Daddy/Daughter at Glacier National Park (by Ashlee)

On Sunday, Daddy, Emilee and I went to Glacier National Park.  Mommy was sick, so she stayed back at the hotel to get some well-needed rest.  Once we were on our way to Glacier, Daddy remembered that we hadn’t packed a lunch, so he decided that we would stop by the local grocery store and get some food there.  Once there, and after several minutes of looking and debating, we finally decided on a bag of chips.  Not the most filling lunch.  Daddy already knew this, and when we got back on the road, he spotted a KFC.  We all agreed, so Daddy bought one of those family-sized buckets of fried chicken.  Finally, we were back on the road and officially headed to Glacier National Park.

As we were approaching the park, Daddy pulled out a map of the park and handed it to me.  He then insisted that I find a good place to have a picnic lunch that was close to the entrance since it was already lunchtime and we were all starving.  He then gave Emilee a trail map, and she went to work on finding a nice and, of course, short trail that we could do after lunch.  Once we pulled into the park, I navigated Daddy to the picnic area, and we found a parking place near a table that overlooked the sparkling and cool lake water.  According to a guy who apparently worked at the park to keep the picnic area and probably the bathrooms clean, we had the best table in the area.  Unfortunately, he forgot to mention the bugs.  Pleased with our choice of tables, we sat the chicken, chips and drinks on the table and pigged out.  About 30 seconds (or less) into our meal, an army of mosquitoes attacked (or maybe they were vampire flies).  We were swatting flies left and right, up and down, and diagonally.  Did I forget anything?

We scarfed down our food, and Emilee and I headed down to the water.  We took our shoes off, and Emilee went after her water shoes while I set out to find the perfect skipping rock that I could use to beat my rock-skipping score of two skips.  Impressive, right?  After playing in the water for a while, Emilee and I put our fly infested shoes back on, and we worked our way back to our fly-infested table where we found daddy smacking away at the flies surrounding him with a roll of paper towels.  We quickly packed up and jumped into the safety of our car.  Well, with the exception of a fly or two.

We decided to drive on up to the Weeping Wall and then turn around and drive under it again.  As we were driving, we kept a lookout for any stop that we might want to make.  We spotted a trail that mommy had been talking about doing, but it was so ridiculously crowded that there were no parking places, and cars were parked along the edge of the road and looked like they were about to flip over on the side, so we passed on that.

We drove up the mountain past the Weeping Wall and stopped in a pullout to take pictures and turn around.  When we approached the wall, Emilee and I were screaming and yelling different commands.  For example, “Daddy, go under the water!” and “Daddy, go to the right!  Go under it!”  I’m sure he really appreciated us telling him what to do, but he did it anyway.  When we got to the last section of gushing water, Daddy drove the car directly under the water.  Big mistake!  All of a sudden, he stopped the car.  When we asked him why, he responded with, “I can’t see the road, I can’t see anything!”  It was true.  The windshield was being pounded with rushing water with no sign of giving up.  Luckily, Daddy maneuvered the car back onto the road only to see that the Weeping Wall had left a nice souvenir to remember it by.  The windshield, which had started off as a tiny little crack on the passenger side and was slowly growing about an inch per day, had cracked across the entire windshield, right at eye level across to the driver side.  After it all sunk in, I said, “Why don’t we not tell Mommy and wait to see how long it takes her to figure it out?”  Daddy then added, “Okay, and let’s see how long it takes her to tell me about it.”  It was settled then.  We drove back down the mountain and checked the trail once again with no luck.

The Weeping Wall

Melted snow pouring off of The Weeping Wall

Distant view of The Weeping Wall

We didn’t want to leave the park just yet since it was our last day there, so we went to check out the Glacier Lodge inside the park.  We went around to the back and saw a shack where you could rent 2-person rowboats, motorboats, etc.  Daddy asked Emilee and me if we would do it if he rented a 2-person rowboat.  He said that he would wait for us on the dock.  We were a little nervous at the idea, but then Daddy noticed that it wouldn’t work because they most likely wouldn’t let us go without an adult.  It wouldn’t have been much fun without Daddy anyway.  We took pictures of the lake, headed back to the car, and left the beautiful park.

The view from Glacier Lodge

The bridge was built on the rocks

About that time, Mommy texted me asking where we were.  Daddy didn’t want her to know that we had left the park because we were going to surprise her back at the hotel.   So we avoided her questions by either not replying or answering the other question instead if she asked more than one.  She was probably getting frustrated with me but oh well!  Instead of going back to the hotel right then, we drove around a small town outside of the park, and Daddy spotted an A&W.  He pulled in, and we headed inside.  After debating between a Root Beer Freeze and a Root Beer Float, he decided on a Freeze, which is just the root beer and ice cream mixed together instead of just the ice cream on top.  I ordered a Blizzard, and Emilee ordered a Sundae.  While we were eating, I asked Daddy if I could have a bite of the Freeze since I had never had that or a Float before.  He agreed, and let’s just say that I liked it so much that I ordered a Root Beer Freeze the next time we went to A&W.  After we devoured our treat, we were off to the hotel.

Fun Pic of the Day -

The Hungry Horse Hotel.

Doesn't that horse on the sign look pitiful?

We got back, went up the stairs, and went to our room.  When we got there, Daddy put his hand over the peephole and, in his best woman voice he could conjure up, screeched, “Housekeeping!”  No answer, so he tried again a little louder, “Housekeeping!”  For some strange reason, Mommy opened the door.  Ummm, can you say dangerous?  She was about to kill us.  The rest of the day, we just relaxed in the hotel room and watched “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1.”

Oh, I almost forgot.  Mommy didn’t find out about the windshield until the next morning.  She told Emilee and me before she told Daddy, who had been pretending like he didn’t see it even see it, although he was sitting in the front seat.  And when she finally did tell him, we all burst out laughing.