August 11 - Back to Salt Lake City

Our return to Salt Lake City was eventful. The Durango over heated and took ages to cool down. I sent mom on ahead with some of the kids and I hung out at a busy gas station with Rob and Ryan. I was amazed at the volume of customers that stopped at the station. There must be good money to be made here! Once we got back on the road the car behaved pretty well. It did however overheat again when we reached mom's place. The steep Wasatch fault and city driving was just too much for the car. It took a few tries to get the camper backed into mom's driveway - and we discovered that we had picked up a puncture in a camper wheel. I was able to change it out, thanks to Rich's good training.
Sylvia treatd us to a wonderful welcome "home" BBQ. The boys love her cooking. After a few days break we finished the final leg of the journey back to Denver. I took the Wyoming route and was able to get all the way back to Lookout Mountain before the car overheated again. I was very happy to back the camper into its resting spot at the bottom of the drive, and get a good nights sleep in my own bed.

August 10 - Diving boards and long walks

The kids planned on spending the whole day at the pools. They wanted to use the giant slides and high diving boards. The joy of the town is that it is small enough to walk to all the attractions. This gives the kids lots of independence, as they can come and go as they please. After spending time swiming and watching the kids on the diving boards, mom and I returned to the hot pools, at the other end of town. We lazed there until lunch, enjoying the peace without the children. We all met at the camper for lunch then spent some time in the river next to one of the hot springs. There is somethings very satisfying when one can enjoy a hot spring and not have to pay a fortune for the entrance ticket. Overall the day was very peaceful and the kids loved spendng time together.

August 9 - Paddling the river and playing with cousins

Rob and I got up early to prepare a large breakfast for the family. They arrived at 9:30am. We had tonnes to eat, and then hit the river. Jeremy had brought his canoe and inflatable raft with him, so we all took turns to paddle the river from one end of town to the other. Mike and I got dumped on one of the rapids - cold and rough - because I was being too timid. After that I was much more aggressive on the white water and had a lot more fun. Rob and I took turns riding to the end of town with the burley, to collect the rafters and help bring the boats back to the top of town. Jem had so much fun in his canoe, it was a joy to see him smiling so much. We paddled till 7pm, then enjoyed a wonderful dinner thanks to gran. She had arrived during the afternoon and brought a pre-cooked meal with her. Jem and Syl left for home leaving Gran and I in charge of five excited kids. Ant, Rob and Ryan decided to sleep in the tent, which left the camper to Mike and I. Gran and Ash stayed in the adjoining motel. The night was slated to be warmer than the one before, but we still gave the tenters lots of blankets.

August 8 - Back to the beginning

We woke to drizzle but it soon stopped and the wind died down. It was quite pleasant. I had discovered that Alison was an avid reader so we planned to give her a set of five books we had all read. (I was still busy finishing the fifth but had to concede defeat or we would not have left before noon) We continued south to Idaho Falls, where we had lunch and bought supplies. We could not find a book store, so I worried that Ant's reading frenzy would die off before we got him his next book. We arrived at Lava Hot Springs by mid afternoon - completing a two month circuit of the north west. It felt like being home. We were happy to see the familiar town and faces. After parking the camper I stayed in the car to call mom, while the boys hopped out to connect up the camper. I finished my conversation, got out the car and wondered why I could hear water flowing. We dashed into the camper to find we had a mini lake inside from front to back. At least they had levelled it well! The basin faucet had been left open that morning and when they had connected the water they had not noticed that the water started flowing. The plug was in the basin and as a result it had overflowed and flooded. It was a great chance to get the floors cleaned before Gran arrived. After loading up the burley we rode off to the laundromat. Those were the worst machines we have encountered all trip. Mike and Rob wallowed in a spring in the river - the water level had dropped a great deal and there was a nice rock pool to collect the hot water. After dark the town got real quiet, except for the freight trains passing by. The temperatures dropped considerably at night - goodbye summer!

August 7 - South across Montana

By this stage we had decided to make changes in our itinerary. Since Rich had left, we were not enjoying the trip quite as much. We were anxious to make our way home and not explore any more. I was happy that we had seen Glacier, but our planned route home through Yellowstone did not hold much appeal to any of us. The boys proposed returning to Hot Lava Springs, Idaho. They also wanted to invite their cousins to join us there. We had contacted the family in SLC and they agreed to meet us there on Sunday. I knew it was a long drive but we decided that we could make it in two days - Friday and Saturday.
We woke quite early Friday morning because the boys wee so excited at the prospect of seeing their cousins. We packed and spent some time saying goodbye to the lake and fort. We drove the full length of the eastern shore of Lake Flathead. It so really pretty and cherry stalls were everywhere. We soon joined I90 and sped east towards Butte, then south along I15 towards Idaho. Driving the interstate system is so easy, we drove the rest of the day without much stress. Towards evening we pulled in at a reservoir campground. We were told to find a spot near a picnic table and settle in - it was free to boot! The wind was blowing and the chill was not particularly pleasant. The camper was so snug! We had to hand pump our water - a job for the boys. A young girl, Alison, came over to help us. I also discovered that I had left the water pump on while driving - as a result it was now not working. Oh well - we would deal with it when we got back to Denver. Rob made dinner while I went for a long walk with Alison. I was really tiered from the long day on the road, and the boys were also happy to curl up in their beds. The only sound was that of the rain on our roof.

