About Glacier National Park. I shall give you the somewhat condensed version, or you’ll be here reading until dinner.

First, let me say that I have never been — nor shall I ever be — someone who likes to camp. “Roughing it in nature” and “vacation” are not synonymous in my lexicon. K? K. Still, I wanted to have the back-to-nature experience at this great location. So back in March, I reserved a “small cabin” at beautiful Lake McDonald.

Now, when you think of the phrase “small cabin,” what image pops into your head? Something like this, right? Well you’d be correct, because that was our cabin. Sort of. The reality is it that only one fourth of the “small cabin” belonged to us. This fourth. This is the small cabin I reserved for $130? A room with an old-fashioned, two-fauceted sink, and a shower so small I kept bashing my elbows on the wall while washing my hair?

But hey, it gets better. Let me backtrack.

As we crossed Montana, our sunny skies, as predicted by the weatherman, turned gray. By the time we were able to glimpse the mountains miles in the distance, it was starting to rain. And the temperature dropped seemingly with every mile.

At the entrance to the park, it was 44 degrees and raining, and that is how it stayed. No matter, though; we still got to drive on Going to the Sun Road — one of the main reasons we wanted to go to Glacier in the first place. So here we go…here it is!

Closed. CLOSED? Closed. For repairs.

OK, no prob — that doesn’t dampen our spirits. We’ll check into the lodge, get situated in our cabin, and go exploring. After the initial shock of the appearance of our lodgings wore off, we set out (with me in my winter coat and hood) to see what there was to see.

The view, about 20 paces outside our cabin/cell.

At this point in my snark-filled treatise, I will say that Lake McDonald has got to be one of the most gorgeous places on earth. (See the photo.) And the lodge is beautiful; we had a nice dinner in the rustic ambience of their restaurant, and enjoyed a nice (albeit brief — it was pouring down rain) walk around the grounds.

We also didn’t mind that there was no cell service, no internet and no TV. The Thriller spent the last two hours before bed poring over maps and park literature, and I read my Nook. It was great. I guess it was the fact that the Sun road was closed (not anyone’s fault, really), and that the weather was completely crappy (I shall blame God for that).

OK, that plus the gargantuan cluster that was our “small cabin.” I must have missed a memo somewhere.

ANYWAY…we decided that the rain was not going to hinder us, so after dinner and the brief stroll, we got in the car and drove as far as the road would let us. We stopped for some stunning views, and I had to take some video of the rushing Flathead River, as it  raced towards Lake McDonald.

http://youtu.be/_pwGBp0Hd5I

At the end of the evening, after reading, it was time for bed. The double bed was fine, as long as you didn’t move. A muscle. Creak, creak, crackle, groan, honk, squeakity squeakem squeaker. Dear Lord in heaven. So not “vacation.” And I don’t feel guilty about wanting to be pampered on vacation, any more than I begrudge camping enthusiasts their feelings about getting down and dirty in the unspoiled confines of a tent in the wilderness. Whatever floats yer boat, mate.

Back to my tale. By 3:30 a.m., we were both laughing, because it was either that or kill someone. After the Thriller came back from a potty break and announced that “there was an ant the size of a helicopter in the bathroom; he’s gone now,” I buried my head in the crook of his arm (he always smells like fabric softener — I love that), and we decided to just make the coffee and get on with the day. So, here I am, on the laptop in the car, just outside Kalispell, ready for our jaunt to Spokane for the evening.

Who knows…perhaps we’ll do Glacier another year. But I can tell you for certain that if we do the Lake McDonald cabins again, I will talk a lot more to the reservation droids. Still, a good experience, and despite the weather, I’m glad we went.

I think. HA

Wow, what a busy Wednesday yesterday. So fun…

We had a quick breakfast at the hotel (don’t get me started about Microtel…), got the car fueled up, and took off for the Painted Canyon at Theodore Roosevelt National Park.

Oy, the wind. After a while, I just gave up.

I had no idea this park even existed. What a gorgeous place, and a wonderful tribute to the bigger-than-life man known as the father of the conservation movement. We started with Painted Canyon, outside the boundaries of the park. I’m telling you, fiends: you’ve heard the adage, “Pictures don’t do it justice,” right? Well, I have to apply that old chestnut here. I mean, the prairie just goes on and on and on. It’s breathtaking.

After lingering there for a while, we took off for the north entrance of the park. Fortunately for us, the Thriller had done some preparatory research and discovered that the “Scenic Drive” was down to a one-lane road due to construction, so we hightailed it up to the north side road. I don’t think we missed much, as the drive and hikes we took were amazingly beautiful.

And hey, we’re officially wildlife photographers. We caught this guy sunning himself, far beyond where visitors were allowed. Fortunately, we had the telephoto lens with us. We saw two more buffalo, but they were way far away, moving through the grazing grasses.

When we got to the end of the 14-mile trek, we were at the highest point in the park, where the plains meet the sky. It was awe-inspiring, truly, and of course I had to take a Titanic photo, featuring me as king of the world.

