Picture Postcards: The Twitter of Snail Mail
October 7, 2010
Given the number of postcards for sale in gift shops, even people who do not normally write letters must still write and send postcards on their vacations. Perhaps postcards are the Twitter of snail mail. Both accommodate only the shortest messages.
I still enjoy sending and receiving postcards. I often buy one or two for myself as souvenirs of my trips. I like the vintage-like art on these postcards from Glacier National Park, which was celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
A Day on the Eastern Side of Glacier National Park
October 2, 2010
The eastern side of Glacier National Park is accessed in St. Mary’s. Because of highway construction, we could drive the Going-to-the-Sun road only as far as Logan’s Pass. Because of the high winds, we cancelled our planned hike to Hidden Lake at the pass, but we did stop at the usual tourist spots along the way to the summit.
Sunrise at Glacier National Park
October 1, 2010
We got up early for the drive from East Glacier to the entrance of the national park at St. Mary’s. . . just in time for a colorful sunrise!
Sunset over East Glacier
September 30, 2010
The sunset over East Glacier rivaled any of the scenery we saw inside Glacier National Park. The setting sun provided a spectacular, ever-changing, but short-lived show.
Wildflowers in Glacier National Park
September 29, 2010
Late Season Visit to Glacier National Park
September 29, 2010
Little did we know that much of Glacier National Park shuts down by mid-September. Most campgrounds were closed by September 19th. This was the final weekend for staying at the Lake McDonald Lodge and the Glacier Park Lodge at East Glacier. The Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed between Avalanche and Logan Pass on September 19th for construction, so we had to access the park from two different entrances, about 90 miles apart.
Still, we counted ourselves lucky to have so much of the park in uncrowded circumstances. We divided our time — half of Day 1 in West Glacier, and the morning of Day 2 in the park by St. Mary’s. The weather was too blustery for our planned hikes, so we just enjoyed the scenery and short trails close to the road.
The drive between West and East Glacier and the St. Mary’s entrance was stunningly beautiful. We took it at a leisurely pace, twice (there and back). Not a bad compromise for the forced inaccessibility of the Going-to-the-Sun traverse across the park. We stayed in an inexpensive motel (aah, the showers! the bed!) in East Glacier instead of the more expensive National Park Lodge. We felt we were able to appreciate a lot of Glacier National Park’s scenery and other offerings even on such a short visit.