Northern Return - Day 2 (Missoula to Glacier National Park)

This morning, I got up early and went for a walk on the Clark Fork River Trail and then headed over to MCT to meet Dylan (after the summer camp drop-off craziness) and get a tour of the theater. It was really cool to see how they do things and hear about their programs, it's definitely a whole operation and a very tight ship that Dylan pretty much knows inside and out at this point. I stopped by a downtown food and music festival that Dylan recommended before heading out of town and north on 93 towards Glacier. The drive up through the valleys and across Flathead Lake is really pretty. I saw a ton of free-range horses and elk and cherry orchards along the lake. Once you get up to the west entrance to Glacier, it gets a bit more populated with lodges and adventure outfits lining the main road. I started onto the 'Going-to-the-Sun Road' and stopped off at Lake McDonald Lodge before heading up into the stratosphere. I know it's a curvy road with a steep drop in many places but I thoroughly enjoyed the drive, I guess my love of rides and roller-coasters translates to the open road too. :) East Glacier seems to have been the hardest hit in terms of the burned out areas but even there, you can start to see some new growth coming in. I came out at St. Mary's, drove south on 89 and then turned onto 49 at Kiowa to go across to East Glacier Park where I stayed at the Whistling Swan Motel for the night. I wasn't really sure what to expect because the motel openly calls itself 'basic' and 'barebones' but it was totally lovely and comfortable though very little Internet or phone service through that area. I went for dinner at the downtown diner and while I was there the craziest hailstorm I have ever seen in my life happened (I have video). It was unusually hard enough that even the locals were surprised and stopped work to check it out. I hung out at the diner until the skies closed up again and then walked back through the wreckage. Luckily it didn't do any damage to my rental car, it was hard enough that I was a little worried. 

Glacier National Park, Going-to-the-Sun Road (west side)

Glacier National Park, Going-to-the-Sun Road (east side)