We drove a total of 5,290.3 miles, bought 165 gallons of gas at an average price of $3.03 per gallon, and had an average fuel economy of 32.5 mpg. We crossed and/or visited 15 states and spent an average of 7 hours a day driving. This makes for a very long trip. I took around 900 photos between my DSLR and cell phone but got it down to 365 final photos which include a few panorama and HDR photos. You can see the pictures from the trip here “Road Trip to Glacier NP”
I would say heading out is better than heading back, because you are excited to get to the destination and things are new and exciting. However on the way back, you just want to get home. I don’t think it helped that on the way back we stopped at places I have visited before in better conditions, so they weren’t exciting to me. I have also discovered I’m really not a road tripper, I hate being in a car for hours on end, I like leaving early to get to destinations, and I’m not much into caravanning. I will admit, the road trip did let me see some states I would not have visited otherwise and really understand the vastness of the “fly-over” states, but I probably won’t do it again anytime soon.
I liked Glacier NP, but if I did the park again I would split the trip and stay a few days on each side. The west side of the park seems to have more food options outside the park and a few additional hotels. Additionally, its main draw is Lake McDonald thus I feel like you only need a couple days there. Also if anyone says go and visit Polebridge, don’t go. I didn’t feel like it was worth the drive on a rough severely potholed road for some bakery. The east side of the park is where they hide all the glaciers and mountains. I think I would have liked to spend at least three days on that side since it has three separate areas on the east side, and in my opinion is more picturesque. The downside is that they don’t really seem to have any real food options and very few hotel options. Now the park may be even better when “going to the sun” road is open, but they were still plowing when we were there. As for trails, the popular trails such as Avalanche are slightly crowded, mostly you end up passing packs of people, and it is hard to find a parking spot, so go very early. I also recommend getting some hiking poles if you have bad knees or aren't part mountain goat. Finally, if you want to see mountain goats stop at “Goat Lick” wildlife viewing area, they hang out there.
The only hotel we paid for was the Belton Chalet, the rest of the hotels we stayed at along the route I paid for with points. I figured I had more than enough points, and it made sense since all the hotels we stayed at along the route to and from Glacier we only stayed at one night. I do not recommend Belton Chalet, yes the pictures of it look quaint, but it was not a very relaxing stay. They don’t have full king beds, and putting two adults in basically a full is not comfy. The overall bathroom and shower was tiny even for me, and note the sink was outside the bathroom in the main room. There wasn’t a lot of room to place your luggage, thankfully they had some hooks and some shelves we could hang the bookbags on and put some stuff on. Also if you want the internet, it is not a great connection. I was doing better off my cell phone then the hotel’s WIFI. Finally, while they have a restaurant on site they don’t offer breakfast in the morning, just a small tray of danishes and coffee. Overall, the reality did not meet the expectations based on their website. Now a nice hotel were I would stay again, would be Hotel Blackhawk in Davenport, IA. It is one of Marriott's top tier hotels, and very posh. Their bathroom was large, and had a small flat screen tv built into the mirror in the bathroom. The room itself was also very nice. The other hotels were just standard Residence Inns.
As for the food along the trip. It was standard food, nothing really exciting. We did have cheese curds in Wisconsin. Then Montana, at least around Glacier NP, they are all about the huckleberries. I do recommend stopping in at Glacier Distilling Company and doing a tasting. They have several fine spirits; we came home with a couple.
In conclusion, it was an ok trip. Maybe not one of my favorites due to all the driving. There were some good points. I think I would do Glacier NP again, but fly there. However, according to my park passport book, I really need to venture to parks outside of the Rocky Mountain Region, maybe branch out to the South West Region or the North Atlantic Region.
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