Tuesday, July 28 Rainy Day in Glacier

The weather was very  dreary when we woke up. Jim, Dave and Josh did start up the trail but ended up turning back. Rosie was determined to get a different campsite so she staked out site 19 while I packed up and made breakfast…she sat across from the site with a drink and a book. The guy FINALLY woke up at 9:00 and she talked to him and got the site. She wanted that one because it is one of the best for bear-watching the slopes directly from the campsite. We watched a bear from the motor inn that morning and then Rosie and I went into St. Mary for lunch at the Park Café because it was too rainy to do anything in the valley. We came back and went to the hotel and read our books and watched the slopes for wildlife. At one point a moose came running into view from the east across the hotel road, followed by a calf. The cow was running so fast the calf could barely keep up. She went along the north side of the lake and over to the west side and along it and finally out of site, never letting up on her speed, with her calf struggling the whole time to keep up. She had obviously been spooked by something, probably a bear.

We eventually went back to camp and looked for bears with Jim and Karen but the weather got steadily worse so we decided to have dinner at the motor inn. Then it was time for a wildlife drive in the rain. We saw Jim and Karen huddled over their stove at the picnic area with an umbrella above them. We should have done that instead of a restaurant but too late! Then we headed back and got our toothbrushes and went over to the motor inn bathroom. When we came out Jack, Scot and Mariah were sitting there. We told them we thought they should just do the show in the lobby since it was so cold and dreary and wet outside. Jack talked to the staff and they said it was fine. It was a really great show…we all sang along to everything and Jack added some new “family” numbers. It was really, really fun, and I’m sure people heard him who wouldn’t normally have made it to the campfire circle.

The Gladstones' invited us to come sleep in the DRY cabin that night so we headed over. The kids attempted to start a bonfire with very wet wood…it didn’t work. Jack went to bed in the bunkhouse and I read upstairs in the loft while the kids told ghost stories downstairs. Eventually they headed to bed with Scot warning Rosie about the “rats”. The cabin is only half finished so of course there are mice that have gotten in. Rosie was so tired and had been having bad dreams since Hayden died and after hearing Scot talk about rats (jokingly) and hearing mice, she freaked out and refused to sleep there. We sat in the car with me attempting to change her mind but I failed so we just left. Halfway back I realized I hadn’t left a note but it was so late and I was exhausted and so we didn’t go back, we just hoped they would understand.