Montana Wedding Weekend: Finale

When I think of a finale, I think of a fireworks show where the last few minutes are impressively packed with pyrotechnics.  Well, here's the finale of our Montana trip and I hope you feel that way about this last set of amazing photos from our day in Glacier National Park! I don't even know if words our necessary!

After stopping at a waterfall, we hopped in the car and took the "Road to the Sun" - a 2 hour drive up and around the mountains. Every 1 mile or so, there would be a place to turn off the main road to stop and take pictures.  Sometimes we'd stop, other times we'd just hang our cameras out the window and snap what we were seeing.....

About 2 hours into our drive, we stopped at a lodge/restaurant in the middle of a field.  There was nothing else for miles and we were hungry!  I don't even know what the name of the restaurant was.... it just had a sign that read "Food" on the building and there was no hesitation turning into the parking lot! Thinking that we would only find blah fried foods at this place, we were thoroughly surprised when the food was unique and absolutely delicious!  My sweet potato-dill soup was one of the best soups I've ever had and the grilled portabello mushrooms were a-mazing! 

On our drive back to the lodge, we stopped a few miles short in order to hike to Avalanche Lake. The sign read a 2 mile hike.... according to Evan's mom's tracker, it was lying.  The hike was through thick woods and every so often a break in the trees would appear and you would see a beautiful mountain not too far away. 

An hour and a half later, we finally made it to the lake and were certainly not disappointed. Nestled in the middle of a bunch of mountains and thick forests, the clear light blue lake was stunning as it reflected the scenery nearby. 

We had visitors trying to get our granola bars.....

This picture is actually Lake MacDonald at sunset - perfect way to end such a wonderful weekend :)

If you're interested in checking Glacier National Park, please click here to check out their website and learn more.  Every person visitor we encountered had the same thoughts we did.... "we're still in the USA?!?!?"

Montana Wedding Weekend: Part 3

Because the wedding was over Labor Day Weekend, Evan and I decided to stay an extra day and explore Glacier National Park with his parents.  It's not everyday you are in Montana and the mountains were calling....

Trees are tall....I get that.  But the trees in Montana are monstrous!

We moved out of our hotel in Whitefish and headed into to Park to stay at one of the five lodges, Lake MacDonald Lodge.  On our way into the park, we stopped at the visitor center to get some advice on the best way to tackle one day in the park.  The park has 700 miles of trails.... we wanted to find the best ones for the day :)  Along with our maps and "Points of Interest"  paper, we also received an entire pamphlet on how to avoid bears and what you should do if you encounter one.....

Who has a view like this from their circular drive?

Inside the lodge's lobby.

Porch seating....

Giant fire that is always going! Our day in the park was actually quite warm, 80 degrees + in some areas.  Overall, we hiked 10 miles and drove through some of the most scenic land I've ever scene. 

Our first stop was a small waterfall and a hike to a bridge over one of the many rivers created by melting glacier waters.  The most amazing thing about this park is that no two view is even remotely the same.  There was never a moment where I felt, 'oh, I just saw that an hour ago....'

Evan and his dad walking down the path :)

You could climb right down the rocks to the river while the trees swallowed you up on either side. 

Evan's parents under the bridge :)

The rocks weren't flat - they were grooved and difficult to walk on. 

This might be my favorite picture of Evan and I to date :)

Oh yeah... and there's mountains everywhere..... to think that two hours into our day, we were already seeing this!

Yes.... even more to come!! Evan, his mom, and myself combined probably took 1000 photos.... We couldn't stop; every scene was even more beautiful than the last!