July 19 - Hamilton and West Glacier, Montana

Suzanne, DeWayne, Rose, Ken, Jenn

We enjoyed 2 nights at the West Glacier KOA

with Ken’s siblings in a nearby cabin. Then 

we stayed 3 additional nights. 

These are the animals that we saw at 

Glacier National Park:

Mountain goat, squirrel, grizzly bear

and big horn sheep.

Highlights from Glacier NP

Three of us at Logan Pass.

View from our truck. We toured the Going

to the Sun Road. It was mostly in the 90s and hot.

I don’t think we really ever saw a glacier.

Inside Glacier NP

Rose and Aunt Suzanne working out 

next to our camper. Aunt Suzanne claimed 

that there was a nice breeze.

Ken and Jenn at sunset in Glacier NP.

Ken, Jenn, Rose, Ron, Laura, Jesse, Suzanne, DeWayne

at their self serve laundry facility in Hamilton.

Laura and Rose

We got an awesome tour of their

commercial laundry business. 

Jeffrey, Laura with grandson Miles, DeWayne, Suzanne, 

Roger, Ken, Laura’s grandsons Brooks and Lincoln, and Rose.

Montana relatives of Ken.

First cousins photo- Laura, DeWayne, Suzanne,

Roger and Ken in Hamilton

Dewayne, Ken, Suzanne and Aunt Nancy

Hamilton, Montana 

Any Yellowstone series fans? We haven’t

seen it but this was nearby Glacier NP.

Ken with his Aunt Nancy.

They enjoyed several visits.

Morning run

Ken, Rose and Aunt Suzanne

Rose loved playing with the cats.

Suzanne and Ken on morning run.

British Export performed one evening in

Hamilton. They played mostly Beatles music 

and were very good. Over 1,600 people 

attended the concert.

We had a great 3 night visit chez the Ehli’s in Hamilton, Montana and were graciously welcomed by Ron and Laura to use their driveway space and electric and water hookups for the long weekend. Laura is Ken’s first cousin. She and her husband run a commercial laundry and self serve laundromats. Jenn shared with them her memorable experiences of doing laundry across the country. Ken’s brother DeWayne and sister Suzanne also flew in for the weekend. We enjoyed the Beatles concert Friday night, visits with Aunt Nancy Saturday and Sunday, a local brewery Saturday, and a great BBQ at their home Sunday. We hope to see them in Alaska one day soon. Thank you again for your warm hospitality.

On Monday we headed to West Glacier to be close to Glacier National Park. We drove the Going to the Sun Road (100 miles RT) which took most of the day on Tuesday and enjoyed the sunset in the park the night before (when we saw the grizzly bears near the road). It was fun hanging out more with Suzanne and DeWayne who enjoyed their stay in a KOA cabin. Huckleberries are popular here and we also enjoyed huckleberry pie, muffins, lemonade, ice cream and just plain. We found some bushes in our campground and were allowed to pick them but warned that bears could be nearby.

When I think of glaciers I think of Alaska, ice and cold. However, we are in Montana in July and the temperatures are mostly in the 90s. And I’m not a morning person. But I did bike several mornings around 8am to beat the heat. Ken consistently runs in the mornings even when it’s unbearably hot,

Next we are heading to East Glacier KOA which is about 3 hours away. We were going to stay 5 nights but with this heat we decided that 3 would be plenty. So we will start our journey back to Alaska next Tuesday, July 23rd with a projected arrival date of Sunday, July 28th. Thank you for the prayers for safe travels and health as we will be likely traveling long days to get back. And just like that, our big trip will soon come to an end. Have a blessed week.