Going to the Sun

On Thursday morning, we slept in (until about 6 am or so) and then headed out for Kalispell and Montana, and Glacier National Park. Instead of taking the faster freeway route, we decided to take a longer, scenic drive through Sandpoint and Bonner's Ferry, Idaho. 

At Bonner's Ferry, we turned off on Route 2 and headed into Montana. We've finished Dune, and now we're listening to James Lee Burke's Black Cherry Blues, the first Dave Robicheaux book to take place in Montana. The mob miscreants that Dave is chasing are buying up land in Montana in anticipation of the approval of casino gambling by the legislature. In real life the law must have gone through, because as soon as we crossed the border, it seemed like every block there was a tiny old house that said "casino" in front of it. It was actually surreal.

Between Troy and Libby, we pulled over and hiked down to the river to see Kootenai Falls, the largest un-dammed falls in Montana. The temperature was in the high 90's, and the hike down to the river, at only .8 miles, sure reminded me that I'm not a kid of 60 any longer. (Another hiker we met coming up said that the smoke in the air made the climb much worse.) We decided to skip the swinging bridge over the falls, built in the 1930s, since that was a different trail.

We got into Kalispell before 4 and checked into the My Place hotel for two nights. I'd never heard of the chain before, but the room was very nice and included a small kitchen. We went out to a local chain restaurant, MacKenzie River Pizza and Grill where we shared a small bowl of Bison chili. Kathy had a huckleberry salad and I had a large Bison burger. (So hungry I forgot the pictures.) After dinner we drove the 12 miles to Whitefish, cruised through the quaint town center, and stopped at the lake to take this picture. Then, we went to bed early, for our visit to the park in the morning.

Glacier National Park is so crowded that this year they've instituted a ticketing system. From 6 am to 5 pm you not only need a pass, but a special entry ticket. There are 1,145 tickets sold for entry each day, and they go on sale 60 days before at 8 am. I was online, clicking right at 8 am, but by the time my click went through, there were only 450 tickets left. 

We got to the park entrance by 8 am (since we had to drive from Kalispell). I had to show my ID and the pass (since it's not transferable), and Kathy had to show her ID as well, since our National Parks pass is in her name. Our first stop was the Lake MacDonald lodge, built in the traditional National Parks style.

We used the restroom, walked out and looked at the lake on the veranda, but didn't hang around. Notice the haze in the air from the fires elsewhere in the state. There were no fires in the park itself.

Going to the Sun Road is the only road that goes entirely through the park. It was finished in 1933 and took a decade to complete. It's only 50 miles long, but the speed limit is 25 miles an hour, so it takes two hours to drive from Glacier West to St. Mary's on the east. That's without stopping, which is, of course, impossible.

The first stop we had planned was the Trail of the Cedars at Avalanche Creek. In the guidebook, I looked for trails that were wheelchair accessible, that way I could be sure that we could handle the walk. When we got there, at 8:30, all of the parking was full. 

Later in the afternoon, we met some ladies at the East entrance (who took our picture in front of the Glacier sign). They were staying right across from the park entrance and they told us that those without tickets showed up at around 5 am. So, by the time the park opened for the ticket holders, the parking for the E-ticket attractions, like the Trail of the Cedars and the Logan's pass visitor's center were completely full.

Never the less, the park is extremely well designed, especially for aging automobile tourists like us. There are pullouts for every scenic vista, and I really doubt that the top-ten attractions are any more beautiful, especially when you're sharing them with hordes of other tourists. This picture is of the Jackson Glacier (in the distance). A picture on the sign at the pullout shows the same, but much larger glacier in 1911.

I wanted to put up a sign naming this the Gilbert Glacier, but Kathy demurred. "It's just a patch of snow!" she said.

In a sense, visiting the less-seen sights reminds me of traveling to Europe. Some of the best times we had were in towns that weren't featured in a Rick Steve's guidebook. And, when we did visit a must-see sights, like St. Mark's in Venice, we showed up at 7 am, and had the whole square to ourselves.

The drive was a little hair-raising, with narrow lanes, twists and turns, and steep drop-offs to rivers miles below on the canyon floor. But, the surprising lack of traffic (everyone lined up to hike the major trails), and the slow speeds made it manageable. 

We stopped for lunch at a picnic table at Rising Sun, and then headed out of the park through Babb and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and on to a dirt road into Many Glaciers. On the radio, Dave was making the same trip. We were stuck for almost an hour, as a road construction crew worked on the road.

When we finally got there, it was worth the wait. Many Glaciers Hotel is right on the lake and the view was impressive. Like Switzerland.

 

We visited the restroom, and then had iced coffee on the porch overlooking the lake. I had wanted to stay inside the park, but all of the reservations were sold out online. When Kathy and I went to the front desk, though, the friendly lady said that they had cancellations all of the time, and they actually had openings that day. That would be a real trip.

Because of the road construction, and our long drive back to Kalispell, we didn't stay long. When we got back to the Logan's Pass Visitor's Center, (the continental divide), at 5 pm, the crowd had thinned out and we found a parking space. Then, we followed the path (boardwalk) to the top of the ridge. If you were able to blow this up, you could see the path and the Visitor's Center at the bottom of the picture.

