NW Trip '12 - Day 5/6

6/6/12 - Day 5: The majority of the next two days were spent in the car. Luckily, we were getting two of the longest drives out of the way earlier on in the trip (as opposed to the second to last day). I felt a little better the next morning after getting a LOT of sleep the afternoon/night before and presumably flushing whatever bug I had out of my system. 

We hit the road pretty early and headed east to Cody, WY where we stopped for some good old McDonald's for breakfast. After fueling up, we hit the road for a long day in the car (~approx 11 hours). We drove through most of Montana, which was incredibly dull (contrary to my expectations). We arrived at our hotel (St. Mary Lodge and Resort) in Glacier National Park late afternoon just in time for some light snow, along with temperatures in the 20's! We checked in, got settled, and went to the lounge in the lodge for dinner. Sitting in comfortable leather chairs near a roaring fire was exactly what we needed after a long day in the car. We enjoyed a light dinner (soups, salads, etc.) and some mild entertainment compliments of our server before going back to the room to hang out (and for me to pass out early again).

6/7/12 - Day 6: I'm combining day 5 and 6 into the same blog post since most of the two days were spent in the car. Unfortunately, day 6 was even worse than yesterday. We woke up a little later (probably a mistake, but we needed the sleep), and Cari, Jon, and I went back to the lodge for a breakfast of pancakes and fruit. We packed up and hopped in the car to drive as far as we could into Glacier Park. The main road that we were planning to take through the park, "Going to the Sun" road, was still closed about 15 miles in, so we drove as far as we could. Glacier was incredibly beautiful -- huge mountains, blue lakes, waterfalls and wildlife all over. I desperately wanted to keep driving, but a closed road meant a closed road. So, we turned around, took lots of pictures, and made our way southwest around the park. We ended up taking a "shortcut" (Route 49!!) that turned out to be...well...terrifying. Curvy mountain roads, partially gravel, no guardrails, and sheer cliffs. Luckily, we were only on the road for about 20 minutes, but the ladies would probably claim it was at least an hour! 

After making our way back to "safety," we drove west through Montana, into Idaho for a short time, and through Washington before heading north to Canada. Our meals were less than desirable today (Arby's for lunch and Taco Bell for dinner). We also were semi-delirious by the time we arrived at the border, having driven over 13 hours, some of which was on foggy, windy, and dark mountain roads through Washington. We had an amicable border police on the way into Canada, so we were glad that he didn't mistake our delirium as being caused by.. "mind-altering substances." We drove a few miles into Canada to our Best Western in Osoyoos, B.C. (a lake town, mainly a retreat for retirees) and fell asleep quickly.