It was a completely beautiful day, start to finish. When we got to the Cottonwood Inn in weird-but-wonderful Glasgow, Montana, we had a nice dinner and went next door to a tiny little casino and won a hundred clams. How about that?

Today, we fight the rainstorms at Glacier. I hope they abate long enough for us to get out and explore a bit. If not, we’ll get out and explore in our raincoats and umbrella.

Unless it’s cold rain. The Fink doesn’t do that. So fingers crossed for a break in the clouds. Reporting live from Glasgow…

FO

Strike another state off the list. Only two of the lower 48 remain for the Fink to set paw in: Washington and Oregon. Until yesterday, ND was on that list as well. Yippy!

Carry me baaaack to the lone prairieeeeeee

We slept in a bit yesterday morning in Murdo, and had a leisurely breakfast. I went for a swim an hour or so later, and then we hit the road and eventually crossed into North Dakota, which, of course, looked like this…

We constantly observed how this land must have looked to the Indians (and later, the squatters known as the United States Federal Government), and marveled at the fact that in thousands of years, it is largely unchanged.

I think I counted exactly two towns in a 100-mile stretch. That’s a long time between potty breaks, lemmetellya. Well, we found a small gas station/post office at a lonely intersection in the middle of nowhere. The photo with the Finkmobile is the view from the entrance. Just prairie, truly as far as the eyes can see. Pretty!

But I have to backtrack a moment, fiends. Let’s go back to South Dakota — actually, back to the 1880s.

We left Murdo, and about 15 miles down the road was a place called 1880 Town, where buildings and artifacts from the post-Civil War era have been lovingly preserved and on display to travelers for many years. We are so glad we decided to stop! What an amazing place.

Kevin Costner’s character lived in this hut (that’s also his makeup chair)

The Dances With Wolves display was impressive. I don’t know how this nice old man named Jake and his wife came to own this huge collection of props from the 1990 film, but they have a bunch.

The coolest part was walking down the street and visiting the various restored — and in some cases, unrestored — buildings. And this isn’t some manufactured, made-up diorama; these are actual structures from the Civil War period, including a beautifully preserved saloon. Awesome stuff.

One thing’s for sure: I’ll never complain about my classroom or my kitchen ever again.

They also had a couple of trains — one of which was an authentic 1950s diner! We didn’t eat there, but walked through it and took photos. Ah, too many photos to post this morning and not enough time. We need to get breakfast, showered and on the road to Teddy Roosevelt National Park, where we’ll spend some time hiking around.

More reports from the field tomorrow! Hugz to you all.

Good morning, fiends!

OK…so, it’s not that we don’t love moving in nature, and witnessing our great country in its most expansive, beautiful, serene state. But truthfully, after 8 hours of this:

Nebraska farm and grazing lands

…and this:

South Dakota beef ranches

…we were ready to relax here:

Range Country Inn — Murdo, SD

While the Thriller watched a hockey game, I took the iPad and sat out on a park bench, under a covered porch. A light rain started, and the temperature dropped to a super-comfy 72. A few minutes later, the sun appeared, and woo! A rainbow! And later, the clouds cleared away, but a piece of the rainbow hung around:

Always after me Lucky Charms…

It’s a relaxing and beautiful place, with the South Dakota Cowboy theme going on everywhere. We loved our leisurely breakfast in the rustic lobby, with all kinds of animules staring lovingly down from the walls to stimulate your appetite for meat. Yum! We both dug the whole experience.

Today, it’s on to North Dakota, but it won’t be such a grueling drive. Not sure what kind of trouble you can get into in the lovely town of Dickinson, but you can be sure we’ll try and find some — or maybe it’ll find us.

Check in with you tomorrow. Off to the pool, the shower, and the road to the rainy north. Ciao!

This whole getting-to-where-you’re-going thing can be tedious. I wish we didn’t have to spend 8 hours just getting to South Dakota today, but hopefully, some of the trip will be scenic.

The extent of “stuff” we hauled into the beautiful Candlewood Suites in Salina, Kansas was comical. It was laundry day AND grocery day, so into the elevator went two suitcases, a cooler, various backpacks and tote bags (girl’s gotta have her makeup, snacks and 10,000 charger cables for phones, computers, etc.), all on one of those big metal hangy-uppy carts that you see bellhops pushing around.

Best thing, though — our room had a full size kitchen! So we got salads and fruit and yogurt and ate in. Watched True Blood and Mad Men, which rounded out the evening. Then the Thriller channel-surfed while I read myself into oblivion.

Actually, the best thing was that the forecasted thunder/hail storm never happened. Believe me, we were both up wondering about it every time the air conditioner compressor kicked on or off. Oy. Checking the weather that’s happening in the Dallas area and into Oklahoma right now, it’s a good thing we left when we did. Lucky ducks so far.

Checking the weather for the ever-volatile Nebraska: North Platte is calling for thunderstorms today, and thunderstorms in North Plate tend to be juuuust a bit different than thunderstorms in hometown Ohio. But we should be fine. And a high of 79 vs. a high of 103? Fine by me.

So off we go, to the showers, the breakfast nook and the road. Talk at ya from Murdo, SD, where we’ll unpack the wagon all over again.

Finkmule