The Glacier Journal - Somewhat of an Introduction

The Jackson Glacier stop on our
AWESOME Red Bus Tour (Thanks Keith!!!)


Top Ten
1. Weather - 80 and sunny every day
2. The veranda at the Many Glacier Hotel
3. Johnson's in St.Mary's Family Style Chicken Dinner
Curtis SCA EB 7(7)
4. Dancing Bears Lodge East Glacier
5. (tie) Dinner, Belton Inn Veal Scaloppin - Izaak Walton Inn Pork Chop
7. Swiftcurrent / Josephine boat tour at Many Glacier
8, Trail of the Cedars - Lake McDonald
9. Jammer Joes's Bison Sausage - LakeMcDonald

The view from our room at Many Glacier every morning

I am glad I am not rich, because I could spend the rest of my life traveling. Last year I decided on a significant adventure each year. The first effort was cruising and because I don’t drink, gamble or buy my watches from anyone other than Alan Terry in Jackson it was fun but less than the end all or be all. It was our first, and unless we take a river cruise on the Mississippi or some other down sized vessel, our last.


This summer my cancer came back, and I had major head and neck surgery on the other side. A balancing act. Chemo and rad were much worse than last time, and I started remembering the marvelous trips my parents took my on as a child. At the time I hated them, but now they are hallowed ground.


My dad taught in a trade school, and only had the month of August off. On the last day of school we would load up the car and off we went west for two to three weeks of pure traveling. The first night we always made Omaha, not a mean feat in pre-interstate driving from Chicago. Then it was Glacier or Yellowstone or the Grand Canyon or great uncle Charlie’s in Mount Shasta and everything in between. My parents, when single in the 30’s had traveled the west extensively, and there is no question they were re-living whatever those memories were.


I remember the falls of the Yellowstone from the hotel that I guess no longer exists. I remember the view from Banff and Lake Louise and the Many Glacier hotel. I remember putting my hands in the ruts of the Oregon Trail at South Pass. I wanted to see some of that again.


I never leave home without my travel agent Judy D. She is a wizard, and makes my AAA membership worth it. I told her Amtrak from Lacrosse on the Empire Builder, three nights at the Many Glacier and two days in East Glacier, then Amtrak back. When we realized that Amtrak #7 was scheduled to arrive at 8:15 with an hour plus drive to Many Glacier to follow, we moved departure up a day and booked a room at the Glacier Park Lodge. I hate rushing around on vacation. Judy handled that with ease.


Then we found out you couldn’t rent a car in East Glacier and drop it off in West Glacier. My fix was to just leave West Glacier at 7 and drive to East and move departure to there. With a 9:45 scheduled departure from East Glacier I would miss Amtrak Breakfast and will just have to suffer through the buffet across the street at the Glacier Park Lodge. Figuring the train to be late may give us even more time. Then they released a new schedule, pushing departure up to 6:54. I think we could write entire novels about the EB this year. One delay, then another,,,,,

The Itinerary

Tuesday, August 05, 2014	Drive from Jackson to Ferryville
Wednesday, August 06, 2014	Depart La Crosse 7:14 PM
Thursday, August 07, 2014	Amtrak Arrive Glacier
Thursday, August 07, 2014	Glacier Park Lodge
Friday, August 08, 2014	Rental Car
Friday, August 08, 2014	Two Medicine Boat Ride
Friday, August 08, 2014	Many Glacier Hotel
Saturday, August 09, 2014	Many Glacier Hotel
Saturday, August 09, 2014	Many Glacier Boat Ride
Saturday, August 09, 2014	Red Bus Tour
Sunday, August 10, 2014	Many Glacier Hotel
Sunday, August 10, 2014	Trail Ride
Sunday, August 10, 2014	Lake Mary Boat Ride
Sunday, August 10, 2014	Jack Gladstones Poet Songs
Monday, August 11, 2014	Drive Going to the Sun
Monday, August 11, 2014	Belton Chalet
Tuesday, August 12, 2014	Glacier View Golf
Tuesday, August 12, 2014	Lake McDonald Boat
Tuesday, August 12, 2014	Dancing Bears Inn
Wednesday, August 13, 2014	Drop off Rental Car
Wednesday, August 13, 2014	Amtrak
Thursday, August 14, 2014	Amtrak
Friday, August 15, 2014	Des Moines
Saturday, August 16, 2014	Drive to Jackson

Day 1 : August 5th : Headed for La Crosse

Aunt Katherine
I was six years late getting there
But it sure was worth it

We are grabbing Amtrak in La Crosse to repay a personal debt.

