Geezers, Wyoming and South Dakota - Whitefish to Crater Lake National Park

Day 23 – Whitefish to Kennewick, WA

We were up and on the road before 9:00 today, but as we started our drive out of Whitefish the 4-Runner had several warning lights come on including the “See Dealer” light, which really put a glitch in our plans.  We have driven Toyotas for many years and they have proved very reliable and we have never had a problem with them on our travels so today is a first.  I was afraid we would have to drive a long way to find a dealer, but it turned out there was a dealer in Kalispell, which is just five miles south of Whitefish and was right on our way.

After a nervous drive to Kalispell Toyota we pulled into the service department and the first thing they asked was did we have an appointment and of course we didn't and we told them we were traveling.  I saw us sitting around all day waiting for an opening, but they said no problem, just give us an hour to see what the problem is.  It turns out it was only a problem with the vent on the gas cap and with a new gas cap installed we were on our way in less than 45 minutes.  Not only that, they washed our very dirty car in the process.  I really have to give Kalispell Toyota a big thumbs up, they couldn’t have been nicer and more helpful.  To make time to help some worried tourists and get them on their way was great; our day was saved. 

We were feeling very good as we left Kalispell because we didn't have a serious kink in our plans.  We drove south along the Flathead Lake and made our way to Interstate 90 on a series of scenic back roads.  Once on I-90, we were on our way west with a stop in Coeur d’Alene for lunch and gas, and then into Washington and Spokane.  The last leg of our day’s journey was on US 395 west to the Tri City area of Washington and the city of Kennewick where we would spend the night.

At the hotel they had a pot of chili, chips and drinks set out for their guests so we made that our dinner and called it a day.  Tomorrow we continue our drive southwest to Crater Lake National Park where we will spend two days at the Crater Lake Lodge.

Day 24 – Kennewick to Crater Lake National Park, OR

We were hoping to wake up to sunny skies, but what we saw was heavy overcast and drizzles.  After a good continental breakfast at the hotel we were on the road to Crater Lake National Park.  The hotel we stayed at was a Hampton Inn and I have to give them two thumbs up.  From the good chili we had last night to the way above average continental breakfast this morning, and the very helpful and friendly staff, this turned out to be a great place to spend a night on the road.  It is a brand new hotel and the rooms are very nice so if you ever need a place to stay near Kennewick, I highly recommend the Hampton Inn at Southridge.


The first part of our drive today was on Interstate 82 and 84 along the south side of the Columbia River.  Traffic was pretty light and we made good time, but this changed when we got off the interstate and started south on US 97.  US 97 is a mostly two-land road that runs down through central Oregon and the foothills of the Cascades.

At first we made pretty good time, but there were a lot of trucks and they slowed down on the grades.  Things got worse when we came to a complete stop where they were repaving a long stretch of the highway.  Traffic backed up for a long ways and the delay was lengthy.  We finally were on our way again, but we had dozens of slow moving trucks in front of us so progress was slow.  We stopped for lunch in the town of Madras and when we got back on the road traffic had stretched out and thinned a bit, but was still slow going.  Finally we went through Bend, Oregon, which is a pretty big town now and most of the traffic seemed to drop off for the last part of our drive.

We finally got to the turn off for Crater Lake and made our way up to the Crater Lake Lodge where we would be spending the next two nights.  It was a bit chaotic when we got there as there was major road and parking lot work going on and people were trying to get checked-in and find a place to park.  We finally got checked-in and while Val was looking for a parking place, I got our luggage up to the room.  Val got lucky and found a spot where someone was just pulling out.

Even though the mileage was not that great, it was a long and tiring day with all the delays, traffic and the rain that went on most of the morning.  The Crater Lake Lodge is one of the Grand Lodges of the National Parks so we can check another one off our list.  As we travel, and whenever the opportunity arises, we try to stay at one of the Grand Lodges.  We weren’t able to stay in one in Glacier because they were all closed for the season so Crater Lake Lodge will be our only Grand Lodge for this trip.

When we tried to get dinner reservations at the lodge, they were booked until 8:30 so since we had eaten a late lunch and weren’t that hungry, we decided to skip dinner.  Tomorrow we will spend the day exploring the park.

