Glacier National Park - Day Three

We made it! Day three was my absolute favorite of the entire trip. Get ready for a Butte-load of pictures. Once inside the park, we first headed to Lake McDonald.

Toby loved throwing rocks into the lake. He did not love leaving the lake.

Lake McDonald

Ezra at Avalanche Creek announcing, "I love being outside!" Amen to that.

Toby didn't think twice about running through puddles of mud.

Jackie and her boys at the trailhead to Avalanche Lake.

Part of Avalanche Creek

Probably the best picture I've ever taken in my life.

The hike to Avalanche Lake was about 4 miles roundtrip. We saw so many waterfalls on the way up.

The Gang

We had to walk through mud and water in a lot of parts. Jay didn't have the best of hiking shoes, and I'm sure he was nervous my dad would be mad if he got mud on his shoes. So Jay proceeded to take FOREVER at the muddy parts and try to find a way around. There was never a way around. So he just offroaded and got more muddy and at one point, hung on to a tree for support, but the tree was dead, so it fell, and it scared us so bad because it looked like it fell on his head. It didn't fall on his head, and he was fine, and he loved retelling the story of how he's so strong, he knocked over a tree. All of this went down while he was wearing my mom's hat. Stay tuned for a picture of the hat.

James and Jackie's boys all had on water-type hiking shoes. On the way down, Eli walked right through a squishy puddle of mud. He stood there and laughed and sank for a bit, then we told him he could rinse off in the next little stream we had to cross. He stood in the stream, but needed encouragement to swish his feet around to actually get the mud off. He then proceeded to kick the water, excellent at getting the mud off, but he aimed at Ezra the whole time he was kicking.

Avalanche Lake!

Me and Toby

Eli the Lake Monster

Abe, Eli, and Ezra all rolled up their pants and ran into the water.

Ezra, Jackie, and I were hiking down, and we saw the same deer who had scared the crap out of us as we were hiking up. On the way down, I was telling Ezra everything I know about leeches, and then this deer was right back in front of us. It got so close that I pushed Ezra behind me.

After we finished our hike to Avalanche Lake, we walked around the Trail of Cedars, then we stopped at this little lookout. The rapids were amazing.

My dad asked permission to stop at this hotel, dang, I'm blanking the name. Apparently, they've transformed these trains into little rooms you can rent out: My dad's heaven.

Our next stop was a place called Goat Lick. The mountain goats climb down these precarious rocks to lick the salt. It was pouring at this point in our trip. It started to rain just a tiny bit right when we got to our cars after our hike to Avalanche Lake. Other families in the Bateman group weren't so lucky to have finished their hikes before the rain started.

Ghost Lick

Can you see the goats?

Toby insisted he get a turn with the binoculars.

"Wanna see! Wanna see! My turn?" He laughed while he was looking, who knows what he was actually looking at. Yes, that's Jay in the background wearing my mom's hat.

Can you see the goats in this picture? They're at the ridge kind of on the left.

On the other side of the road, there was a ravine with a bridge we drove over. My dad pulled over, and what do you know? More goats!

View from the bridge

Jay the Celebrity

On our way out, we stopped to use the restroom at a little shop/restaurant. The shop had VHS movies for sale, and Jay found Seasons of the Heart in their collection. He went around and told everyone who worked there that he's in the movie. One guy asked him if he was going to do more movies, and Jay said no, but he would give autographs. The guy laughed and laughed.