The twin sister of my former mother in law and her late husband Harvey  were extremely cordial to me in my youth. They live in Ferryville, which used to be in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the largest town with only one street.  Then in the 80’s a guy from Chicago bought some property up on the bluff and had a road putt in.  Uncle Harvey was the Gentleman's Gentleman  and when he passed in 2008 I was unable to attend, just having had a hip replacement. The following year I had my first cancer surgery, and this is really the first travel we have done, regardless of the fact I had a second surgery last summer that turned out to be much more threatening than the first. In 2004 we attended the 50th wedding anniversary of my Ferryville former relations and relished trying to explain it to the 400 folks gathered in Prairie (they say Ferryville was empty that day) . Good people are the most important thing to me in the world, and stopping to see her for eve an hour means a lot to me.

We will either stay in Ferryville that night or go up to La Crosse. Gives us time to relax . We emailed the Grandview Inn to check on room availability. It would have been easier to stop in Davenport,, or maybe my old College town and just come up the next morning, but I can handle 700 miles in ten hours asleep. And that way we could spend as much time with Katherine the next day.

The visit was wonderful, and we enjoyed her cooking.  She is 80 something, looks 60 something and acts 40 something. What an awesome lady.

Two Charming Ladies

The Grandview 

True to it's name

Complete with a fish cleaning shack !

Day 2 August 6th : All Aboard

Waiting is a virtue 

When Amtrak is involved

After a good nights rest in the Grandview, we headed back to Katherine’s house for coffee. Sitting on her porch, just talking the morning away, Wed left Ferryville before noon, and after checking that the arrival was EB was on time we headed to La Crosse (aka LSE) It had been a long time since I had been there, Old Style beer, my liquid version of Wonder Bread was gone. Along the way we hit every historical marker and had the memories refreshed about the end of the Blackhawk war. We also went to the top of Mount Hosmer in Lansing. The drive over the bridge freaked me out as it always has - steep grated roadway rises, maybe 100 feet high in the air dropping down again. Once a decade is enough for me thank you very much.

The View from Mt. Hosmer

The Lansing Iowa Hot Spot

Mt. Hosmer again

Not my favorite bridge crossing

Being a Trip Advisor devotee, I had selected Buzzard Billy's in downtown La Crosse. Featuring Cajun cuisine, it was a true delight. She who must be obeyed had blackened Tilapia and I went with an old favorite Andouille sausage. The slaw had some horseradish and a real kick. My side of red beans and rice had a nice kick to it, hot enough to get your attention but far from nuclear. I would eat there again in a heartbeat.


After Lunch we ventured across town to Grandad Bluff. Some may say you’ve seen one bluff you have seen them all, but this is a bluff you need to see. It has a stunning vista of the Mighty Miss and the city.

Granddad Bluff

But we are headed for higher peaks

We had more time to kill, so we headed over to Copeland Park, where the La Crosse Lumberjacks play. On the way there, we got rear ended at a stop light. The poor guy in the little Honda tried dancing with the back end of my Tahoe and learned a lesson. I had a piece of plastic trim to slightly push back him. He lost his hood, both front quarter panels, both headlights and his little plastic bummer. Officer Jelinkski of LPD was very gracious, even though the guy who hit me didn’t wait for him.

Copeland Park 

Not a Louisville Slugger 

Parking was aided and abetted by La Crosse local nursetraveller 87 who indicated that there were more than 20 long term spots at the depot and they were rarely used. Further the location was such as no one should bother my car while it was parked there for nine days.

I used my Amtrak app to check on the arrival time. I also started a thread on Amtrak Rail Discussion to let the brothers and sisters know about the progress of the old man. Then in April they changed the schedule, padding the schedule to allow for the North Dakota madness. The Bakken oil field, plus all the fixes BNSF was trying with double tracking has made the high line the less than fine line.

One of the most active boards on Amtrak Discussions has been “The EB Mess”. When the first one got too political, I started a second just to keep the discussion alive

The EB was an hour late into LSE. There is a neat tool called Amtrak Delays that shows the average delay time for any station. Westbound 7 was averaging ninety minutes behind arriving at LSE and 314 minutes of Glacier Park (GPK). The eastbound 8 was averaging only 38 minutes late at GPK but 792 minutes to LSE. Translate that to more than 13 hours late.


I basically didn’t care. The delays just meant more train time for me.






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Day 3 August 7th: Amtrak and arriving at East Glacier

Curtis
An SCA's SCA

If you have never taken a long distance train, it is rather difficult to describe. Some like to call is land cruising, but I like being only ten feel off the ground, not the sixty or so we were on the Carnival cruise. There is a rhythm, gentle rocking motion that I find very soothing other than when you are in an upper level sleeper in the last car going across Nevada at 80 miles an hour.

We had a debate about what sort of accommodations to get. Roomettes can get a little cramped, and She Who Must Be Obeyed was still recovering from her ankle surgery, so we opted for the Handicap room. I was also concerned that I have the need for running water to clean the trache with some frequency, so we chose the H room.

