From Havre Montana to East Glacier, Up the Road to the Sun, and off to Butte, Montana

Hi Zigs and Zags, Haven't spoken to you since the 21st--seems ages ago. That last night in Havre was an experience I'd rather not go into but we were up early on the 22nd but took a late check out and headed due West on the Hi-Line for East Glacier. While we were in Havre it was their festival week-end but we didn't go downtown for any of the little flea market or the interminable lines of horses, old cars and fire trucks that make up a small town parade. As we left town, however, we were behind a coupe that probably was part of the show. Pretty car. He turned off at Higham and we continued on to Chester outside of which we saw our first indication of the Rockies to come--the Sweetgrass Hills. It is amazing how far away things are and how long they remain in view. Chester had some interesting buildings etc that gave it a distinctive character so we tooled around the streets of town to check it out. Cute place. We then came upon road work which is being done everywhere around here before the snows come. Almost always there are traffic lights to stop the traffic one way and a pilot car that makes sure all the traffic going the other way gets through before the light changes.You never know what kind of things will happen while held up in line. Here one of the locals decided to put on a show of how well his dog behaves. I say a local because once we were on our way , he turned into a nearby driveway. The land on this long stretch of road is primarily prairie and Alberta, Canada's wheat belt, is just north of it. It is beautiful with the mountains in the distance letting us know that this flat land is not forever. In time we entered the Blackfeet Rez and Browning which is the tribe center. On we went into East Glacier and the 135 year old Glacier Park Lodge. What a lovely old place--our room was terrific with a terrace shared with just one other room. No TV but wifi. It is huge and each corner is a pure delight. I was very enamored of the Sun Room--a long room connecting the main lobby to the hotel.Windows on both sides and couches, reclining chairs, desks, tables and chairs all along its length. The dining room was huge and comfortable. I had salmon and Barb had prime rib. I drank huckleberry lemonade--delicious and so pretty. Barb had a margarita. The meal was delicious although I really don't like sticky, lumpy, skin in red potato mashed potatoes. Just as well, really would do a job on my diet. I've gained 5 pounds--have to pay more attention to what I'm eating. After dinner instead of sitting in front of the huge crackling fire, I chose a comfy chair facing the West and the mountains and just waited. After about an hour I was rewarded with a beautiful sunset. Then it was to the bedroom and in for the night. Up the next morning very early ( six thirty) since we had to check out, have our luggage held til we returned from our Red Bus tour and have breakfast before meeting our jammer and the rest of our group. This time we decided on the breakfast buffet--I can't think of a thing people eat for breakfast that wasn't on that table. I opted for a huge bowl of fresh fruit, a bisquit and bacon and a huge cup of some of the best coffee I've had in ages. Then we sat in the huge lobby people watching and waiting for Tom, our jammer. They call them jammers because the old buses which have been refurbished and modernized used to have manual transmissions and the drivers had to really jam them into gear on some of the inclines and upclines of this mountain. I'm not a car person so don't really remember everything we were told about the busses. I know they are from the 30's and there is a full set of 35 (?) of them in the park. They ran on gas and are now diesel and propane. The doors weigh 110 pounds--they are solid oak as is the bus, encased in steel. They are automatic transmission now. They were built by the White company which was a sewing machine company and were refurbished by Ford--hence the dual names on the hood. Inside each door is a bench which accommodates four people and there is one single seat next to the driver. Tom, our jammer, does this in summer and works at Disney in Florida in winter, giving private tours. His wife also works in both places. When their son went to college they sold their home, bought an RV and toured the country for 1 1/2 yrs and have been doing this for four years. I forget what he did before he retired. On our bench were Carter and Lynn from Doylestown, Pa. He teaches landscape architecture at Temple. They have friends in Quechee and have been to Norwich as well. They took the train from Doylestown to the Park and were going home today the same way. A number of people traveled out on train--sounds interesting. I'd like to do that to Washington State and then take the Ferry to Alaska. Now to the tour. We left at 9 am and returned to the Lodge at 5 pm. The bus took us along rte 2 to the West side of the Park where we had lunch. I had a delicious Greek salad and lemonade. Then it was into the Park and the Visitor Center then stops in several places to enjoy the scenery including the closed