By this time, the winds had blown away much of the smoke, and the views were even more spectacular.

We didn't see any bears, but walking up the trail we did see a mountain goat and her kid, right by the trail.

By 7 pm we were exhausted. Driving back to Kalispell, and once Kathy got reception, she had a message from Pam Rozell saying that she was working all day at MudMan Burgers in Columbia Falls and that they closed at 8 pm. We got there five minutes before closing time and had a great time of fellowship with Pam and her husband Mike.  

As well as some really great burgers. We got back to the hotel a little after 10 pm pretty wiped out and sore. Even the "old people's hikes" are a little too much for me. It's now 10 am and we're getting ready to head out for Missoula on Saturday. Along the way, we want to stop at Polson, at the bottom of Flathead Lake, to get some of their famous cherries.

Poulsbo, Seattle & Spokane

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we drove 750 miles, listening to the 18 disks of Frank Herbert's science-fiction opus, Dune. Hearing Paul Atreides trek across barren Arrakis, where water underlies all of the traditions of the Fremen desert dwellers, it was disconcerting to look out the window and see lush green forests and the open-to-the-sky water of Puget Sound. In any event, listening to audio books makes the driving time much more enjoyable.

On Tuesday morning, we left the Hummingbird Estates at 8:00 after breakfast on the terrace. On our Spring road-trip to New Mexico, all the hotels provided a brown-bag breakfast that was never very appealing. We joked that it reminded us of the breakfast our hotel in Venice provided for us in 2007--a Twinkie and an orange soda. This breakfast was something else: scrambled eggs, sausage patties, home-made hashbrowns and muffins, tangerines and Oregon blackberries. Oh, and coffee. It was great. we really recommend the Hummingbird Estate for an inexpensive, relaxing, romantic get-away.

We got to Poulsbo, Washington around 5:00 pm where we stayed with David & Debbie Grisanti. We all met each other in Shiloh (a Christian communal ministry) in 1970, and we've been friends for over 50 years. David was a teacher at the Calvary Chapel Bible School in Twin Peaks, and then the pastor of Calvary Chapel Silverdale on the Kitsap peninsula, across the Sound from Seattle, for 27 years. Now he runs Ministry Training International, which provides training for pastors and leaders across the world.

We had a wonderful time visiting and wished we could have stayed longer. While we were there, Kathy got to cross "picking blueberries" off of her bucket list.

Wednesday morning, we had an appointment in Seattle to have breakfast with another friend we hadn't seen for over 20 years, Liz (Lober) Li and her husband Skip. We had to leave David & Debbie's house by 6:15 to be sure we caught the 7am ferry to Seattle.

The ferry was a few minutes late but all of Kathy's fears (joke folks) that we'd miss it were unfounded. The weather was sunny and clear instead of rainy and foggy. I can see why summer visitors would decide to move to Seattle.

Driving through Seattle was a bit of a nightmare for me (since I actually don't drive very often). But with Kathy navigating, after about a half hour we found Liz & Skip's house in Seattle's U District, and he came out and directed us to a parking space they'd prepared behind their house.

Although we'd known Liz for 40 years, (she was the Director of Marketing at Maranatha Music when Kathy and I both worked for Calvary Chapel), we'd never met Skip. He's a lawyer and the founder of a well known private land-reform ministry in Central America named Agros. When we arranged to meet them, Kathy and I both read his book, Buy This Land, which was fascinating. 

We had a wonderful breakfast. Liz made a delicious spinach quiche along with home-made banana bread and fresh berries with yogurt. And, though the food was amazing, the conversation was what made our visit so special; we felt like we could keep talking for hours. But, we had to be in Spokane before 5pm, so we said our goodbyes and hit the road at 10:30 am.

In Spokane, we had dinner with another set of old friends, Ken & Jamie Ortiz. Ken and Jamie were in Shiloh with Kathy and I in the 1970s and later, Ken worked on staff at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa while we were working there. In 1984 they moved to Spokane, Washington where he became the Senior Pastor at Calvary Chapel Spokane. Once again, conversation was the main course, and we were some of the last to leave the restaurant.

A member of Ken's congregation arranged for us to stay in a penthouse suite of the Historic Davenport Hotel in downtown Spokane.

We'd both seen hotels like this in the movies, but we'd never stayed in one. It was quite an experience. We got back to the room late, and I fell asleep watching the second season of 100 Foot Wave series on HBO. The surfing was not really that great. Give me a regular surfing movie any time instead of a (mock) reality television show. 

This morning, we slept in. (It's 8:00, can you believe it?) I caught up with two days of the blog. Today we're heading to Kalispell, Montana and two nights at Glacier National Park.

Gridley, Lassen and Jacksonville

On Monday morning we were up and in the car by 7:30. On the way out of town, we passed the Starbucks and a big arch that announced "Welcome to Historic Downtown Gridley." We couldn't believe that after driving around the town the night before, up one block and down the other, we had actually missed the downtown section. Unfortunately, the Museum was closed on Mondays. (We couldn't really wait around until opening time anyway.)