This is on the first floor of a Superliner, next to the bathrooms and showers. The charming bride reported that in the middle of the night the latch came off the door, and someone actually came in thinking it was a restroom. I was sound asleep and in the top bunk and missed it all. In Hindsight we had no trouble with the stairs or walking to the diner, and will forgo the unused amenity of the bathroom in future trip unless the situation changes.

The room has facing seats with the bunk pulling down, much like a roomette. There are windows on both sides as the room takes the width of the train. The toilet takes up a lot of room and since there was one right outside the door, it became the luggage holder.

Curtis was our SCA and he was great. This Seattle native had almost four years in and was only bumped from the sleeper to a coach when they drop one of the Seattle sleepers for the winter. He provided ice in a heartbeat and beverages when we asked. Made the car up when we asked. I traded some Amtrak lore with him. I asked him for the actual car number (32058) and showed him the actual name was "Pictured Rock."

Curtis had a dinner reservation ready for us, but they didn’t call the 8:30 until almost 9:30 bur we didn't care/ I had the steak, and it was perfectly prepared while the better half had the Tilapia which she raved about. Cheesecake for sure, but the chef recommended squeezing some lemon on it. I did not have strawberries, tried it, and loved it.

Breakfast was omelets squared which we both enjoyed. For lunch we both again chose the same and enjoyed the burger. Our free meal from the delay we repeated from the evening before and it was good excepting the tilapia was a little over cooked.

I had bought a scanner to listen to the train talk during our journey. I couldn’t get it to function so I fell back on old faithful, my android Scanner Radio app. As long as I had a Verizon connection I was good to go. I was actually was quite pleased with Verizon. I had 3G service all the way to Williston, and it was available at the stops past there. I had also brought the Garmin which had a signal however because there is no option to take the train route it constantly jumped back and forth. It did serve well as a reference to where we were at as long as you did not mind the constant rendering of the map because it was lost.

Arrival was schedule for 7:14, We arrived at 1:40. What is six hours among friends?

The EB is like playing Clue without the cards. Original plan was to hit East Glacier on the run and drive to Many Glacier. The folks, primarily on Trip Advisor, argued against this strategy. The road is not great and driving it at night. Then we decided to spend the evening at one of the “Grand’s”, the Glacier Park Lodge..

Curtis was great about helping get the luggage off. An unnamed young man in plus fours was great about getting it to the lodge, and from there the security guard got us to the room,

It was very large and comfortable with a south facing balcony (not noticed til the morning) but just what these old tired bones needed. The bathroom was larger than some of the motel rooms I have stayed in.

The Mighty Mississippi

From the Train Window

Minot

Nothing but slow from here 

Day 4 August 8th: Two Medicine Boat Ride – Many Glacier

An Ohio Escapee

Working the East Glacier gig

The morning turned out to be a glorious sixty degree sun filled experience. I went down to the lobby and got coffee for She Who Must Be Obeyed and a cup of tea for myself. Just sat on and soaked the beauty on the balcony like a hog in slop.

What you don't see

When you arrive at 1:40 am

A leisurely breakfast in the Great Northern Dining room followed. Great French Toast for me (going through Amtrak withdrawal) and Huckleberry pancakes for the better half. We had great waiter who I failed to write down his name so it is lost to history.

Huckleberry Pancakes

What a way to start a day

The Dollar Rental folks were very gracious. Bright young man picked me up at the hotel and I was on my way in ten minutes. They gave me a Outback as a mid-sized SUV. My definitions are a little different, but it was an OK vehicle. The washer controls are where the gear shift is on my Tahoe, so i had to the wipers on a lot. It rode and handled fairly well, but there is no way I would trade it for my Tahoe or Suburban. Might I also say this is another example of how Judy at AAA in Jackson saved us money,,,, she was almost $100 less than my web based efforts.

We traveled up to Two Medicine for the boat ride. Many folks over look this area of the park but in my opinion only Many Glacier is more beautiful. I was also surprised to find out as we went to enter the park that I was eligible for a free lifetime Handicap pass to all the national parks. I was all prepared to ante up for a senior pass but gladly took the opportunity to put my tax dollars to work.

Two Medicine Boat Launch

The vistas at Two Medicine, as I mentioned, are wonderful. We soaked them in and I told She Who Must Be Obeyed this was only a warm up for what was to come. The reservation system was flawless and it was greatly enjoyed. The tour guide was good, but failed to understand my first rule of public presentations - leave humor out. What you or I consider funny may not be so to others, so it is time to join the priesthood and just abstain.

This isn't Ohio anymore

We then ventured up 49 which everyone warned me would be an adventure. I am not sure I would like to drive it at night in a blizzard, but I found no problems with it.

