Foxes Take Glacier-- Day Two-- Part Two

Our next hike was hands down the coolest hike our family has ever done.  We parked at Logans Pass at the summit of the Going To the Sun Road.  Which road, by the way, is a MUST should you make your way up to Glacier National Park.  We hiked about three miles round trip up to Hidden Lake.  We hiked on dirt, boardwalk, stream bed, and snow and ice.  We legit hiked half the way on a GLACIER!  

You can't see it very clearly in the picture, but the ground was covered in these beautiful little flowers.  I love yellow flowers.

Here we go...

Number one favorite picture from our time in Glacier.

It was the strangest thing hiking through snow and ice, in shorts and t-shirts, and not feeling cold at all. The temperature was really quite comfortable.

Lot of the hikers had hiking poles, which would have been very useful, because it was pretty slippery.

Note to self: bring hiking poles next time.

Greta liked stopping for "snow snacks".

We saw lots of mountain goats quite close up.  

Yodel-a-hee-hoo!

The view at Hidden Lake-- SO WORTH the hike!

This is not an illusion-- Peter really is that close to a mountain goat.

This is totally an illusion.  Clark is, in fact, not holding a mountain goat.

You get a picture with a mountain goat, and you get a picture with a mountain goat, everybody gets a picture with mountain goat!

And these three big horn sheep crossed our path.  Things you don't see everyday.

Abe insisted on a picture of Cannon and I in front of Mount Cannon.  He's barefoot because, while he was willing to get out of the van for yet another picture, he was unwilling to put his shoes back on after the Hidden Lake hike.  Deal.

More skipping rocks before we left the park.  So much love for Glacier.  It's almost painful to write this post with these pictures because I already want to go back! But now we know and thankfully it's not too far out of the way on our way to Spokane.

Foxes Take Glacier-- Day Two-- Part 1

 

I won't post many pictures of the views, because let's be honest, the pictures won't even sort of do justice to what we beheld.  It was breathtaking, jaw-dropping, and gorgeous beyond comprehension.  Do I exaggerate?  I think not.  The views were unbelievable.

Like I said, no justice.  But I had to try.

Jackson Glacier behind us.

George-- age almost 12:)

Sun Point at Lake Mary.  ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? How is his even real? The water was so blue and so clear.  The greens were so vibrant and with the snow on the mountains.  Ahhhh!  I loved it so much.  

One of my favorite pics of the day.

Faith doing the Karate Kid pose in honor of Bethay who did this all over our trip to the Grand Canyon years ago.  Dang, we missed Bethany and Elinor and Brandon on this trip:(

Everyone got in on the photoshoot at Sun Point.

Perfection

I love this girl-- this beefcake!

Love this!

My cup runneth over

I'll put this one up in case Cannon would someday like to see one of him not in a ballet pose:)

And then we hiked to Baring Falls.  

Abe-- our fearless planner and leader-- sporting the "Carlton" look.

In my happy place with my girl.

Pretty cool stuff.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of Day Two for the very coolest hike I've ever been on.

Foxes Take Glacier National Park-- Day One

 

Road trip time!!!!!  Our family usually gets at least one really good full-day road trip a year.  Then we spend the rest of the year talking about how much we like long road trips and looking forward to our next one.  On this trip, we headed to the annual Fox family reunion in Spokane, by way of  Glacier National Park.  

We left home at 6:00 AM and drove straight up to Columbia Falls, Montana-- just outside Glacier National Park.  We enjoyed dinner at Pizza Hut-- with a charming and friendly sever named Robin who arrived at our table each time wearing a different pair of crazy glasses.  Peter and Greta got a kick out of it, and at least it was memorable.  

Pizza Hut isn't exactly experiencing the local fare, but it works for a satisfying and affordable meal for lots of tummies.  Listen to me trying to justify our lame food choices.  You know what?  We're cheap and not terribly discerning foodies.  There it is.

Glacier National Park.  I think I only heard of this National Park maybe five years ago.  Somehow, in my mind, this was a park located in Canada.  How one of our National Parks would be completely located in Canada-- I couldn't say.

But what I will say, is Glacier National Park is now my FAVORITE National Park.  I'm so glad it's in America and not Canada-- even though it is very close to the Canadian border and so the Canadian side would look pretty much the same. Moving on. 

Here we are outside our adorable little cabin.  Minus it having no bathroom or running water, it was absolute perfection-- very clean and comfortable and so darn cute I almost couldn't stand it.  I felt like I was in a movie.  And even the trek to the bathroom was a throwback to my girls' camp days so it was kind of fun in a rustic sort of "I had nine babies and don't think I can make it to the bathroom in the 

middle of the night" way.  Enter me getting to live out my Regency Era dreams of getting to use a chamber pot.  If it was good enough for Jane Austen, it's good enough for me.

Here are five of the six kiddos we had with us, all nice and cozy in their bunks.  

Seriously though, we will definitely go back to Columbia Mountain Cabins.  It had a little pond, tons of room to run around, and close proximity to the park, the owners were so kind and accommodating.

We dropped off our stuff and immediately headed out for adventuring.  First up was the Trail of the Cedars-- super easy and beautiful.

Clark was Greta's most devoted hiking companion.  They were to be found together quite often.

Here's my favorite hiking companion.  

My menfolk:)

This little waterfall was beautiful and it was the first place we'd really been in Glacier, so of course, we all wanted pictures in front of it.  Little did we know the majesty and grandeur awaiting us further into the park.

Clark and I have a sweet tradition of hiking selfies together that make my heart happy.

"Five kids... in a tree trunk" (that is a Studio C sketch reference).  We thought we were clever.

We just celebrated twenty-five years of marriage.  We're doing okay:)

Awww... how romantic!

Until Faith "grittied" right in front of us.  Rude!  Oh, have you not heard of grittying?  It falls into the same category as dabbing.  It's the latest dance/shuffle/walk the young people are doing these days.  Truthfully, it's probably already gone.  This kind of trend has about a two-month shelf-life and I think we're probably pretty well past that now.

We stopped to skip rocks every chance we got.  I don't think my kids are ever happier or getting along better than when skipping rocks in nature.

This is one of my favorite shots from the day.

Guru George doing a little meditating.

Cannon taking skipping stones to the next level.

Then Faith found "The Brain" rock.  I think this little beauty came home with us.  One does not simply discard a rock shaped like a brain. 

Follow The Brain, children.

THIS.  

Teach him the ways of the selfie.

Ice cream after a full day of driving and adventuring.  These are the moments I just wish I could bottle up and then open up and drink up on the days that life isn't quite as much fun.  I guess that's what the blog is for:)