06.28.09
Glacier day 6 - Lael says
Today, Mandy did as she said she would. She packed and did laundry and prepared food for our journey home. Avery helped.
Today, I was frustrated by camera glass that was too short and too long.
I went over the top to Many Glacier this morning. I was into the park before eight and to the pass by just after nine. My intent was to just carry on and get down and see new sites and revisit some favorite sites on the way back.
As I went past the Logan Pass Visitors Center I saw a bunch of people with long lenses lined up on the South side of the road. They were all looking across the road to the North. I craned my neck to see what they were looking at. Big horned sheep! Just yards from the road! I went down to the next pull-out and turned back. I trotted right back and parked as near as I could comfortably park, and joined the rest of the voyeurs. They had been enjoying the sun at the pass and taking in the scenery, (i.e. watching us.) They wandered away after a bit, and so did we. I wished for a longer lens so I could get a closer shot.
Many Glacier hotel is a marvel. The area is scenic and beautiful, but the hotel is a marvel. In the lobby there is an historical display devoted to the building, rebuilding and renovation of the hotel over the years. I’m sure that there are better resources and picture online. The lobby was beautiful. Three stories tall. Of course, now that I’m gone, I realize that I should have gone to the top floor to get the perspective I needed for my photograph. As is, I mildly cursed not having a wide enough lens to catch the whole height of the lobby.
I spent almost two and a half hours at the hotel poking into the guest dining room and peeking into the entertainment halls in the lower level. Did I mention that it was a marvel?
I went back over the top and stopped at Logan Pass visitors center for a pause and a pee. Bought a souvenir and went on down the hill. I intended to stop at the scenic overlook where we saw the marmots on Friday. The parking lot was full. The shoulders of the road were full and there was a car ahead of me stopped in the middle of the road. I stopped. I looked. Mountain goats. A molting momma and a downey baby. I banged away with my camera out the window with one eye on the guy ahead of me and one eye on the guy behind me and one eye on the camera viewfinder and . . . .
I seem to have run out of eyes. I was resolved to turn around at the next opportunity. The next opportunity was ten minutes later and I knew that I’d missed my chance.
Monday morning we start for home. We hope to find a place to stay just north of Yellowstone Nat’l Park Monday night. Tuesday in the park and a quick stop in my sometime boyhood home of Cody, Wyo. Then we will haul for home. We are going to do he most scenic byways that lead directly home. But directly homeward we are bound. We miss our cat, our home, and (strangely enough) the taste of Winfield water.
I’ll be seeing you in all the old familiar places.