On my way home...

‘Magnificently lush’ may be the best way to describe Glacier National Park. The green of everything grabs your eyes like no other park on this trip. There are the mountains that resemble the Tetons and Zion. The rivers echo Kings Canyon. The grandeur of Yosemite and Grand Canyon are evident here in Glacier. It is a park of parks and it is punctuated by all of the plants that grow through it. The wildflowers accent all of the green with purple, yellow, red, and orange. Glacier National Park is truly an artist’s paradise.

Going-to-the-Sun road was a terrific overview of the park. This road stretches from the west side through the park to the east side. The road is lined with mountains, waterfalls, valleys, and of course glaciers. Driving Going-to-the-Sun took about four hours. With so many ups and downs, along with construction, it is quite the feat to complete the drive. It is definitely a day’s activity. To change things up, I made sure to get a nice long hike in. I picked a route to Grinnell Glacier. Grinnell Glacier is one of the most famous glaciers and it is named after George Bird Grinnell, one of the people who worked hard to make the Glacier area a national park. This eleven mile hike goes through dense forest and up to alpine terrain. Along the way there are several beautiful lakes. One of the lakes, Joesphine Lake, is the craziest green color. Higher up is Grinnell Lake which is covered with ice! Of course, I had to take a little dip into the water, just to say I did J. It was incredibly cold. I stayed in for eleven seconds, my own personal record. I did, however, see a girl later that day jump all the way in…and I thought I was crazy. On the way down, I was lucky enough to see a couple of Big Horn Sheep. These creatures are so cool. The whole hike back to camp was a lovely experience; a perfect capstone to this trip!

I have officially left Glacier National Park which means I am kind of done with my trip in a way. It is very sad in one way and joyful in another. I’m sad to leave a trip where I was so lucky to see so many beautiful places. On the other hand, I am excited to be back teaching and not living out of my car J. The last six weeks have been an amazing creative period of my life. I have never been such a productive painter! The National Parks that I visited were so inspiring in many ways. Gigantic mountains, furious rivers, massive glaciers, dry desert sand, and so much more of our lovely earth have left their impression on me. I have found these beautiful places to be a place of renewal and I know that millions of other people have had this same thought. We are lucky to live in a world where people find these areas unique enough to sit them aside for viewing pleasure. If you have never seen any of these parks in the western US I highly encourage you to find the time and put forth the effort to make a trip like this come true. Cheers to an incredible experience!!!