Geezers, Wyoming and South Dakota - Whitefish

Day 22

It’s been a while, but this morning when we got up and looked out we saw nothing but blue sky, a welcome sight after so many cloudy days.  We had a full breakfast in the lodge dining room this morning and then headed into to Whitefish to get our laundry done.  The lodge had recommended a nearby laundromat that would actually wash and fold our clothes for us so we checked that out.  The price was very reasonable to we opted for that as it beat sitting around washing and drying clothes all morning.

While our clothes were being washed, we went into downtown Whitefish and walked around town for a while.  We were looking for some gifts for Val’s niece and her family who we will be visiting at the end of our trip.  After much contemplation and helpful suggestions, we were able to find what we hope will be something they like.  Downtown Whitefish is very nice and quaint, and everyone was very nice and helpful in the shops we visited, particularly the clerk in the Sage and Cedar shop; she really went out of her way to be helpful and her suggestions of some other shops to visit turned out to be perfect.

As we were finishing our shopping I got a call saying our laundry was ready so after finishing, we headed back to the laundromat to pick it up; that was fast service!  The plan for today had been to return to Glacier Park, but after returning to the lodge and getting our laundry put away, we realized we just wouldn’t have time as we had a 6:30 reservation for dinner at the Lodge.  What we decided to do instead was to follow the shore of Whitefish Lake north and find a back road into the Whitefish State Forest.  It was a nice drive up the lake, but the drive into the state forest turned out to be not very interesting so we returned to the Lodge.  I guess we've become a little spoiled by all the spectacular scenery we've been seeing.  By this time it was late afternoon and we wanted to review the pictures we had taken the previous day so we did that until it was time for dinner.

Our drive along the lake and into the forest was nice, but nothing to exciting.

 

We had a great dinner at the Lodge with a table by the window so we could watch the sunset.  This was the perfect end to our stay in Whitefish.  We have had a great stay at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake and would return here anytime.  The staff was great; they were friendly, efficient and very helpful.  The Lodge itself had everything you could want and our room was very large, had a fireplace, was comfortable and as a bonus the prices were very reasonable as this was their off season.

The lobby and great room of the lodge.

Looking towards dining room and lake.

The dining room.

It was nice to be able to watch the sunset over the lake while we ate.

This is the deck outside the dining room and bar.

Leaving the dining room and looking back into the lobby and great room.

We relaxed by the fireplace for a bit before calling it a night and returning to our room.

Tomorrow we start the final week of our trip; we will head south and west to the town of Kennewick, Washington which is the halfway point to Crate Lake, which is our next place to visit.

Geezers, Wyoming and South Dakota - Glacier National Park

Day 21

The plan for today was to visit the small town of Polebridge and then spend some time exploring Glacier National Park.  When we woke up this morning the sky was mostly cloudy, but looked like it might break up later.  We were anxious to get going, but we didn’t get on the road until around 9:30.

Polebridge is a very small town just 20 miles south of the Canadian Border. It is a small collection of buildings with the centerpiece being Polebridge Mercantile.  The Mercantile has a few groceries, t-shirts and other memorabilia, but is most known for its bakery.  Every day they make an assortment of bake goods that attracts people from all over.  Polebridge is about 35 miles north of Whitefish and accessible by a sometimes dirt and sometimes paved road.  It was a long, but beautiful drive with fall color in abundance and well worth it.  When we ate the cinnamon rolls we bought we really knew it was worth it; now we know why they have such a good reputation.  We had samples of some of their other offerings and they were equally good; I wished I was hungry enough to eat more.  We thought they must be baking all the time as new items kept coming out fresh from the kitchen.

 

 

We saw on the map that there was a unimproved back road that would take us into Glacier and all the way down to the west entrance and some people we talked to said it was a beautiful drive so we decided to take that.  We got about a mile down the road and suddenly there was a sign that said “Road Closed 7 Miles Ahead”, that ended that.  We back-tracked and started back south on our original route until we got to another side road that led to Glacier, so we took that one.  This was a paved road that led to McDonald Lake and the west entrance.

A back way into Glacier; unfortunately we didn't get very far.

 

The west end of Lake McDonald.

