Flathead Lake, Montana

When we left Glacier National Park, we continued our drive west.  We passed through Kalispell, but instead of keeping due west, we took some time to dip down south for a bit.  There's a lake down there that we had always wanted to see...

The largest natural freshwater lake west of the Mississippi...

Flathead Lake...

...and yes, it is just as pretty as we had heard :)...

We drove for a while around the shoreline, stopping when we could to get out and walk along the waters edge...

I can't remember just how far we went, whether we circled the entire lake or stopped part way and backtracked, but we eventually made our way back up to Kalispell and back onto Hwy 2 headed west...

That is a drive I would take just about any day.  Beauty around every corner...

...mountains...

...wildlife...

...and more beautiful lakes that just beg you to stop the car and come play a while...

Before we knew it, Montana was in our rearview mirror and we were heading into...Idaho!

Glacier National Park

When I left off before, we had just arrived at the West Entrance to Glacier National Park.  I mentioned that we had been following along the prettiest little stream through the mountains...what I didn't realize until looking at a park map was that stream was the southern boundary for GNP!  Haha!  That's funny...we had been looking at the park for some time without even realizing it :)...

Finally, we're in!...

First stop was the Apgar Visitor Center.  Because of the time of year and the majority of the park roads being closed, we were the only ones there besides the Ranger.  We took a quick twirl around the displays inside, grabbed a handful of Junior Ranger books, and headed off to see whatever parts of the park we could...

We followed the Going-to-the-Sun Road to Lake McDonald...

The clouds were low and heavy so we couldn't see much.  What we saw was pretty, though :).  I would love to see it in the summer sometime, I'm sure there were some beautiful sights hiding behind those thick clouds...

We pulled off at a little parking area and followed the path to the edge of the creek...

That water!  We didn't get to see any glaciers this time, but the color of that water reminds me that they're nearby...

It started to rain/snow/sleet on us, so we took one last look (sooooo pretty)...

...and called it a day.  We went as far as we could, which I'll admit wasn't very far!, and had to turn around at the road closed for the season sign.  I'm glad for the bits we got to see and experience, but it wasn't nearly enough.  We will definitely be back for a longer visit in warmer weather.

I don't know how to start this...it's been so long!  I guess "hi!" would be nice.  I'm probably just talking to myself at this point, but that's ok...hi self ;).  I started this blog a few years ago with the main purpose of just recording our travels and all the turns our lives have taken for our kids to one day look back on.  I keep it public because I know from personal experience how helpful it can be to read real experiences from real folks when you are trying to make plans to go somewhere/do something.  At the least I hope that anyone reading this finds some (good, clean) entertainment or enjoyment. 

Having said all that...where have I been?  Where have we been? 

I have been attempting to sort out my thoughts/feelings about the most recent life turns we've experienced.  Trust me, there have been some big ones.  Not all bad, but pretty huge in my opinion.  Our location, occupation, expectation(s)...have all changed.  Life is fluid and ours has been swept up in a raging current this last while.  I do not have it all figured out and honestly don't expect to, but I have made peace with it.  And really, isn't that the more important thing? 

To answer where we have physically been...that's going to take some time (and lots of pictures, cause ya'll know I love me some pictures!).  This last year has taken us from the Canadian border to the Mexican border...from the sandy shores of the Atlantic Ocean, to the cliffs along the Pacific Ocean, to the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico...we've climbed mountains and sailed across the sea...spent time in the desert southwest and enjoyed some Cajun hospitality down the bayou.  We traveled more that 50,000 miles by land and several thousand more by sea...two new states and three new countries... 

While my voice on here has been silent, my life has been quite the opposite.  I have so much to try and get down on here while the details are still sharp in my mind.  We are in a quiet place right now (in our new RV, ahem, yes...we are living fulltime in an RV again...one of those big turns), so I should have some time to catch up. 

Next post I will pick back up where I left off all those months ago...