Glacier National Park - Avalanche Gorge and Lake Adventure

We went on the "Trail of the Cedars" hike which runs into the "Avalanche Creek/Avalanche Lake" hike.  A MUST DO if you are going to GNP.  The beginning of the hike was breath taking.  This aqua blue water rushes through this gorge that has these steep red rock sides.  It looks like something out of a fairytale, and just simply magical.

after that, you have about 2 miles in the woods without much to look at.  It wasn't the easiest hike when you have little kids, but it was completely doable, and we had lots of family there to help. When we reached the top, there was this beautiful lake surrounded be mountains and waterfalls.  The water in Montana is so clear.  Every body of water we saw was crystal clear, and this lake was no exception.  There is a hike to the waterfalls, but it was blocked off because of a bear encounter from earlier that day.  Apparently these little grizzlies are a little spunky this time of year!!

Someone doesn't want to sit in the backpack, but doesn't want to walk either.

We spent some time at the top, just basking in all the grand glory of our surroundings, and feeding the kids a snack... what a difference a snack makes for them, I tell you what!  Luke hiked most of the way back and Blake was in a much more pleasant of a mood.  We also realized that while Luke still is within the weight limits for our backpack, he is too freaking heavy to be hauling all over the place... the kids got two legs, and I know that he knows how to use them, so from now on, he can walk :)

Getting There Is Half The Fun!

One of the things that my kinds, or at least Blake is going to remember most about getting to Montana is where we slept.  We hadn't really planned on sleeping there, but we kind of ran out of options when it was 11:00 at night, and the hotel where we were going to stay in Sandpoint ID didn't have a place for our trailers to park (they said that they did on the phone) so there we were... in the Walmart parking lot.

The first night we just pulled into a place that seemed level, lowered the stabilizers and popped out the slides.  We were so tired that we all just passed out.  Come to find out, as we look around the next morning, many, MANY people do this.  More then I could have imagined.  From people that sleep in their cars, to people with million dollar motor-coaches!  Next day, we made it to Kalispell MT, and this Walmart had a ton of other stores around them.  Target, Cabalas, Costco... the list goes on, so we had some fun entertainment, not to mention the CRAZY thunder and lightening storms at night!!  Also, we do not have a generator, so we could not use our air conditioner... a little uncomfortable when its in the 90's, but we just brought out the chairs and sat in the breeze... it was quite a site.

We let the kids ride their bikes in front of our trailer and we took them on shopping-cart rides in the parking lot.  Blake thinks its the coolest thing in the world that he slept in the Walmart parking lot...

The way to Luke's heart is Doritos and popsicles...

Wipe his face, for peat's sake.... actually id doesn't matter, he will be messy again in 2.5 seconds!

Goofball!!