SUNDAY, JUNE 29

SUNDAY, JUNE 29:

 
Another mercurial day, weather-wise.  It can be bright blue sky in one or more areas,

and then huge grey clouds in others.   And they shift.  By the moment, it seems.  We decided to drive into the Many Glacier area again, and hope for the best.  We got there around 11:30.  Very cloudy (threatening rain), cool, and windy (though not like yesterday) in that valley, so we decided to hang around the big hotel’s huge lobby, find a couple of chairs by the roaring fireplace, and just read until the weather looked more promising.   Well, it never really did.  Every time we’d get up to look outside, we’d see nearly all grey clouds.  And we’d see folks come in dripping wet and chilled to the bone.  But hey, there are certainly worse ways to spend a cool northern June day than being snug & warm inside a beautiful historic lodge, reading good books & relaxing.

                                                                                     

                                                                            

(I’m reading A  Hologram for the King, by Dave Eggers.  It’s a brilliantly, exquisitely told story of a modern-day Willy Loman [Death of a Salesman]  figure, set in a backdrop of America’s failing economy and power in the global economy.)

     Our reading was broken up by going to a Ranger lecture on “Where Have All the Glaciers Gone?”  When the Park was founded in 1910, there were 150 glaciers, I think.  Now, there are 25, and of course those are rapidly shrinking.  It will still be a gorgeous place in 20 or 30 years without the glaciers, but certainly less so.  Glad we can see it the grandeur of this “Crown of the Continent” now.

     And, another serendipitous interruption to our reading – we noticed that a woman seated close to us was wearing a jacket with the Viking Cruises logo.  We asked her if she’d in fact taken any of their cruises.  (They specialize in river cruises mostly in Europe & Asia.)  We’ve just begun talking seriously about taking one in 2016 – most likely in France. So we were eager to know her experience& impressions.  She’s taken 2 (one on the Danube, the other thru the Netherlands), and has a 3^rd one scheduled later this summer for Russia.  She loved them, and highly recommended them. So that increases our excitement & anticipation about doing that!

     Had yet one other by-way – got in on the tail end of a  talk on the history of this hotel.  Next year will be its 100^th anniversary.  It was one of the grand hotels built in the west during the last of the 19^th century by the Great Northern Railroad to try and lure well-to-do vacationers and adventurers out west – via the railroad, of course.

        Immediately after this talk, a little after 4:00, we went downstairs to get a sandwich.  We ate in front of big windows looking out on iconic Grinnell Point towering above Swiftcurrent Lake.  Even though it was still mostly cloudy, was still stunning to gaze at. 

 

      At 5:30, we went to a non-denominational worship service held there in one of the rooms (actually, the same room where the Artist-in-Residence performed).  This service was sponsored and led by ACMNP  (A Christian Ministry in the National Parks).  This is an all-volunteer organization which “provides interdenominational services of worship, Christian activities, and fellowship opportunities for people who visit, live, and work in these national treasures.”  It’s been in existence since 1951, beginning with Yellowstone.  Glacier NP was the 2^nd  park to join.  It offers several different Sunday worship services throughout the Park.  Ours was led by 4 young adults – 1 was a teacher, the other 3 were just out of college.  They did a good job, and God bless them for doing this!  We think this is the same organization that Dwayne & Marcella participated in a few years ago. 

     Very appropriately, the sun began peeking through during the service.  So afterwards, we walked around some and took some pictures (many of those posted above). 

 

.  Returned to our stunning vantage point downstairs to linger until an 8:00 performance by a Native singer/songwriter, Jack Gladstone.   His was also a multi-media show, with evocative photos and paintings shown on the screen as he sang, mostly his own compositions, and emphasizing the Native American view of the Park’s ecology & culture.  Two of the pieces were accompanied by a Park Ranger who played the cello (she’s the summer Ranger who led the Historic Hotel talk, and the wife of the Ranger who gave the glacier talk earlier).  He was really excellent.  Has won a number of awards, including being a featured speaker when the Smithsonian opened their Native American exhibit hall, receiving a Montana Governor’s award, a recent Emmy, and several more which I can’t remember.  

 

 

     When we left the hotel a little after 9:00, almost all of the clouds were gone, and the sun shone down blessing the day with a sublime benediction.

                                                                         

                                                

                                                                    
                                                                             

 Was a beautiful drive home in the twilight.  We’d never noticed before how gorgeous the mountains were as we drove south on Hwy 89 back to our campground.  I guess they were shrouded in clouds on Friday afternoon, and  of course  we drove back Friday night in the dark.

     Tomorrow is supposed to still be partly cloudy, but with less wind and higher temps.  So we’re thinking that we’ll do another hike tomorrow.  If we get wet, well, so be it.  At least we shouldn’t get too chilled.