Our plan was to stop and have lunch at the Snow Goose Grill at St, Mary's, but we got there too late. I had a list of places to stop at Babb, ten miles up the road. Before we got there we hit the Twin Sisters Cafe, advertised as "near Babb" which was on the Sunday itinerary. Hard right into the parking lot and we were there.

Two Sisters

Not what I expected for Native Art

Roadside Cafe decor on steroids: license plates from all over, bumper stickers, photos of important people eating there but backed up by some pretty solid food. The Huckleberry tea was wonderful. The Chilli cheeseburger should not be missed.

Almost to Many Glacier

We made our way up to Many Glacier, and checked in for our second night in Glacier. It is everything, and if not more, than I remembered. My mother used to say it was the last place on earth God made, and when he finished she turned (my mother always referred to God as a female) to the Devil and said "Beat this." In my opinion you can’t.

This is a room with a view

MG was a spacious room, huge bathroom, great balcony. We were down on the west wing, on the second floor which was actually ground level. Some have mentioned the thinness of the walls, but we never heard another guest our entire three nights. The shower, usually a problem in something a century old, was great. They have been involved in a lot of safety restoration, in fact I took to time to ready the planning documents, and they seem to be pulling it off flawlessly. Take the deck medications - they are all three inch steel pipe layered with wood to create the ancient effect.

Words don't do the scenery justice

I will never have another room in my life with a view this beautiful. I could spend the rest of my life looking at this. Regretfully I will probably never get to visit again.

The Ptarmigan dining room is very visually interesting but I think it is sad the food does not begin to match the view. In the words of the great Dick Clark "it's a sixty five - very awe inspiring yet the food is mediocre". The first night was our best. She Who Must Be Obeyed had the trout - fresh, well prepared, tasty. However the "California Blend" (with apologies to the old Colonial Restaurant, was just below mediocre. The cauliflower was ok, the broccoli was overcooked, and the rice was bland. I had the signature prime rib which was very well seasoned but tough. Same veggies, same problems. No salad with the meal, but I will say the pumpernickel dinner rolls are superior. If i were to sum it up, the chef needs to learn how to season as most of the food because it was bland.


Lilyofthefield on Trip Advisor asked for room photos

Day 5 August 9th: Many Glacier, Many Glacier Boat Ride – Red Bus Evening Glacier Tour

For breakfast we returned to the Ptarmigan and had the buffet. Jimmy wouldn't be jumping up and down, but it was OK.


The boat dock was our destination for the Chief Two Guns trip across Swiftcurrent Lake, a steep 400-yard walk to the Morning Eagle and a cruise across Lake Josephine. We were again impressed by the knowledge of the crew. I know it is a script all these kids memorized, but the memorized it well. The pictures tell the story better than I could, but I will add an anecdote. She Who Must Be Obeyed is still recovering from some very nasty heel surgery, and her mobility is impaired by her walking cast. The woman at the car rental told her she would never make the hike over the hill between Swiftcurrent and Josephine. We agreed we would try it and only go as far as we could. We were the last one of the group to make it, but we made it. The two rides were very pleasant and very much enjoyed.

The Boot

We took the afternoon to just chill and look at the view from the veranda waiting to catch the Red Bus Evening Glacier Tour. It left the MG and picked up folks along 89 down to Lake Mary where it heads to Logan Pass. One would be remiss if they failed to take a Red Bus tour while they were in the park. Our driver Keith had done a tremendous job memorizing the script. The time flew by and gave me the confidence to tackle the drive in two days.

Gopher Up

Thank You Keith !!

A wonderful ride on Old Ninety-Eight

Day 6 August 10th: Lake Mary Boat Ride, Johnson’s Café at the campground

The captured audience forced us to have the buffet at Many Glacier for breakfast, and it filled us up but not with any enthusiasm. We took a leisurely drive down to Lake Mary for the boat tour. You get to see Sexton Glacier, Wild Goose Island, waterfalls, rugged cliffs, and ancient forests. An optional unguided 15 minute walk to Baring Falls The surprise of the trip followed. The night before we had asked Red Bus driver Keith about dining choice, between the Babb Bar Cattle Baron Supper Club and Johnson’s café. We chose the latter, and we we grateful.

Baring Falls

The decor is basic Montana Roadside Cafe. Great directions to the Outhouse “8 paces east, Look North.” We were even luckier eating on a Sunday for their Fried Chicken Family Style dinner. It started off with a beef soup to die for. Maybe even to kill for. Then they brought the slaw. We couldn't quite figure out what the killer ingredient is and in asking, it is made with honey instead of sugar. The fried chicken was almost as good as the best chicken I have ever had at Willie Mae's Scotch House in New Orleans. Pan fried and seasoned in heaven. It was the best meal we had on the trip, and one of the best meals I have ever had in my life. I probably will never return to Glacier, but if I do, I know where I am going for supper.