Many Glacier

Glacier National Park, Montana

We spent three nights in Great Falls before driving up to Glacier National Park. Great Falls is one of our favorite places. I always have one drink in the Icehouse Bar, which prohibits colors, firearms and aggressive behavior.

 We stayed in this old lodge in Many Glacier about 25 years ago. It was very cold and grizzly bears were wandering about near the lodge. The lodges in Glacier and  the Canadian park in Waterton were built by the Great Northern Railroad in the 1920s as a way to encourage affluent Americans to visit the USA instead of Europe.

 We're going back Sunday to ride horses up into the mountains.

 We're staying in Saint Mary's at the beginning of the Going-to-the-Sun highway. Glacier is a great place to hike. Glacier has over 700 miles of hiking trails. These are well described on the internet.

The fishing here is a little confusing. No license is required within the park, but no lead can be used, only certain species can be taken and only artificial lures can be used. On Blackfoot territory, the Indians have their own rules and permits. In Montana, off the Park and off the reservation, another set of licenses and rules prevail.

Many Glacier is high on the East side of Glacier National Park. Very beautiful...

Great Falls, Montana

Walking in the Morning

We're back in Great Falls. The weather is very windy and hot. I've been doing the two hours walks at dawn every morning.  Lewis and Clarke came through here over 200 years ago on one of humanities most amazing explorations...what would they think of the place now?  We're on the banks of the Missouri River....Lewis and Clarke spent a month portaging around 18 miles of falls and rapids while dealing with huge grizzly bears and rattlesnakes...Many members of the expedition were ill, including Sacagawea who had been suffering for more than a week from an unknown sickness. Clark, Charbonneau, Sacagawea and her baby nearly drowned in a violent storm of torrential rain and huge hailstones.

Friday I walked to downtown Dawson Creek. I think that's about 800 miles north. I saw the Greyhound bus pull in before dawn. It was pulling a big trailer with things people were shipping.. There were a couple of restaurants open for breakfast. Later we drove 400 miles to Red Deer, Alberta.

Saturday we found the Lion's campground on the Red Deer River in Red Deer. I could live there. They have 150 kilometers of parks and walking trails. We bought eight books at the public library which is located in the heart of downtown in a lovely park/flower garden....forgot my camera...

Red Deer was having a Latin Festival on Saturday. We watched the dancing and listened to the music for a couple of hours...they had food from Columbia and Salvador...no camera...

Saturday at dawn I walked my six miles on the banks of the Red Deer. Sunday I went downtown. I met a very disreputable looking character who asked me if I was looking for anything...It was Sunday at 6AM....I think he wanted to give me directions, but I knew where I was....then a kid on a skateboard asked me if I knew where the library was and I gave him explicit directions....

Today I walked around Great Falls....I ended up in a no trespassing area on the railroad tracks and had to climb over a high barbed wire fence to get out...it was that or walk over a long railroad bridge wondering if a train would be coming....

No walking tomorrow...we found a tennis court...Mrs. Phred and I will play tennis and test her broken foot....I smell victory...it's the smell of napalm in the morning....love it...

 

I bought some size 34 Levi 514s today...The 38s and 40s will go to the homeless shelter back in Sarasota....

The pictures in this blog are not related to the text in any way.....except that they are both mine...