At the end of our first day at Glacier National Park I was so tired I dreaded even standing for the 15 minutes it would take me to shower. {You know how I get about showering sometimes…} So, needless to say, we were glad to spend our second day at a much more relaxed pace.
We started with a morning visit to Lake McDonald at Apgar Village, just inside the west entrance to the park. It was a beautifully gloomy fall morning.
We really wanted to rent a canoe or kayaks and paddle around the lake a bit…but for some reason there were none to be had. All the rental places were closed for the season, or opened after noon. It was hard for us, but we managed to just hang out without much activity. We checked the souvineer shops, we watched the clouds roll over the lake, we walked {but not much} by the edge of the water. Derek even bought me a fancy coffee to drink while the chill dissipated from the air.
Chilly mornings aren’t half bad when you have a good coffee, the best sweater in the world, and your best friend in the world with you.
Later we saw some Jammers leaving from Apgar Village. Aren’t they cute? They got the name “Jammer” because when the were first put into use the drivers were called “Gear Jammers” in jest.
After lunch we headed to the Glacier Raft Company for an afternoon of white water fun. Now, you may be surprised by this…but I am afraid of white water rafting. I don’t like it. It’s too scary. I know, none of us are perfect. But Derek really loves it. So the trip we took was a perfect compromise. It was an eight mile trip. The first four miles were a scenic float. The last four miles were rapids. And at this point in the season the rapids were really low and tame, so that really worked out in my favor.
We were encouraged not to bring our cameras. However, I’m not one for rules. So I took it anyway. I just put it in a Zip-Loc baggie and put that securely inside my life vest. It survived just fine.
It was incredible to see the park from this angle. {Especially incredible since we got to sit down and our arms did the work instead of our legs.} Oh, and you know me and movie trivia…here’s a good one for you. This section of the river and this exact company worked with the cast and crew or The River Wild to film the river scenes in the movie. Pretty cool, right? If you haven’t seen it, you should. Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon…how could you hate it with a cast like that?!
Okay, so I’m getting off topic. After we got past the rapids our guide told us we were at the deepest point in the river and that if we wanted to jump in this was our chance. I don’t know if she was being sincere or not, but Derek and I took advantage. We would never pass up the opportunity to swim in a river of glacier run off. I jumped off the side of the raft before thinking too hard about the choice. I knew if I did, I would rationalize just how cold that water would be. So I just hopped off. And yes, it was cold. Very, very cold. Like take your breath away, can’t move your arms and legs–cold. After resurfacing I tried to make some lame joke about demonstrating the proper rescue form for when you fall out of the boat. But my lips didn’t work, so it just came out in gibberish. My fellow rafters laughed, but I’m sure it wasn’t at my wit.
Derek jumped in too. He agreed, I wasn’t crazy, it was cold. After he’d had enough I hauled him back into the boat. See, the camera was a good idea after all.
After the rafting trip it was well into the afternoon, so we went back to our motel room for a very hot shower {to dethaw after our polar swim}. Then we went out for dinner at the Belton Chalet. I didn’t take the photo below. That’s from their website.
It’s fancy. Maybe too fancy for us. But the food was delightful and the view was fantastic.
We rounded our relaxing day out with a few hands of rummy by the fire place at our motel and a cozy effort to try and dry our shoes out before our final day of hiking…
Amy
