Normally, I like to get up at 7:25 on birthday-the time of my birth. But, today, we had 8 am Mass to go to, so I was up at 6:50 to stretch. Our daughters met us outside our room and we left at 7:35 (odometer 2765) and it was 63 degrees.
St. Matthew's was only 2 miles and a 6-minute drive away. It is on a corner on the main street of Kalispell, with three other churches on the other corners. The church has a parking lot next to it in front of its school. The church is very attractive and traditional from the outside. Inside, there is plenty of wood. The crucifix over the altar was quite unusual. There was the outline of the risen Christ around it. I loved it!
As I sat in the pew, I looked around at the lovely old stained glass windows. When I looked over my right shoulder to the window in the back corner, I was taken aback. There was my patron saint, St. Catherine of Alexandria! You don't see her much in this country. She is commemorated in art and chapels in Europe, but, in this country, I only know of a chapel in St. Patrick's in New York. It was such a thrill to see her on my special day. I was even more surprised, when I realized that one of the stained glass windows over the altar was of the Sacred Heart. My confirmation saint is St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, who promoted the devotion to the Sacred Heart. I was attending Mass on my 60th birthday in my church.
After the one-hour, well-attended Mass, we stayed so that I could take pictures. The deacon greeted me and asked where we were from. The priest interrupted his conversation with parishioners to say hi to us as we went by. It was 68 degrees and 9:12, when we made the 6-minute drive back to the hotel, where we went straight to breakfast. This Hampton had scones, which was a nice addition.
We packed up, checked out at 10:54, and drove 2 minutes to Albertson's. Before they'd left our town about ten years ago, that had been our grocery store. We were there to get flavored cream cheese, juice and fruit for our breakfast for the next three days. However, we had a great time roaming the store, checking out what they had. For instance, there was a tray of 4 different kinds of meat, perfect for grilling, for a really great price. We wound up buying some local brews and sodas for the evenings and a bottle of wine to take home. We finally checked out and left at 11:35. It was now 75 degrees.
I drove to the Exxon on the diagonal corner for gas. We'd only gone 273.6 miles on this tank, but I wasn't sure what we'd find out near the park. We got 8.811 gallons for $2.39 each. At 11:43, we were finally on the road.
At 12:13, we were passing the south fork of the Flathead River and got this lovely shot:
The clerk at Wheat Montana in Missoula had told us her favorite place to eat near the park, so we looked for it. At 12:20 (2792), I parked at Huckleberry Patch in Hungry Horse. We walked through the shop to Patch's Alpine Grill. There, you order at the counter and it gets delivered to your table. My husband and one daughter took care of the order, while my other daughter and I found a booth. I order the Glacier Dip ($7.50), my older daughter the Great Northern ($9.50), my younger daughter the Elk Burger ($9.50) and my husband the Buffalo Burger ($9.50). We got 3 Huckleberry Shakes @$4.95 and a Coke for my older daughter and water for my husband. The meal was delicious and everyone enjoyed their choices.
Even though we'd each had some sort of huckleberry sauce with our meal and we were rather full, we felt that it would be just wrong to leave without trying dessert. We got a huckleberry pie and a huckleberry cheesecake to split. Wonderful!
We worked off some of what we'd eaten in the large gift shop doing one of the things we do well, buying souvenirs and gifts. I'd gotten a drop of huckleberry sauce on my shirt and sought and found a Glacier National Park one, complete with the v-neck I like. I got the clerk to cut off the tag, so that I could put it on right away. We bought huckleberry jams, pins, postcards, etc. When we finally left at 2:14, it was a very warm 84 degrees.
It cost $30 at the entrance at West Glacier at 2:30 (2803), but it was for the car and for 7 days. There was quite a line to get through the entrance booths.
We went to the Apgar Visitor's Center, which was not far into the park, since we couldn't check into our lodgings until 3. We looked at the maps and saw that Going-to-the-Sun Road was still closed in the middle. I supported the park service by buying pins, postcards and our calendar for next year. (We like to get a calendar on vacation to relive the trip the next year.) Had a chat with the clerk about our worries for funding of the national parks under the present administration.
