White Water Rafting and Glacier National Park

Over the river and through Montana to Glacier National Park we went. We left Canada early Monday morning and headed to Glacier. We arrived about 1:00 and headed to the Visitor Center to pick up the Junior Ranger workbooks. We were able to attend a ranger talk right away and learn about bear and cougar safety. We learned the difference between black bears and grizzly bears so we could tell them apart along the trails:) 

Somehow by 4:00 we were loaded in a bus being escorted to Flathead River for a white water rafting experience. Baba and I still aren't sure how this happened and how we managed to end up on a raft. Joe was giddy with excitement and the girls were too. I wanted to reassure our guide that none of us had ever done this before, was she sure we could handle it. She was fully confident that we could, but first let's review what to do if you fall in. Oh great, just what we wanted to hear. I am happy to say that none of us fell off or out of the boat. We survived all 9 rapids and even smiled through most of it. I could hear Megan screaming jubilantly from the back of the boat. The guide warned me that moms are the worst because they are so worried about their babies, but that I was not to go in after my kids if they fell in. Due to the temperature of the water, I don't think I would have attempted going in, but I did find myself trying to look back during the rapids to make sure they were still in the boat. It was just a natural instinct. Joe kept looking at his mom to make sure she was still breathing. All in all, it was a great experience. Our friend Kyle is from this area and his family owns and operates this company so we knew we were in good hands. After our 3 hour excursion, we got a yummy dinner in the town of West Glacier before heading to our campground.

Yesterday we went back into Glacier National Park to visit Logan's Pass. After a very frustrating shuttle bus experience, we finally made it on a shuttle headed up to Logan's Pass. The ride was beautiful and scenic. It's really the only way to see the park. We couldn't take the RV up because of narrow roads. Joe was able to sit up front in the shuttle going up and coming down and snap most of these photos. We actually didn't see a glacier, they were on the other side of the park and we did not want to navigate over there on the shuttle system. Let me insert here that "free shuttle" are not our favorite words right now. I know we are visiting the parks at the busiest time of year, but we have had terrible luck with shuttles. The whole system is quite frustrating. Thankfully our shuttle bus driver on the way down was making his last drive for the day and stopped along the way to point things out for us. We left the park, grabbed a late lunch at a taco food truck and then the girls enjoyed the lake at our campground until dusk.