It was pretty nippy when we got up this morning but hot coffee and flap jacks warmed us up good. John took up with an old stray dog all last evening and had to tell him goodbye before leaving. We left Browning and headed for St. Mary’s where we unhitched our camper and then drove on to the Canadian Border, taking lots of pictures. It was the first time any of us had been over an International Border.

I don’t think I mentioned aunt Beulah being on this trip but she was with us and we always enjoyed her good nature. Uncle Ted (her husband, dad’s brother) died in February 1966 and since she was alone we were happy she could go with us. One of Dad’s other brother’s, uncle Alfred, also made the trip and drove his pickup truck.

Anyway it was a quite a Kodak moment at the border and I’m so glad we took a lot of pictures. This has not been a “seeing mountains in the distance” thing this morning. The mountains are very near the road and living up to their name. They have glaciers here and there in them which rise above the tree line. We are going as far as Waterton to look around (and of course, enjoy a few gift shops) then back to St. Mary’s to cross the Glacier Mountains.

We had many beautiful sights in store for us on the road up to Waterton but the small resort area was the prettiest by far. It was a little town snuggled at the feet of the glaciers which looked as if it could have been Zurich or some other famed playground at the foot of the Alps. We were treated to towering mountains with a blue, blue lake reflecting them and the puffy white clouds above. On a hill overlooking the town and lake was the Prince of Wales Inn. It was built in a Swiss Chalet style which added to the “story book” setting. We drove slowly through the town with it’s streets winding around the mountains and parked at a place where there seemed to the most gift shops.

First order of business, aunt Beulah treated us all to a nice dinner and we got quite a kick out of the little waitress. Now Canadians aren’t ‘too foreign’ I know but they are a little bit different. We enjoyed her obvious confusion in some of our ordering. When our orders came we were surprised by sweet relish on the hamburger with ‘sides’ of dill pickle and slaw which had a horseradish flavor. Also, they brought our milk-shakes in a glass along with the metal can with the rest in it. Hadn’t seen that done since I was a soda jerk in Cabool. It was quite appreciated.

After dinner we decided to split up and meet back at the car so we could each get more shopping done. The shops were very ‘English’ with imported woolens, lovely English China and things from their colonies all over the world, such as carved ivory things from India, trinkets from Hong Kong etc; Mom got a two magnificent tea cups and saucers for her collection and a teapot with sugar and creamer. I couldn’t resist an English milk pitcher and two coffee mugs. I didn’t know at the time but now they are easily identified. The pitcher and mugs were Johnson Bros. Friendly Village. John owns the pitcher and one mug….George Jr. has the other mug. I have been trying to give the children things from the trips that they appreciate now but wouldn’t have wanted when they were that young. Now it is a treasure to hang on to their memories with. I also bought a silver charm for my charm bracelet and a beer mug for George Sr. I could have spent days looking and shopping but the time came to meet back at the cars so we hurried along, got settled in, and drove back to St. Mary’s to pick up our camper. That being accomplished, we headed West over the Glacier Mountains.

Now here is the peak of the trip. If we had seen anything beautiful before, or been awed by the bigness of the mountains, it was completely forgotten about on the first turn of the road after leaving St. Mary’s entrance. We started UP on the Going-to-the-Sun Highway….our first landmark was St. Mary’s Lake and we stopped by the road to snap quite a few pictures. The road clings to the sides of rough, jagged mountains with high cliff drives around the lake. It looks like the famed pictures of the cliff shoreline at Monaco. We are busy looking at landmarks such as Goats Mountain, Cannon Mountain, Heavens Peak, O’Brien Mountain and Logan’s Pass at the highest point, (Continental Divide).

Up to this point it was breath taking to look out and see how high up we were getting and looking at all there was to see as we climbed up steep curves taking us to the top. When you start down there is no hint of the fear that is to come as you look at Bird Woman Falls, Hanging Gardens and go around still more curves. Suddenly you come around the mountain into a view that is almost too beautiful to take in. The knowledge hits you that you are on a little shelf carved out of the side of the mountain to carry traffic on with the edge crumbling away. It seems like you are at least five miles up and with other traffic trying to scale up or down the mountain I became absolutely horrified. The edge was on my side of the car with just a few little rocks to act as a guard rail……I kept thinking a camper wheel would go over the edge and pull us down with it to the bottom below. All I could see from my window was blue sky. I admit it….I was scared silly. The kids still tease me about my panic and insisting that daddy get further over from the edge of the road. I was just a limp, scared mass of cowardice.

After three lifetimes and 11-miles later we were finally at the bottom, driving along a clear mountain river which got lost in the pines. On our way out of the forest and the park we passed by a beautiful mountain lake which was fed by the river we just passed. Referring to our map we find that it is Lake McDonald. Soon we were at the West Glacier Park entrance and we all went in for pie and coffee. My stomach began coming out of shock with the food but my knees ached for quite a while from the stress I felt. I think I mashed on the floor board (for a brake) all the way down. As a memento, George bought me a Mountain Goat for my charm bracelet….only after he couldn’t find a ‘chicken’ he said. Very funny. So this was to be my Montana charm.

We had a quiet little drive on to Kalispell where we found the Tee-Pee Lodge, the Delhay’s and a haven for the night.

Until tomorrow,
Essentially Esther