The big employer in Gridley, when my Grandmother lived there, was the Libby's cannery. The cannery is long gone, but the town of 7,000 is trying to revive their downtown. We spent a half hour or so, and walked around a few blocks. Kathy found a building housing senior apartments.

In the next block, we found this old building that someone had moved onto a lot. Kathy and I were trying to decide if it was a historical building, or if the lumber was worth enough to try and rehab it. It would be an awful lot of work.

Lassen Volcanoes National Park

By 8:30 we finished fueling up the car and got on the road for Jacksonville, Oregon, near Medford. We could have driven straight through on Interstate 5 in about five hours. Instead of doing that, though, we decided to take the scenic route, through the Lassen Volcanoes National Park. It was a beautiful day and beautiful drive. Once again, we gave thanks for the nice Park Ranger who talked us into buying a yearly National Park Senior pass.

From Gridley we drove to Red Bluff (about an hour), and from there we took Highway 36 to Mineral (about an other hour). There was a more direct route from Gridley, directly up Highway 32, but it was closed due to the Dixie Fire. The drive was nice, though, and there wasn't any traffic.

Unlike Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island of Hawaii, Lassen has no smoking caldera, with annual eruptions. According to the visitor's center, Lassen last erupted in 1914-1917. However it is still an active volcano, the southernmost in the Cascade range.

The most visible evidence of the volcano's activity are the geothermal features that can be seen throughout the park. Unlike Yellowstone, visiting most of the geothermal activity in Lassen requires a bit of a hike, something we didn't have time for. However, there is a boiling mud-pot right beside the road at Supan's Sulphur Works just inside the park. My picture is terrible, but the mud-pot itself is really impressive and a little frightening. I'm sure that after we get back from Yellowstone, it will seem like nothing, though.

The drive through the park is really beautiful. There are creeks, meadows, breath-taking vistas, lakes, and hiking trails. It's also pretty uncrowded. Even in the middle of summer there was little traffic and it looked to us like there were lots of camping places. Back-country camping is also popular, but prohibited right now because of the fire danger. 

By noon, we reached the north end of the park and had a picnic lunch on the shore of Lake Manzanita. Then, it was back to Redding and up to Jacksonville, right outside of Medford.

In Jacksonville, we stayed at a Bed and Breakfast named the Hummingbird Estates where we got a two room suite for just a little more than what we paid for our motel room in Gridley.

After we checked in, we headed ten miles down the road to Applegate Christian Fellowship and walked around, even though it was after hours.

On the top of hill, overlooking the church, the congregation has built a retreat center. The drive up to the top is a little terrifying; it's quite steep. But the grounds and the cabins are incredibly serene.

Finding My Father's House

This Sunday morning Kathy and I set out on our summer road-trip to Glacier and Yellowstone parks. Originally, Kathy had proposed that we visit the Grand Canyon, Bryce, Zion and New Mexico in the summer, but I thought that would be too hot. Instead, we went to Arizona and New Mexico over Spring break, where we had unexpected snow at the Grand Canyon. We then planned on visiting the cooler northern climes to escape the summer heat. Now, it looks like we're about to be surprised once again. The local weather said that it was 107F in Billings, Montana today. 

Our first stop was going to be Lake Tahoe to visit some old friends from Shiloh. The Tamarack forest fire and a flu outbreak changed our plans at the last minute. 

Instead of Lake Tahoe, our first stop was the Pacific Motel on Route 99 in Gridley, California. Gridley is actually nowhere near the Pacific Ocean, but it is the home of the Butte County Fair. But that's not why we came here.

What's in Gridley, you ask? On January 13, 1929 my father was born in this house. Since Gridley is about an eight hour drive from our home, we thought we'd make this our first stop. Kathy just traded in her Rav4 and we bought a new Subaru Forester. The problem with the Rav4 is that I didn't fit with my long legs. I could just manage in the passenger seat, but couldn't drive it at all.

There's a lot more leg room in the Subaru and I drove the whole way. I was pretty nervous at first, but it is a really nice car to drive. I think that Kathy is still a little nervous, because when I drive, the car tends to nag a bit whenever I drift just a little bit out of my lane. We stopped at iHop for breakfast, and at Split Pea Anderson's for lunch (the one in Santa Nella, not the one in Buellton. It's always a treat to eat there. 

In the Jack Reacher book I'm reading on my Kindle, Jack finds himself in Leconia New Hampshire, where his father was born. He wanted to see the house his father was born in. Much of the plot revolves around Jack going from agency to agency looking through the records. He got here on a Sunday afternoon, so none of the city offices were open. All I had was an old picture. We drove up and down the streets of Gridley, but never found my Dad's house. I spent some time looking through his records, and called my brother Gary, but was never able to find the address. 

After an hour or so, we decided to head back to the motel and get to bed early. Tomorrow, we're going to stay in Jacksonville, Oregon, and visit Applegate Christian Center. Along the way, we're going to drive through Lassen National Park.

The pictures will be better tomorrow. Promise.