Glacier National Park
After talking about this trip for over 20 years, we made it to Glacier National Park. I am very thankful for my travel points and rewards that made doing this trip for my family affordable. You can see here how I booked this for $700 for our trip.
We stayed in Whitefish a small town outside Kalispell. We stayed at the TownPlace Suites a Marriott property. Our hotel was about a 12-minute drive from the airport. The hotel was very modern and clean and everyone was super friendly. Our room also had a kitchenette. I had no desire to cook on this trip, but having a fridge to stock with cool drinks was nice. I would stay here again in a heartbeat. Across the street was a great Chinese restaurant and a Subway. There is also a Starbucks within walking distance. The town square of Whitefish was 1.5 miles away. The hotel had a shuttle that went downtown each night but we drove the 3x’s we went there. The square was super cute and busy, lots of people walking around shopping and restaurants. On Tuesday night they had a cute farmer’s market with live music. We were surprised with how bustling it was on Tuesday at 5 the day after Labor Day.
Going to the Sun Road did not disappoint. Until this point, our drive on Beartooth Pass (also in Montana) was our scariest car ride. We think Going to the Sun Road is a more stressful drive. The views were worth it. I am just glad my husband did the driving. We ended up driving it all three days. Reservations for your car are a MUST! The National Park Service seems to change this a little each year. I know I booked our tickets in May for this trip. If you don’t get tickets you can enter from the other side of the park (as of now). You can also book a boat ride with Glacier National Park Boat Tours to get access as a backup plan.
On our 2nd day, we did the Lake Mary boat tour by Glacier National Park Boat tours. It was really nice to rest our feet and still take in the beauty of the park. We even saw a glacier we coudn’t see from the road. On this tour we learned about the park included there are 26 active glaciers at this time. The last survey of the park was back in 2015. We also learned about Moose! I had no idea Moose were excellent divers. They can dive up to 20 feet. I just fact checked this since it seems so unbelievable.
Logan Pass stays crowded be prepared to walk up a mountain to get to the trails. We left our hotel before daylight our last day hoping to get a spot. We arrived at 8:10 and the parking lot was already full. The next available spot was 1/3 of a mile away downhill. I was uncomfortable walking up the mountain for sure but I knew this was the only way to do this hike. The hike was worth it. We did not go to the lake but we were able to see it from up high. There was bear activity down by the lake. I had seen the videos on YouTube and I was not interested in running into a bear. I have been there and done that in 1989 - it’s a long story but we all survived. I take bear encounters very seriously! This hike is very popular it is uphill almost the entire way. There is a boardwalk a good portion of it. We saw a family of bighorn sheep up there in the distance.
My favorite part had to be the Many Glacier area. The area is just breathtaking the whole park is really. I could have sat at the hotel there all day just looking out the windows. The drive is beautiful. I was so glad I was able to get car reservations for this part of the park. Again parking is hard to find but we were able to find a spot. The last part of the drive is unpaved. Be prepared to bounce around quite a bit and you will be going slow.
Food is very limited in the park. My family loves a warm lunch so we planned our day to be near a warm meal choice at lunchtime. We ate a Two Dog Flats at Rising Sun two days in the park and we ate at the hotel while in the Many Glacier area. For park food, it was good and not too expensive. We live outside Nashville so the meals were less expensive compared to back home. I would pack snacks and drinks for exploring the park. It was very hard to gauge how long it would take to get anywhere. You never know what you will see. On the way to lunch on our last day, I saw a bear on the other side of the road standing up. By the time we parked the car (a safe distance away), we saw the same bear wander off in the other direction (thank goodness).