We headed off at 3:09 and I had to wend our way through all the cars and tourists at Apgar Village. I couldn't find any parking spaces out in the main area, so I found a spot among the trees back by the cabins. My older daughter and I went to the office to check in at 3:15, since the two cabins were in our names. I was disappointed that my cabin was not near the water, but it wasn't far from the daughters' cabin. We had #47, a queen with kitchen and they had #53, a queen. The numbers did not really indicate location. Their cabin was back from the line of cabins and in spite of what the clerk said, I did not feel comfortable trying to get the car back there. We unloaded their stuff and I moved the car down in front of our cabin.
We unpacked the rest of the things from the car and put the cold things in the fridge. We found that our small cooler bag had stayed quite cool with the metal water bottle of ice in it, thankfully. Their cabin had a large bathroom. Ours was half the size, the rest being taken up by the kitchen. It was the smallest stove I've ever seen! The table had only two chairs, of course, but the bed was there, as well as another chair. The fridge next to the bed did seem odd. A dresser next to the bed was perfect for my CPAP machine.
We wandered among the cabins down through the breezeway of the two-story motel-like lodge to Lake McDonald to take photos. It was gorgeous! The water was crystal clear and cool. Further down, toward the parking circle, lots of folks were using canoes, wading a bit, etc.
We decided to pose for a family photo and to take my birthday photo. We started out in our regular glasses, which was a problem, since we were more or less facing the sun. My older daughter was having quite a time getting her eyes to stop tearing. One of us started to laugh and the next thing you knew we were all laughing. I could barely get myself together. Finally, we had the sense to put on our sunglasses.
At 4:47, we were all in the car again and I headed up Going-to-the Sun Road. We had a lovely photo stop at 5 (2812), taking pictures of the lake and ourselves. I really wanted to pluck one of the rounded rocks out of the water, but this is a national park and you can't remove anything natural.
Since we were heading for dinner, we had to hustle back in the car at 5:13. Just 7 minutes and 3 miles later, I pulled into the Lake McDonald Lodge parking area. In front of us was a grassy area with a sidewalk running through it, and, we were delighted to see, prairie dogs! It was hard to tear ourselves away. They were obviously used to people, although they did make their warning sounds.
Inside, we found the quintessential national park lodge with a huge fireplace, seats, tables with jigsaw puzzles, etc.
I had wanted to eat my birthday dinner here, and, since they didn't take reservations, we'd come on the early side of the dinner time. The dining room is Russell's Fireside Dining Room and my older daughter and I soon realized he was the painter with the special exhibition at the State Historical Society in Helena! We were lead to a table near a pole in the center of the room. The windows were open and we could hear running water, which we later found out was Snyder Creek just outside the building. Our Slovakian server was very efficient and she was quite friendly and chatted with us at the end of the meal, when my husband told her he'd been to Slovakia. This was her fourth summer at the lodge.
I was quite disappointed with my St. Helen's 10 oz. Ribeye, as it seemed to be a good 5 ounces of fat. I resolved to note that on TripAdvisor. A $30 meal shouldn't be like that.
My younger daughter found her $25.75 Anderson Ranch Leg of Lamb to have a lot of fat, too.
My husband was still a bit full from lunch, so he ordered a Large Farmer's Salad for $11.20 and paid an extra $5 for what turned out to be relatively little trout on top.
My older daughter had the only successful pick, a $31.75 Double R Ranch Beef Tenderloin.
The only thing that saved the meal was the Flourless Chocolate Cake ($7.25), which I had to choose because it was chocolate and cake. My daughters also split a piece. My husband had some of mine. Oh, my gosh, was it good!
We were finished at 7 and went to the shop in the lobby. I overheard someone ask about a AARP discount and took advantage of it myself. I bought enough stuff to qualify to buy a Glacier National Park blanket in beautiful blues for $15. Of course, I bought it.
We went outside to take photos of the lodge, the creek and the lake. It was impossible to take a bad one and we posed for more shots of ourselves.
Finally, at 8:16, I drove us further down the road. I made several photo stops and pauses as the temperature dropped to 70. I did send the family down the stairs to one opportunity, feeling that my knees were just not up to it.
So much beauty! And, since we were much farther north than home, the sunset was much later and we could enjoy it all longer. At 8:43 (2820), we reached the barrier across the road at Avalanche Creek. It was a depressing sign.
I headed back the way we'd come and we made more photo stops along the way. This particularly picture was taken at 9:23 pm. I'd like to take credit for it, but God made that view.
At 9:31 (2835), I parked back in front of the cabin again. My husband I went back out to the lake around 10:15 to get some more shots in the fading light before turning in for the night.
What a terrific way to end my 60th birthday and to start my 61st year!
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