Streak Broken
Like I said yesterday: today was a long day. For starters, we got up at 4:30 in the morning, which even without the time change that's only 6:30. If you know me, you know I'm really not a wake-up-early person. I did not enjoy waking up at 4:30, but it was worth it. Today, we woke up early to see Glacier National Park. We got out of the hotel nice and smoothly, and it was such an odd hour of morning that we didn't even have to talk to someone to check out, we just left the keys at the front desk and left.
While driving, we witness a pretty pink sunrise that made up for the one we missed due to overcast skies in Michigan. We stopped for gas just a little while before the park to get gas and anything we could form a gas station that could count as 'breakfast'. The gas station was ravaged, poorly stocked and in desperate need of a restock, so the only thing we could really find were a bunch of donettes. Usually, that wouldn't be super exciting but for some reason, I was starving. As soon as I could, I tore into our bag of chocolate donettes.
Without even being in the park, it was stunning. A little foggy because of our timing, but stunning. We even saw a cute lil cowie on the side of the road!
On our way into the park, though, there was no ranger at the entrance booth. Just our luck considering how hard we worked to obtain our tickets and we don't even get to. The real problem, however, is that we didn't receive a map for Gideon's collection. We pulled into the visitor's center hoping to find a map, but the center was closed and there weren't any maps around. We compromised by Dad downloading a digital copy. The park, again, was absolutely stunning. The cars behind us kept getting way too close and trying to get us to speed up, but other than that the quiet of the morning was enjoyable. Soon, however, me and Dad began to have to pee. Obviously we couldn't go at the visitor center, and we were planning on stopping at the next visitor center, so Dad and I resolved to wait until then. We saw a few more views and, of course, waterfalls, which only made me have to pee more. The drive lifted us to higher and higher altitudes, to the point where we couldn't see five feet in front of us because of the fog.
The next visitor center was at the top of the mountains, too. Dad and Gideon went potty first, and because the place was insanely busy, me and Mom stayed in the car and orbited the parking lot. There were literally no spots. At one point a person had stopped in the middle of an aisle to wait for a spot, and long story short, Me, Mom and about five other cars got ourselves caught in an enigma of the human spirit. Someone had to give up to get us all moving again, and it turns out that person was us. The people there were being complete butts, so I resolved to hold it a little longer. No need to make everyone else angry longer. Mom tasked Dad to go to the visitor's center briefly to try and find a map, but he came back dry here too.
We continued down the crest, which I personally think was the most beautiful of the park sections. I had to pee the whole time, but that didn't matter. Whenever I stood up I got a little dizzy from the altitude, but it was worth it. We even spotted a little cat looking thing, which Dad said was some kind of arctic badger. Finally we found a decent sized pull off that had some bathrooms. The one problem being Mom couldn't find a parking spot and we were on the wrong side of the road. I had to run across the street to get to them, and luckily the car that was coming stopped for me.
As soon as I got inside, I was accosted by the smell. Absolute trash. I was gagging the entire way through. If any of you have ever used a pit toilet, you'd understand my disgust. Not only was the smell bad, but the sound of peeing in a pit toilet is so upsetting. Because you're essentially just peeing in a hole in the ground, it sounds like you're peeing on the ground. For some reason, that really bothered me. There also weren't any sinks: you could only hand sanitize after using the bathroom. Ugh. I got out and luckily on my way back to the car no cars were coming. As I got in Gideon scolded me "You used the handicapped one!" I shrugged it off because no one else was in the bathroom.
We took a few more stops, but Mom began having to pee so there was a little urgency. We found a bathroom for her, though, where she had to teach herself how to use the bear trash cans. It took her a while.
We found a small town within the park that had a motel and a gift shop. We went hoping to find a map or souvenirs. We did not find a map. I did, however, find another sweatshirt, postcards and a pop socket. Gideon got another stuffed animal and Mom found a large license plate like sign that I encouraged her to buy as a porch decoration.
We finished the rest of the park rather quickly after that, and stopped at the last visitor center as a final hope to get a map. We got in contact with a very nice ranger that gave us a map! Yay!
Our last box on the checkbox was a picture in front of the Glacier National Park sign. We pulled over to get it where a bunch of other families were already there. Mom pulled up in front of all of them. As she put it earlier "I will fight a bitch". We got the picture and left, almost hitting the next group on the way.
Next on our plan for the day was the Montana Mystery Shack or something like that. We ate a snack on the way there, figuring we might not be able to get lunch, but when we pulled in the attraction was closed. Bummer.
Luckily, Dad told us that that means we could get A and W for lunch, and I was pretty excited to try their root beer! When we got there, it was also closed. What tough luck! We stopped at Taco Bell instead.
All cozy in the hotel, we took a nap for a while and then I called Ava and we talked and wrote for a while.
For dinner, we decided to try a ramen place just across the street. When we drove up, guess what? It was closed. What rotten luck, but we didn't really see it like that. We tried another popular place, MacKenzie's, but it's line was insane. We went across that plaza and decided to try a tap place. There were no open seats, but it was seat yourself so Mom just stood near a dirty table and claimed it when it was cleaned. The service was slow, but it was good. We got onion strings and cheese curds for appetizers, which were both bomb. Mom and Dad got beers, and Mom ended up liking Dad's so much she took it. I got a noodle stir fry for a meal and damn! She was fire. Soulmate number I lost count . . .
I thought it could be cool to try a local frozen yogurt place, but there weren't a whole ton of flavor options, so we decided to go to Coldstone Creamery for like the fifth time.
At the hotel with ice cream in hand, we finally started catching up on Loki. One more episode down! I love that show . . .
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