Escaping the Crowds

August 16 - August 18
West Glacier, Montana

After fighting the crowds in Glacier National Park for two days, we decided to look for a less congested spot. We headed back up the Outer North Fork Road that we had followed up to Polebridge the day before and stopped at Glacier Rim, a public access area of the North Fork of the Flathead River. We lucked out and found a sandy beach area with a swimming hole on the river. Only a handful of people wandered in and out while we were there.

Love the mineral blue colors of the water!

Gabriella was finally able to get in the water, though she found out that it truly is a glacial river. BRRR!

Even Bernie got to enjoy our time in the river. We were outside the national park, so dogs were allowed.

Don couldn't resist dropping a line in the water.

Gabriella warming up in the sun and sand. But then she had to go back into the freezing water to rinse off!

On Thursday, we decided to try something we've never done before and go whitewater rafting. What a fantastic experience! It was a perfect weather day - not too hot, but warm enough for it to feel good when we got wet. The water is pretty low this time of year, so we only got up to Class III rapids, but it was so much fun! We will definitely do it again.

We shared a raft with a family from Pennsylvania and our guide, Russ (who had just turned 21 - way to make us feel old). Gabriella and their youngest son opted not to paddle and acted as our cheerleaders and commentators instead. Bella did jump in the water once (yes, on purpose!) when we passed a swimming hole area, but once she hit that deep, freezing cold water she was yelling to get pulled out pretty quickly!

Paddle high-five. They were all pretty big on those.

That night we drove down to Kalispell for dinner at Hop's Bar and Grill. They specialize in wild game burgers, so we shared wild boar, elk, and yak burgers. Gabriella is now a huge fan of yak. I had to break it to her that it might be a while before she has the chance to eat it again.

We also had to do some more research for Bella's ice cream blog, but pretty much everything closes early in Montana, so we had to drive to Bigfork to find an ice cream place that was still open! It was a cute tourist town

We spent our last evening in Montana at the Meadow Lake Bar and Grille. (Not sure why we always seem to be taking the kids to bars?) Don had huckleberry ribs - everything is huckleberry flavored around here. The kids and I all had gnocchi with bison ragout. Oh, yum! We sat outside on the patio and had a lovely sunset view. A great way to end our stay here.