MacDonald Lodge alongside Lake MacDonald. We could see where much of the fire that caused its evacuation and closure happened. Tom told us that the fires are left to burn except where there would be loss of life or property. By the time the fire around this Lodge were under control it was so late in the season they decided not to reopen this year. Before long we reached to Road to the Sun--as you can see this time it was more the Road to Rain and Fog and Cold. Still, it was white knuckle driving with huge drop-offs. Carter had one window and Barb the other. Lynn and I were content to remain in the middle. Even then there were times I spotted some tricky spots. I know that we made the best choice to take the bus tour. Barb would not have been able to look at much and drive the road and I would have fainted--it was worse than anything I've ever been on before. Nevertheless, I am so glad we did it--it was simply spectacular. Even with less than perfect weather. The group was absolutely pleasant, especially Carter and Lynn--we exchanged emails to share photos etc. Then we made our descent and stopped to photograph Two Goat Island which is the most photographed spot in the Park! Why?? Probably because it is so small in such a huge lake. We were all a bit disappointed not to have seen any wildlife--we'd stopped at Goat Lick where the mountain goats come almost daily to lick the rocks for the minerals in them. Not today. Tom said they slept in, it being Sunday. I said they were in church and the guy in front of me said they were watching football--and we all agreed that was it. Saw a few mule deer and some cows but then, off to our left--way out in the field there was a grizzly Mom and her cub. OMG--she stood up, the cub stood up--but they don't stay erect for long so hard to get that. Still I got some terrific shots. Mom has the most beautiful silvery gray cape over her shoulders. We watched for about ten minutes but then about twenty cars were behind us so we moved off. Good thing because we passed three ranger cars headed out there to disperse the watchers--they don't want the bears disturbed. Came out and around on 49 which has its own drop offs and then the tour was over. Hugged Tom good-bye. Chatted some more with Carter and Lynn and then headed to the Lounge for dinner. Had a chicken wrap with cole slaw and another huckleberry lemonade and then headed over to Mountain Pine Motel for the night. It was a lovely cabin like room and we were so tired and cold from the on and off the bus and all the fresh air we basically watched a bit of TV and then hit the sack. Today dawned cold and raw--41 degrees and raining. There are several ways to leave East Glacier to head to Idaho. One is to go around the Park to Kalispell and down to Missoula and I 90. Considering the temp and conditions at a lower elevation we decided that we wanted to descend rather than ascend so we drove back through Browning and took 89 south to Great Falls. We had planned on staying there and going to the CW Russell Museum. It, however, is closed on Mondays and we didn't want to spend two nights there so we continued on to Butte. There was a cut off from south of Helena to Missoula but it added more miles than we wanted to drive today. It would have taken us farther West but still--the weather was rainy the whole way and it was cold so Butte seemed the best decision. The Rocky Mountains are not a straight chain but rather many small chains running in all kinds of directions. We came to the first--the Big Belts between Great Falls and Helena and then the Elkhorn between Helena and Butte. They are fairly low, as the Rockies go so the passes were wide and beautiful and not terribly steep. The volcanic rock formations in the Elkhorns are striking and way down in the valley is old highway 91 and a bridge across the Missouri River. That bridge served as the setting for a gunfight in The Untouchables which purportedly was taking place on the Canadian border, which is 150 miles north but not particularly photogenic. Ah, movies. The most beautiful town along today's route was Choteau--huge trees on both sides of the road as we entered--sooooo unusual and stunning. When we got into Butte, we checked into the Clarion. The girl gave us an upgrade to a poolside room with private patio. We ate in the hotel restaurant--the Rib and Chop House--what a delicious sirloin and garlic mushrooms and a Bozone beer, brewed in Bozeman. Picked up a couple of after dinner mints with a big M and Go Bobcats on the wrapper. Had to pick a couple up for my Cat back home. She graduated in Jan 2009! Where has the time gone? The wait staff here has to learn to write their first names backwards and upside down on the paper tablecloths. Fun to watch Courtney do hers as easy as pie. The motel provides free ice cream poolside from 6-8, so stepped out of the room and got a small cup of vanilla, chocolate swirl. So now we are up to date. Tomorrow Idaho or maybe Washington but definitely I 90 West. Will be back in touch when we settle in. Until then, hope you enjoyed the ride on the red bus--colored to match the berries of the Mountain Ash. Good night from BarbZig and KatZag