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After an enjoyable but all to brief visit to Washington state we headed East on our way to Montana's Glacier National Park. In the first picture we are standing on a bluff overlooking the Columbia river after crossing the bridge from Washington into Idaho. Once in Montana we headed for a West Glacier campground. This was the view we had looking northeast across the length of Lake McDonald. The next morning we drove around the southern end of Glacier national Park to a campground in St. Mary, Montana on the park's East side. The third picture is the view of Lower Saint Mary Lake from our campsite .

Since the Going-to-the-Sun Road through the park is restricted to vehicles smaller than our motorhome, we had to rely on a tour bus for a view of the park's interior. The tour's first "scenic stop" gave us a view of a small island in the middle of Saint Mary Lake. We were told this is the most photographed location in the park.

At the left is another view looking South across Saint Mary Lake. We saw these Big Horn Sheep as well as some Rocky Mountain Goats as we made our way up to the visitor's center at Logan's Pass on the Continental Divide (elevation 6,646'). As you can see, it is a breathtaking view all around from this elevation. The photographs don't do justice to the horizon-to-horizon view where you can see peaks many miles away or appreciate the distance down into the depth of the valleys below shown in the last two pictures.

During a lunch break at the East end of Going-to-the-Sun Road, I struck up a conversation with this fellow. I had the feeling he knew a lot about carving but he sure didn't wasn't very talkative with me though it did appear he and Sandie had something in common. One of the stops on the return through the park was to view Jackson Glacier. The warmer than normal temperatures so far this year have made a negative impact on the glaciers in the park and our tour guide quipped that if it kept up they may have to rename the park, Glacier-less National Park. The day after we left, a lightning strike started a fire in the Saint Mary area of Glacier national Park and part of the Going-to-the-Sun Road was closed to traffic. Saint Mary Lake is behind Sandie and me in the last picture.

Leaving Glacier we headed for Great Falls, Montana where I got to admire the works of Charlie Russell, one of my all time favorite artists. Half a day was spent perusing his home, log cabin studio and the museum where much of his art is on display. Then we continued on south to Helena where enjoyed a tour of that historic city and more of Charlie's art in the Historical Society's Museum.

Much of the road traveled between Great Falls and Helena offered us more spectacular scenery as, for many miles, we followed along the path of the Missouri River. The motorhome, the small "dot" you see in the center of the center photo, is at one of the roadside stops we took advantage of for a look around. After our visit to Helena it was back on the open road as we headed for...