Stop 8-Glacier National Park and Vancouver

Yesterday we got up at 7 and were packed and ready to go by 7:40.  Unfortunately, the cafe at the campsite didn't open until 8 and we really wanted to have breakfast there.  We were glad we waited, the breakfast was delicious.  Fresh, local, and homemade ingredients made for a great meal.  We wanted to get an early start due to the traffic on Going-to-the-Sun Road.  The road just opened a week ago and it is the main attraction of the park.  They are doing construction, it's congested, and it's a narrow two lane road and it takes around 2 hours to go 35 miles.  The earlier the better!  We went to Logan Pass, the same place we went the day before but this time we were dressed to hike in the snow.  We took the train to Hidden Lake and because of the record snow this winter, we ended up hiking through a snow field.  On the way we saw about 5 mountain goats who were used to people (we were on a popular trail) and posed for some pictures.

The hike started with a hard uphill in slippery, wet snow and then leveled out and we saw more mountains, glaciers, and the hidden lake, which was still frozen!  Lots of people hiked up with their skis and snowboards and skied down the hills since they were all still snow covered.  The ranger said that the snow probably wouldn't melt this year since it starts getting cold again in September. 

Glacier Park was breathtakingly beautiful.  A fellow traveler we met visited Yellowstone and the Tetons this summer and said that Glacier was by far the most beautiful--we're glad our happenstance meeting at the ice cream stop in Wyoming brought us there.

We headed back down the road and had lunch at the bottom before leaving for Washington state.  On the way we passed through Coeur d'Alene, ID and had dinner at our friend Melissa's family's pub and bar.  Great burgers!

 A river runs through it.

 Bird Woman Falls

 The beginning of our hike

 mountain goat #1

 mountain goat #2

On the way to Hidden Lake

 Snow in July!

Hidden Lake is back there somewhere.

We slept in rural central Washington last night and then made it to BC by 5pm, just in time for a BBQ at our hosts' house.  Danielle has family friends that now live in Vancouver and they are very gracious and are hosting us for the next four days.  We had a lovely dinner with them and now we're settling and and deciding what we want to do while we're here.