National Park Road Trip 2025

 Today we went on Going-to-the-Sun Road. We had a timed entry pass for 11am which the earliest I could get. The drive was incredible. Wow!! Majestic, colossal and breathtaking mountains and views. We saw some old snow that had not yet melted, many waterfalls, and lots of green and wildflowers. Hoping to stop at Logan Pass, we could not because everyone else thought the same and the parking lot was full so we had to keep moving. We were later told that Logan Pass is always busy from 7a-7p and especially since it was July 4, a holiday. At the east entrance and got our passport stamps and info of what to do and were told to travel south to Two Medicine. It ended up being a nice hike in Two Medicine to Aster Falls. Not too strenuous of a hike for everyone. Some kids did get their shoes and clothes wet at the falls by accident, but it didn’t spoil the hike back. We heard some new birds and saw lots of little Christmas trees growing in the forest. The weather was cloudy making the hike p...

 The drive from Helena to Glacier was beautiful. We passed by many lakes and stopped at Seeley Lake to eat lunch. We had to feel the water and skip some rocks before getting back on the road. We even saw a crawdad! When we eventually arrived in Glacier we spent a little time at Lake MacDonald. We wish we could’ve spent more time there. It was pretty busy. Then it was dinner time and we ate at Three Forks Grille. It was yummy and they easily provided a dairy free meal for Claire even providing a separate menu with dairy free items. Since it was evening we didn’t do much else other than settle in at the hotel. We were able to fit in one room at Cedar Creek Lodge. They provided a decent complimentary breakfast with make-your-own waffles and many other things. They also had fresh chocolate chip cookies which most of us enjoyed ☺️

 Now that we’re nearing the end of our trip I’m finally finding some time to update. From SD we drove to Billings. We’ve listened to some audio books this trip. At this point I believe we’d heard Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder and The Call of the Wild by Jack London. We stayed at an Airbnb, which was great, and had dinner at “5 on Black,” which is similar to Chipotle but we actually liked better. We took the time to get all of our laundry washed at this point and left to Helena the next day around noon. We arrived in Helena around 4p and met up with my good friend from nursing school and her family. We also walked around the cathedral of St. Helena. The next day we were off to Glacier.

 Another beautiful day! We ate breakfast at our hotel and went to Storybook Island. Storybook Island is a free 8.5 acre park with play areas all focused on storybook characters. It’s the most fun and imaginative place made by the rotary club. We all enjoyed our time there and spent 2-3 hours exploring and having fun. I’d highly recommend stopping there if you find yourself in Rapid City. It’s kept up very nicely and did I mention it’s free? For the 2nd half of the day we went to Deadwood and learned about Wild Bill Hickok. It’s a fun old west town with 10 min gun fight shows a couple times during the day. We went into the Adam’s museum which is also free and the kids had a little scavenger hunt competition, boys vs. girls. Boys won. It was a fun museum to go through. We also made sure to have the “Old Time Photos” taken of our family while we were there to carry on the tradition that both George and I did as kids. We ate dinner at Sam’s club. Cheap and easy. We’re gonna have to fin...

 The day began bright and early. We had to get to 8am Mass in Fort Collins and then be on our way. There was a 5 hr drive still ahead of us. So after throwing everything into the car (except for at least one thing that was forgotten), we drove on to St. John XXIII Catholic Church. It was a very nice Mass, lots of young families and it looks like a good community.  We ate a quick, early lunch at Costco and went on our way. The drive is so beautiful with the mountains, rolling hills, prairies, wildflowers dotting the side of the road, and the wild horses. As we drove on, we noticed the sky looking pretty angry in the distance right in the direction we were going. It didn’t start raining on us until we were close to Keystone. Then it looked like the road and surrounding spaces were covered in snow! It was not snow. It was hail. Pebble sized hail thickly blanketing the ground. Thankfully we missed the hail falling and only drove through afterward. We knew the storm looked intense....