We woke up Saturday morning to a puking Willow. A few of the other family members and kids were sick and it spread over to our camp as well. She crawled around that morning like nothing had happened so we decided to go on our adventures into Glacier as planned.
Because the flu bug was spreading so quickly and it was somewhat unpredictable, we decided to forgo the shuttle and we instead took our van up into Glacier. We wanted to get up to Logan Pass in order to do the hike to Hidden Lake.
Being it was a Saturday, we realized we may not find parking up at the top of the pass. But we didn't want any of our kids ralphing on the shuttle.
I do not do well on windy, mountain roads. I especially do not do well when there is not some kind of wall or barrier to keep you on the road. On the way up, we were in the opposite lane of the cliffs so it was tolerable. It is a really beautiful drive, if you can overlook the fact that one wrong move and you are dead.
We got to the top and sure enough, there was no parking. There were lines for parking and after circling the parking lot for a while, we decided to head back down. There are other things to see along the way, even though we really wanted to do this hike. Dave and Amber, our hiking companions, found a spot just as we were leaving. They went ahead and did the hike without us.
This boulder here is supposed to keep our 12 passenger van on the road. They are lined up along the cliff edge every 6 to 12 feet or so. I don't know why they bother. But someone told me they aren't there to keep you on the road. They just tell you where the edge is. Thank you. Just beyond that little patch of wildflowers is a steep cliff down into nothingness.
I did not tolerate this procedure well. While my poor husband was trying to stay on the road, I was leaning towards him trying to keep our vehicle from falling over. He wanted me to take pictures with his phone so that he could at least see what he was missing out on and I told him I just couldn't because it made me dizzy. He insisted and I bravely snapped a few pictures.
He wanted to stop at one of these parking pullouts right on the edge of the cliff and I absolutely said no way, Jose. Nope. Absolutely not. You get us down to safer ground.
The Jackson Glacier lookout is on the way back down the pass and we stopped here to check it out. They have a hike you can take from here but I couldn't find any information on what kind of hike it was, if it was suitable for kids, etc. I then realized that Willow had a complete blowout in her car seat.
We stopped at the visitor center to change her and decided to stick around and check it out. We watched the short film on the history of the park and wandered through the exhibits before heading back to our campsite.
The thing about this campground is it's beasty hot in the afternoon. There's hardly any shade in the RV area and it just makes everyone crabby.
While waiting for the rest of the family to meet up after their afternoon adventures, we headed over to the river that goes under the road to the campground. It was a perfect little swimming hole to cool off in. We had to four-by to get there in our big van but we made it.
A new fire had started up in Glacier at some point while we were there and the skies were getting more and more smoky.
In the late afternoon, we all met up at Upper St. Mary Lake for a swim.
We could have stayed here all day. It was so much fun. Just make sure you wear water shoes of some kind; the rocks make it hard to walk around in the water.
All of us that made it. Bob, Carrie, Heather, me, Ryan, Dave, Megan, Ashley and Hannah.
And all of the grandkids that showed up to the picture. The rest were either barfing, sleeping or lost somewhere.
A good amount of Frisbee was played.
And a game of bump. Or practice bump. We never got past the practice part. #fail
As usual, the family reunion wasn't long enough. Although I'm sure all the sick people were more than ready to go home.
We left on Sunday morning as soon as we could get packed up.
Chet wanted to stop in Cut Bank at the place him and his brothers visit to hunt for whatever small game they can find there.
We didn't get too much further down the road when we heard a familiar cough/choke noise coming from the back. I unbuckled, grabbed the barf bucket and got it under Henry just in time. The poor kid couldn't keep anything down for the next few days.
I had prepared for this moment and had given everyone a barf bucket. No one else had to use it, luckily.
We arrived at Fort Peck just after supper. It's a neat little stop on the way home, just a few miles off of Highway 2. They have several Army Corps of Engineers campgrounds available to stay at for a very reasonable rate.
Willow had been sleeping like a champ for the greater part of the trip so I hadn't even thought to worry about what to do if she didn't sleep this last night.
I should have. She didn't want to sleep. All my usual tricks didn't work and we ended up spending a good 45 minutes in the van, which is much more soundproof than our camper. I had buckled her in her car seat and once she was finally sleeping, I carefully carried it into the camper and she slept in it right next to me on the bed. For about three hours.
She had several blowouts during the night and once those subsided, she fell asleep next to me on the bed and we got another three or so hours of sleep. YOLO. Who needs sleep?
We stopped the next morning at the lookout over the Fort Peck Reservoir.
This was our last day of travel. Just 12 hours of driving was all we had to do. A few stops to clean out barf buckets and change diapers. A few outfit changes. A Costco stop in Fargo. Two tired parents. Seven squirrely kids. About what can be expected.
But we made it home in one piece. A few more kids got sick over the next couple of days. A little souvenir from the trip.
I'm so thankful we were able to make this trip. And that it went as well as it did. We weren't allowed to talk about how well it was going while on the trip, as not to jinx it. But now that we're home, I can safely say it went amazingly well. I'm hoping life allows us to do this every couple of years with the kids. We have a great, beautiful country to explore.
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