Welcome to Glacier National Park!

Glacier NP
Welcome to Glacier National Park
Glacier NP
Welcome to Glacier National Park

Day 2: A visit to Spokane wouldn’t be complete without a stop by the World’s Largest Radio Flyer Wagon Slide. On our way out of town we visited Riverfront Park where the kids enjoyed the slide and a spin on the carousel. This was Autumn’s first time on a carousel and, unfortunately, she cried a bit. That may have set us back a year. We enjoyed a false start to our drive to Glacier when we had to return to the motel after driving for 30 minutes. We forgot Autumn’s blanket. There are some items a parent could just say let’s cut our losses. A one year old’s blanket is not one of them.

Our drive through Idaho and Montana was gorgeous. The drive in I-90 through Towns of Wallace and Taft and the Lolo National Forest reminded me of the book “The Big Burn” that I completed last Spring. The book focuses on the fires of 1910 that swept through this stretch of I-90. Wallace, Taft, Lolo and others were burned. When you look at the mountains on both sides of the Interstate, the slopes are steep and the canyons not very wide. You can begin to imagine why the 1910 fires were so devastating.

In Montana, we left I-90 and took Highways 135, 200, 28, 93, and 2 to Glacier. 200 and 28 are very scenic drives. They are country roads with no amenities. The valleys are wide and beautiful. The hills are scattered with trees and snow. If you haven’t driven this area before, we highly recommend it.

We pulled into our campsite around 7pm. We camped at Fish Creek Campgrounds along the north side of Lake McDonald. This is one of the few campgrounds that allow advanced reservations. After setting up camp, we enjoyed a hot pasta meal and went on a bike ride around all the campground loops before turning in for the night.