Today felt like the first real day of vacation since we left. The sky was clear for the first time since leaving Seattle. The Sun was out and I actually needed to use my sunglasses. The West side of Glacier is still essentially shut down because of fires but some southerly winds overnight pushed most of the smoke and haze north of our place. We decided to take a crack at driving around the southern perimeter of the park and visit the East side. Turned into a longer day than expected but it was worth while. We visited both the Two Medicines and the St Mary’s visitor centers.
They had a very nice film about the history of the park and we were finally able to see the amazingly beautiful peaks of Glacier. It is really a very captivating view as you approach from the East. We were not able to see the glaciers up close but saw a couple from a distance. We will have to come back in the near future if we want a closer look. In 1850 there were 150 active glaciers in the region. Today there are only 25 and they are much smaller. The expectation is that the last glacier will disappear between 2020 and 2030. I would like to hear the explanation for that from those who deny global warming.
The other place I wanted to see was the Triple Divide Peak. This is a mountain that lies at the intersection of the North South US Continental divide through the Rockies and what is called the Northern divide. Rainfall on the West of the continental divide eventually flows to the Pacific Ocean. On the East it flows to the Missouri, the Mississippi, the Gulf, and the Atlantic Ocean. Rainfall to the North of the Northern divide flows to Hudson Bay and the Artic Ocean. Thus, at this peak, rainfall can flow to any of three different oceans just by the fact of which side of the line it falls on. This is the only triple divide with water flowing to three different oceans in the world. Unfortunately the peak is nowhere near the tallest in the park and other peaks block a view of it unless you do some back country hiking for at least 6 to 7 miles. We were not prepared to do that and could not have if we wanted to because hiking permits are very limited due to fires in the park right now. But I got close.
We did see a bit of nature though. Lot’s of flowers, beautiful clear lakes, many squirrels, and, with a short hike, a couple of beaver dams and lodges. But the best sight of the day was along a roadside seeing a very large herd of Bison on the move. I have seen Bison before but never even close to this many.
For the numbers, not much to report. Our license plate count is up to 35, 29 states and 6 Canadian Provinces. We put on about 200 miles but are back at our same place for one more day before heading East. Our little Prius is getting about 49 miles per gallon. We will be heading East in a day and then we will start adding on the miles, the states and the parks.
Second day of 
Day one of our trip was relatively uneventful. Many fires burning around the Northwest so the skies were hazy and the air was full of ash and the smell of burnt wood. Other than that our trip is off to a good start. 300 miles today. Only one state, Washington, though we did make it almost to the Idaho border. Highest elevation was as we crossed Snoqualmie Pass at 3022 feet. Though we were only in one state, we did play our traditional license plate game and already spotted vehicles from 18 states and 4 Canadian provinces. One oddity for the day is passing the town of George, Washington.
A Photo from 1898, of my great great grandparents and their family. (Nick Goeser’s grandparents).
Another from about 1925. This is the Goeser family with Nick and most of his 8 living siblings. I can identify my great grandfather, Nick; my grandparents Bertha Goeser and Joe Mickels; and my mother, Alvina Mickels, and her sister, my aunt Edna, when they were about 7 and 9 years old.
And from 1929, a wedding gathering for my great aunt Cecelia, Nick’s 2nd of 4 daughters. My mother and aunt, my grandmother and 3 great aunts are among the people shown here. The picture is taken in front of the home Nick Goeser built 20 years earlier and in which my cousins still live today.
Jared and me at a Starbucks across from the Hospital, which was about the only decent choice of a place to eat within walking distance. I think we sampled almost every type of sandwich, parfait, and snack they offer over the course of 8 days.
Some flowers we saw through many stages of blooming while walking from where we parked the car to the hospital.
Take that last comment with a grain of salt from a partially color-blind observer. However, my non-color blind, photographer wife agrees with this observation and took this lovely picture:
