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MUMBLINGS August 25, 2005
Just returned from seeing what some refer to, as one of
the Seven Wonders of the World, Glacier National Park. Located in Northwestern
Montana, it extends into Canada.
Blessed with some of the world's most beautiful scenery,
it is 1.4 million acres of mountainous lands, with 82 glaciers.
Wildlife is plentiful and claimed to be
the world's most scenic highway, Going-To-The-Sun Road. As you would expect,
the 50-mile long highway is very crooked, with rock-slides, which make it
dangerous. It is being repaired at all times, creating single lane passage,
thus causing traffic delays. Looking out your window you can get scared
realizing the possibility of death if you get off the road you could fall
thousands of feet.
My traveling companion, Matt Metcalfe, and
I were fortunate to get rooms at the Many Glacier Hotel. We already had
reservations lined up for two nights, but the next night we moved to
Kalispell.
We left Mobile on Delta Airlines at 9 a.m.
and, as you might expect, had to go through Atlanta where we caught another
Delta flight to Salt Lake City… then we went on Sky West Airlines to
Kalispell, arriving at 5:00 p.m. The flights were crowded and expensive.
We had been told the park was 45 minutes
from the airport. Our guide was there to pick us up to take us to the hotel.
Amazingly, we learned that it was 95 miles over the crooked, high mountain,
roads where we encountered clouds and heavy rain. We arrived at our hotel at
9:30 p.m. Tired, we were ready for bed, in the fine, but old hotel. The hotel
was built in 1914 and has a number of rooms and of course has been added to.
But the part we stayed was part of the original hotel. The lavatory and the
plumbing were very old, obviously. My room had only a shower, no heat and about
3:30 a.m. I woke up to find something to keep me warm, which I did. By the next
morning, I was fine.
Years ago when the park was established,
the only way to get around were horses and buggies. Naturally, they had hiking
trails and you could spend hours and hours looking at the beautiful
scenery.
Fortunately the park still has a fleet of 32 1930's
sedans, which are called "Jammer Buses." Each holds 17 passengers and are
indications of the fine level of traveling, when they were first built. A few
years back they were refurbished at a total cost of $800,000.00. All buses now
have a dual propane/gasoline fuel system.
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