Rainy-Day Reunion

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1972. We're spending the dreary day at the hotel.

Mom has brought her knitting bag; other tourists feed the ground squirrels.

Visual Tricks

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1972. Mom and Dad stand on the balcony of the Many Glacier Hotel. Every time I look at this photo, I think the background looks artificial.

A Familiar Spot

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1972. We often stopped at this rock for a photograph.

Expansive

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1972. Here's another view of the Many Glacier Hotel.

The blog celebrates its fourth birthday today.

I've kept my promise to post photos daily. In the last year it was sometimes dicey to make that goal. In January and February, for example, I underwent four weeks of daily radiation that left me battered: radiation was more rattling than any of the chemotherapy treatments I'd had.* Things are better now, thanks to the great providers who oversee my care and a new drug the FDA approved late last year.

When I started blogging, I posted aggressively because I sought to ensure that the "core" family photos would be preserved on this site before I evaporated. As a result, most of the really interesting images have been posted. My supply of snapshots is finite. Although I will continue to blog daily, I likely will decrease the number of posts I publish each day.

Glacier National Park, July 1972. I've walked over to the Many Glacier Hotel, where I enjoy a cola in the lower-level café.

*It was during the drive home from one of those radiation treatments that I hit the deer!

Do you have something for me?

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. This fellow knows tourists bring treats.

Swiftcurrent Lake

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1987. I saw the boats many times, but I never took the tour.

Watch the curves.

Near Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1987. I return to Glacier during a visit with my Montana friends.

There were other times when we thought about Christmas.

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1968. The staff at the Many Glacier Hotel decorate a tree in celebration of "Christmas in July."

Foggy Reunion

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1972. The weather is bad for hiking, so we head to the Many Glacier Hotel.

Summer Landscape

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. This is the view one sees when driving from Many Glacier Hotel to Swiftcurrent Motor Inn.

The Smallest Guests at the Hotel

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. Columbian Ground Squirrels inhabit the rock ledge at the entry to the Many Glacier Hotel.

Salamander-Glacier Reunion

Glacier National Park, July 1973. We approach the Many Glacier area during (what would be) our last family vacation in the park.

Location

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1972. We approach the Many Glacier Hotel. Although we never stayed there, we knew we were approaching our destination once the hotel was in sight.

The background is more interesting than the subjects.

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1973. Mom and I pause during a short hike. I can tell it's a short hike because Mom is carrying a pocketbook instead of a knapsack. I am wearing that favorite, aran sweater.

Day Hike

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1973. Mom and I make our way on the Grinnell Glacier Trail, along the edge of Lake Josephine.

Summer Shower

Near Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1968. A rainbow stretches over Salamander Glacier.

Reflection Reunion

Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. Mount Gould reflects onto Lake Josephine.

Musical Mountains

During the summer months, the Many Glacier Hotel in Glacier National Park, Montana, staffs its facility with college students. The students serve as maids, waiters, and groundskeepers throughout the property. Many of the students also bring their musical and acting talents to the hotel.

When we visited the Many Glacier area in the 1960s and 1970s, the student staff often staged musical productions and concerts in the hotel. We saw "The Sound of Music" and "Funny Girl" in the makeshift theatre on the hotel's lower floor. On Sunday afternoons, groups of students also performed classical music in the lobby of the hotel.

It was such a tranquil place.

Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. This is the view of the hotel's entrance from the parking lot. The parking lot is adjacent to the area from which one could launch a horseback ride.

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Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. The red Glacier National Park tour buses have pulled up to the lobby entrance. We used to say that this is how the rich people arrived at the hotel.

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Many Glacier Hotel, Glacier National Park, Montana, July 1966. Student musicians entertain guests in the hotel lobby. A glass wall separates the musicians from the gift shop.

What to do when it rains.

When we traveled to the Rocky Mountains, our family hiked almost every day. Our hiking plans pivoted on the weather forecast. Sometimes, a hike started out with lovely weather, but we'd get caught in rain or snow once we were in higher elevations. On other occasions, the weather started out badly, and we would find alternative ways to amuse ourselves.

During our Rocky Mountain National Park vacation, we did not stay at a place with a swank lodge nearby. So when the weather was bad, we took refuge in our simple cabin instead of in a lush lobby.


Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, July 1967. This is the central lodge of the ranch at which we stayed. This was a cozy, family-run place with a small common area for the guests.

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Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, July 1967. Here's Mom, sitting next to the gold Buick LeSabre, outside of our cabin.

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Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, July 1967. Mom and I are inside the cabin. It looks like we are writing letters. Ha ha. My Mom hates letter writing. I don't remember the name of the Teddy Bear on the window seat. But he is wearing Madras shorts.

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Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, July 1967. We're in the cabin again. I must be bored because I am blowing up the Elsie-the-Cow balloon that I got at the Green Lake Fourth of July Parade.

The Teddy Bear with the Madras shorts has lost his place of honor to a new member of the family, "Fuzzina." Fuzzina was the birthday gift my Parents bought for me in Colorado that summer. She is a Koala bear, and she was my favorite stuffed animal. Fuzzina had little rubber claws that periodically became detached. My paternal Grandmother used a furrier's needle to sew the claws back onto the paws. (Fuzzina still lives with me.)