning is that it can take days to manifest itself, so even though he was active and normal, it did not mean that he was "out of the woods." So - there has been a lot of careful watching of him and he's had 2 blood tests. So far, so good, but very nerve-wracking.

Dinner on Discovery Way

   Maura's back is giving her issues after her fall last year, so she took some days of recuperating.
   We drove around Missoula, did some shopping and Mark made two wonderful dinners.
    Montana has had intense wildfires and the air has been very smoky.
    When we arrived, it was shorts weather, but the next two days were chilly and....on the 13th, there was actually rain which caused comments wherever we went as people are so happy to get rain after a very dry summer.

Mount Jumbo in Maura and David’s back yard. Steeper than it looks!

 The view from Jumbo toward their house which is in the distance.

Deniro, the grape eater

On the Way to Missoula, Montana Sept 10-12

    We started our next adventure by attending the wedding of Katie Sulzer, a lovely garden wedding. It was lovely with a wonderfully diverse crowd. Davide is Italian, so there was a contingent from Italy. Amita, Will's wife, is Indian, so there was a contingent born in India. Zarah, who married them, is Eritrean. Then, there were Katie's high school friends, her Wellesley friends and friends like us from the island. Both Jim and Barbara gave Katie away. Katie and Davide dispensed with some of the traditions such as maid of honor and best man as well as some of the traditional practices. Their vows included to "argue fairly" which we thought was a nice touch. Dinner was catered by Dylan and Claudia and served family style (also very nice). And, music was supplied by Miss Fairchild, a six-piece band led by Travis Richard. They were fabulous. (We went to hear them again at the Brewery the next day.)

Katie and Davide

      On the Monday Mark and I took the early boat off island. We stopped in Bridgewater to see Cal and Alice and went to Good Days Restaurant, one of their favorites. Then we stopped in Dedham at the Apple Store where Mark replaced his very old IPad. Then we drove to the Rodeway Inn outside of Logan Airport.
     We met Jecca, Willy, Otis and Hank at Redbones Barbecue in Davis Square which was a lot of fun. Otis just began as a student at Middlesex and Hank got a part in the next Concord Youth Theater Play - all good things.

     
We had a little glitch in checking our Delta flights as we got a notification that our flight out of Minneapolis was cancelled because our Boston flight was delayed. So, we got on the OLD Rodeway Inn computer in a hallway and managed to book a 5:40 am flight and rebook the Minneapolis flight. So, that meant a 3 am wake up call and a shuttle to the airport. It was a beautiful day and the flights went smoothly. We paid for extra leg room which was nice. We had a layover in Minneapolis and had a great breakfast.
    Flying into Montana we could see forest fires burning on several steep ridges. Missoula's air quality has been awful due to smoke and haze. It was interesting and awful to see the fires from the air.
     We arrived in Missoula and picked up a Nissan Sentra and drove to David and Maura's new house in East Missoula where we got to meet their new pup, Deniro. Mark made a wonderful meal for David and Maura to come home to.