Glacier National Park - Day Nine - July 2, 2006

While I awaited the arrival of most of my family later in the afternoon, I spent a leisurely morning at the hotel and then decided to take a drive around Flathead Lake and up to the entrance to Glacier. The round trip mileage was well in excess of 100 miles on a windy backroad so it took most of the afternoon. The lake is the largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi and was a glorious blue surrounded by mountains to the east and puffy white clouds suspended in the deep blue sky.

My parents arrived in time for dinner after which we met two of my sisters and family at the airport at the end of the night.

Glacier National Park - Day Eight - July 1, 2006

Today I finally reached my destination for the week - Kalispell. The drive from Spokane took about five hours traveling on the meandering routes 95 to Bonner's Ferry and then 2 into Kalispell. As I arrived, the skies to the northeast darkened and by the time I checked into my room and turned on the tv, there were emergency warnings being flashed across the screen about the potential dangers of the looming storm. Bright, defined lightning strikes and raindrops the size of pennies dropped from the skies but luckily my location ended up being on the outskirts of the storm as it passed by.