August 6 - Farmers market and library

We slept in thinking that the weather would be bad, but when we finally emerged from the camper it was quite mild. We walked down to the lake for a swim. Only Mike and Rob braved it. To warm up the boys played some attack games around their fort. Today was supposed to be a day off - this meant having to find a library and some conputers. As is always the case - small towns mean small libraries and few computers. The boys had to share resources. Mike often wonders off to read books instead of using the compter. Rocky and I expored the town on foot and we found a wonderfull farmers amrket. I love the way they block off main streets to set up the stalls. I collected Mike and we ate some lovely goats milk cheese and zucchini bread. Looked east we noticed very dark storm clouds over the mountains. We returned to the camper late in the afternoon. We explored the campground a bit and after dinner we cycled down to Apgar village. Mike and Rob wanted to get their Junior Range badges, but the office was closed. We, instead, bought huge ice creams. After skipping pebbles over the lake for a while we realised it was getting dark - rather quickly. We had to hussle to get back to the campground, 2 1/2 miles back along the lakeshore. Rocky had run all the way to Apgar, so we bundled him into the burley on the return journey.

August 5 - Shuttle busses and mountain meadows

The sun rises late over the eastern mountains and we were tempted to sleep in, but we got going quickly so that we could catch the shuttle bus to the top of Glacier Park. We did not account for all the other people also planning on catching the bus so when we got to the pickup point there were only three seats left. I sent the boys on ahead of me with strict instructions to not wonder off when they got to the top. Their shuttle was a direct service, but mine was involved a transfer at Avalanche, which only got to Logan Pass 50min after them. It was an incredible drive to the top of Logan Pass. The road works delayed the traffic quite a bit, but it gave us time to admire the wonderful views. I noticed a precipitous trail on a cliff face high about the road – I made a note to walk it. At the top I was relieved to find the boys all waiting for me. They had already explored the visitor center and knew which trails they wanted to do. Ant was all for going back down – been there, seen it and already done! We started out on the Hidden Lake Trail. The width of the trail made us feel like we were on a dual carriage way – it was so wide and well worn. We soon appreciated the width as there were so many people on it and passing would have been a problem. It is a bit like the 14’er trails in Colorado. It was glorious to be so high and see so many wild flowers (pic). We saw big horn sheep, mountain goats and marmot (pic).One mountain goat caused a people jam because he was relaxing on a rock ledge right next to the trail, at eye level. He was a great photo op. The boys attached themselves to two ladies walking along the trail at our pace. They chatted constantly and I chuckled many times when I heard the comments they made about our trip. Our two lady friends were most patient and showed so much enthusiasm when talking to the boys. I always appreciate the effort people make towards the boys. Upon return to the visitor center we decided to do the cliff face trail I had spotted earlier – Garden Wall trail. It was pretty scary even though there was a steel cable to hang on to. We caught another shuttle down the eastern side of the road – towards St Mary’s. We hopped off the bus so that we could take the trail to see St Mary’s Falls. This trail was quieter and more secluded in amongst the forest. There was a tremendous volume of water coming down the falls and the color of the water was a wonderful light green/blue (azure???). The falls flowed into a lake which we walked along for quite some time. Upon returning to the top of the pass we found at least 100 people waiting for the shuttle busses. We quickly got our names onto a waiting list and yet again the boys made friends with a family stuck in the shuttle line with us - the 1 and ½ hour wait passed quickly. Rocky was so pleased to see us when we returned to the camper at 7:30pm. He had been stuck in the camper for 11 hours. This is one of the problems of National Parks - so much to see and do, but you are unable to take your pet along with you on the trails.
While we were making dinner a ranger popped in to warn us of an approacing storm - but only before Saturday and today was Wednesday! They warned us of heavy rain and snow. We decided to make a fire but the winds were too strong so we packed it in after some scary moments when the flames flared up. After such a long day our beds were a welcome relief.

August 4 – Through a portal

After an early start we got delayed in Kalispell doing tire rotations and an oil change. I dropped the boys off at the library – they were in heaven. Before I could drop the car off for the service we had to unhitch the camper in the Wal-mart car park. I felt a bit strange ‘camped-out’ in a car park. While waiting we strolled around on the grass and Rocky managed to stand on some sort of stinger. He was really unhappy. After a late lunch we got underway towards Glacier National Park. We passed through a gap in a small ridge and it was like passing through a portal into this cool refreshing new world. The temperature dropped 20 degrees down to 70F. It was cold and windy but we felt so energized. We entered the park and found the campground. We were right next to Lake McDonald, although the many trees obscured our view(pic). We were unable to level the camper side to side as the site was really uneven. The wind was blowing in from the east over snow capped peaks and it really started to chill us. It looked like the weather at the top of the ‘going to the sun road’ was really bad. Through all of this the mosquitoes still attacked us. Because this is a National Park dogs are not allowed on the official trails, but we decided to sneak down to the water with him. We skipped stones and generally fooled around. After dinner we cycled up to the amphitheatre to attend a great talk by Doug Follet. He filled us in on the history of the park and places we had to see. We got back to the camper to discover the neighbor trying to cook his dinner over a very smoky fire – those sad tenters! He was upwind of us and managed to set off our smoke alarm – it is way too sensitive and he was way too smoky!