Arrived in St. Mary Montana

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April 26: Arrived in St. Mary at the KOA Campground and Glacier National Park where we will be for the summer. The campground is large and very well kept for a rustic site. The mountains are still covered with snow which makes a beautiful site. Had dinner the first night at the Duck Lake Lodge, food was good and the service was slow. This seemed to be the way things are done here in Montana, from the time we arrived and left the service was the same at the Lodge.

The day we arrived the wind was blowing so hard that Art was having a problem holding the motor home on the road and did not stop blowing for several days. Art will be working in maintenance and I am working at the registration desk and gift shop. It took us several weeks to adjust to Montana and the people. The one problem was the weather, with the wind blowing so hard we had to pull the slides in to keep them from being damaged. It snowed on May 24th in the valley sticking to the ground. The owners are having a pool built, but I don't think they will have it done by the end of June. (Pool opened in August) We have decided not to go to Alaska with our friends next summer, still want to see a lot of the lower states first.

June 2 our son Arthur and grandson Christian arrived for a visit. Christian will be with us until his Mom arrives in July to take him home. We had a great visit and Arthur got us out hiking the trails to St Mary and Virginia Falls. Christian liked hiking the trails but when he had to walk back he was not happy. It was sad when Arthur left we had such a great visit.

The "Road to the Sun" opened on July 6th. We took a ride up to Logan Pass which is 6600+ft above sea level. Quiet a change from "0" to "6600". We took our first trip over the entire road on July 21st to pick up our daughter Jodie at the airport in Kallispell. If anyone is interested you can go into www.nps.gov and choose Glacier NP to read about the "Road to the Sun" and how it was built. Jodie and Christian left on July 28th, so we have one more month before leaving.

August 12th drove over the mountain to Lake McDonald Lodge and had dinner with several of Art's friends from high school Memory, Howie, Marie and Frank. Had a very nice evening but had to drive back in the dark. Planning on leaving St. Mary on August 27th and head for Yellowstone National Park.

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Photos

Our first view
As we drove down Duck Lake Road towards St Mary, this is the first view we saw of the mountains. Cheif Mountain is the most prominent. That is Duck Lake in the view. This is Blackfeet reservation land.

Judy & Beethoven
This photo was taken in May from our RV site at the St Mary KOA

Many Glacier Lake
Early May, lots of snow on the mountains

Many Glacier
The snow remains on the mountains throught most of the summer months

Sheep
The sheep were everywhere at Many Glacier

Looking South
St Mary KOA in foreground, the dog is called Buddy and belongs to no-one. He does keep the coyotes out of the camp.

Looking South
Same view, just zoomed in a little

May 23rd snow storm
The locals said that we would have more snow days but this turned out to be the last for this season

Beethoven's opinion of snow
Beethoven took one look at the snow and got back inside and under a blanket

3 generations, Art, Art III and Christian
We drove to Kalispell to pick up son, Arthur and grandson Christian. We stopped on way back at the West Glacier NP entrance.

Christian (Mo) Hayes
Mo joined us and got the title of "Mountain Boy"

Arthur M Hayes III
As soon as we got setteled in at Lake Mary, Arthur began taking hikes on the many trails of Glacier National Park

Virginia Falls
Picture taken from Going to the Sun Road looking across Lake Mary. Same at previous picture, just zoomed in to show the falls.

Coyote
Walking along the Going to the Sun Road

Mo & Papaw
June 8th the 4 of us went on a hike to St Mary Falls and then up to Virginia Falls

Arthur was our scout
Having Arthur with us, even though it was only for a week was a highlight of our summer. We did manage to get some fishing in at Duck Lake, the fishing was great, the catching was the problem.

Virginia Falls
From St Mary Falls we continued on the trail to Virginia Falls. It was here that Christian said that this was the greatest day of his life. Very shortly after, on our way back down the trail he became tired and changed from "Mountain Boy" to "Monster Boy".

Virginia Falls
Judy and Art