Heading North to Glacier

We took a long walk to the U of M (Go Grizz!) and while we were waiting at a street corner the driver of an old Volvo beeped and waved us across. Then he stalled his car and couldn't get it started again. We kept looking back hoping he would have coaxed it back to life again. Finally, he disappeared.

We caught the Mountain Line bus to the car rental place and the driver dropped us off right at the door. The rental rate was $165 cheaper than renting at the airport and we got a black Nissan Sentra with "light hail damage" all over it, little dimples here and there from a hail storm.


We grabbed a burger at a local diner and then began the drive north. I got really drowsy and Vivian had to take the wheel. When I woke up I needed my afternoon coffee so we stopped in a café where there was a middle aged waitress and a cook from Paris by way of Tahiti. The pie was delicious. The waitress told us all about her two sons and wistfully speculated on what she would have done had she not gotten married right out of high school.
The road went right between two snowy mountain ranges with lakes along the way. We came out into a broad valley with flat fields of grazing cattle and then mountains in the distance climbing to remote peaks. It began to rain.

We stopped for provisions (not groceries, mind you) at a local market and finally pulled into our cabin late in the day. It was overcast to the north, with low clouds pressing down on the peaks of Glacier National Park, so we'll have to explore there tomorrow. The cabin has a small gas fireplace to give the feeling of having a fire, and a neat little kitchen. It is so quiet here, only the caw of a crow now and then. Also, the Amtrak rail line goes just along the property so we get the occasional whistle of the train. We had a dinner of macaroni, cheese and ham and a cup of green tea.