We stopped at the Visitors Center and found that today would be the last day before they closed Logan Pass on the Going to the Sun Road for the season.  The Going to the Sun Road is the only road that goes all the way through the park and Logan Pass is the highest point on the road.  With this information we decide to take the road all the way through the park and return to Whitefish by looping around the bottom of the park.  This would make for a long day, but it is a very scenic drive.

The temperatures had been in the 40's all day, but it didn’t seem that cold as the cloudy day had turned to partly cloudy and we had plenty of sun to warm us.  I won’t detail our journey, but will show it through some of the pictures we took.  The highlights were Lake McDonald, seeing two bears and a couple of mountain goats, the abundant fall color and of course the continuous beauty of the drive itself.

The east end of Lake McDonald.

 

We spotted a bear high up the side of the canyon.

 

And near the same spot we saw the bear, there was a mountain goat.

 

The final leg of our day's journey; we travel back to Whitefish on Highway 2, south of the park.

We didn’t get back to the hotel until 7:00 and were pretty tired so we opted for a room service dinner in the room.  Dinner was very good and it felt good to just be able to relax in front of the fireplace in our room after a long drive.  Tomorrow we are not quite sure what we will do.  We definitely have to do some laundry to get us through the rest of the trip and we’re going to check out the town of Whitefish, but otherwise we’ll just see what happens.

Geezers, Wyoming and South Dakota - Deadwood to Whitefish, MT

Day 19 – Deadwood to Butte, MT

We were up early this morning as we wanted to get an early start for our long drive today.  A look out the window showed rain and we could hear thunder in the distance.  We were on the road by 8:00 and made our way to I-90 for our drive west.  We spent the day driving in and out of rain and only saw the sun briefly as we entered Montana.  After an ill-fated attempt to find a restaurant in Billings (there were plenty of restaurants, just not the one we were looking for) we ended up just up the highway in Lindsey where we found a Mexican restaurant.  We arrived in Butte around 5:30 after a 550 mile drive.  Tomorrow we only have a 300 mile drive to Whitefish where we will spend three nights.

Rain in South Dakota.

Rain in Wyoming.

Some rays of sun in Montana.

Day 20 – Butte to Whitefish, MT

We had a much shorter drive today so we slept in and after getting some breakfast, we were on the road by 10:00.  The weather again was not cooperating with us and it was raining with temperatures in the high 30’s and low 40’s.  We were back on I-90 heading west until we reached the small town of Garrison, MT where we turned north on to a very scenic back road.  By this time the rain had stopped, except for some occasional sprinkles, and the heavy overcast had turned into cloudy skies; no sun, but at least not that ominous gray.  As we made our way north we could see patches of blue sky and could see the sun shining on the mountains in the distance.  We stopped for lunch in Kalispell and then drove the short distance to Whitefish, MT where we would be spending the next three nights.

Welcome blue sky ahead.

We were staying at the Lodge at Whitefish Lake, which turned out to be a great location.  The Lodge is located right on the lake and has beautiful grounds and wonderful views.  By this time the sun had come out with just scattered clouds and the temperatures had warmed up to the high 50’s.  After checking-in and getting settled, Val and I walked out by the lake and enjoyed the beautiful view and the warm weather.  The Lodge has a full dock with boat rentals including pontoon boats, kayaks and canoes.  After finishing our explorations we hated to go back inside so we decided to have a drink at the outside bar by the lake and just soak in the good vibes of the area.

Val out on our balcony.

This area is just outside of Glacier National Park so for the next two days we will be exploring the park and surrounding area, we hope the weather holds out.  Tonight we are just going to have a light dinner and get some rest after our two day drive across South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.  Kudos to Val for finding such a great place to stay.

We did interrupt our restful evening when we noticed it looked like it was going to be a good sunset.  We went out on the dock and spent a while watching the sunset and taking too many pictures of it.  One odd thing happened when we were out on the dock; as we started back to the lodge after the sun had set we said hello to a lady and her daughters who were also out on the dock and she said “hey, weren’t you in my restaurant today?”.  It turns out she waited on us at the deli where we ate lunch in Kalispell, what a coincidence running into her.  Anyway, by then it was getting dark and cold so we headed back to the room and called it a night.