Labor Day Weekend At Glacier! Woot Woot! A PhotoStoryFriday

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

(Bowman Lake, Glacier National Park...and one of my FAVORITE places on Earth.)

We have no school aged kids so the first weekend off, or for some the last weekend before isn't the reason we made sure to do something, it was the three day weekend that did it. Summer was so busy and full that we had little family time, you know, just the four of us doing fun family things. September is turning into a super busy month at Aaron's job, so it was a "now or never" trip.
We didn't leave for Glacier until late Saturday morning because we spent Friday night at the best musical ever...Fiddler on the Roof, with Topol playing the lead in his farewell tour (but this is another story all together).
The trip from Spokane shouldn't have been too bad (after all it is only suppose to be a four and half hour ride)but it seemed like forever... what with Orissa thinking car rides just suck, and Javin, at just three and a half has learned the fine art of the "ARE WE THERE YET" question! But seriously, I loved every minute of it. Being back in Montana and the Mountains was wonderful.
(We there yet? I get out now?)
Once we got to the park, we decided to go for one of the primitive campsites off the beaten path....seriously off the beaten path, dirt road with huge potholes, boulders and downed trees!
(He lights up my life! Or in this case our campsite!)
Oh but the site was so beautiful and perfect for us. There were VERY few campers near us, and they were our kind of people, the kind that camp for the experience and didn't NEED showers and electrical outlets! Aaron thought they miss labeled the site cause it had an out house, he was figuring primitive was, dig your own (if'n you know what I mean)!


(Our site...see the outhouse in the back ground???)
I was just so excited that there was a fire pit and no burn ban! Yay, real camping with a fire and not a gas grill! I was on cloud nine, heck I got to cook over the open fire....I love, love love, doing that! Call me crazy, but that's just me!

(See, I really did cook over the fire! Yay!)
Javin was INSTANTLY happy when we pulled up and he realized we were going to stay there. That boy LOVES the good 'ol out doors! He had sticks to find, rocks to throw, trails to run, and the tent to open and close and open and close and on and on!
(My family on one of our hikes! Javin actually did a great job...one mile in and one mile out...not too shabby!)
(Javin throwing rocks, this was taken with the LensBaby....thus the strange effects.)
Orissa wasn't all that excited about the hiking and stuff, but if she was on the ground and there were rock for her to eat and fire pits to try to crawl in, she was in heaven!
(She headed straight for the water every time I put her down. She loved the beach here, and the rocks!)
(Orissa eating rocks. I am pretty sure it is one of her favorite activities.)
As for Aaron and I we were in heaven the whole time. Glacier National Park is such a wonder and a beautiful place. One of those places you can see God's handy work in all of it's splendor. I mean really...Lakes, creeks, mountains, glaciers, trees, and well, I think you get where I am going on this. It is a photographers playground, even for those of us who WANT to be photographers!
(This is a spot on McDonald Creek...so magnificent, I had to slow down the action so the water would be smooth, I can't help trying it!)
(Glacial Run off...the Glaciers are getting smaller and smaller, but the beauty still remains.)
(McDonald Lake...the Road to the Sun follows this lake for a bit...beautiful!)
(the berries and leaves and, well, everything was covered in rain! This looks better bigger...check it out!)
If you have never had the pleasure of taking your family there, DO it! Even my little ones loved it. Javin was begging to "DO it again", before we were even half way home, he was wanting to go back.
(Oh, did I mention the weather? It was every thing while we were there! We had sunshine, rain, sleet, hail, snow and wind. Love the mountain weather!)

(if you look closely you can see the snow against Javin's dark colored jacket!)
(and this is a two foot high wave on St.Mary's Lake...the wind was literally pushing me down the trail!)