Adventure, Day 2
This was a fabulous trip, but my one complaint was on the two days like this one. The hotel started serving breakfast at 6:30. We had to be on the bus at 7:15. For some people, this is not a hardship. For me, 15 more minutes would have made all the world of difference.
Anyway, this trip has several long days. The guides know this and plan accordingly, but I’m just giving you a heads up. I think it’s one of the reasons why so many meals are included on this Adventure. There are long days and many parts of them are spent in remote locations.
First up today was the white water rafting OR the float trip. We opted for the float trip. Rubber boots and waterproof jackets are available to everyone on both trips. From what I heard, the rapids were WAY more exciting earlier in the season. BUT one person went headfirst off the rapids raft on this Adventure. On the float trip, we just did a little paddling and saw a law of birds and fishing people. The guide on our raft was fabulous. It was his first season doing this trip, but he clearly was good at his job.
After that we had a catered lunch. Then it was onto the Red Bus tour at Glacier National Park. The Red Bus tours are also historic in nature. They allow water on their busses but don't like any other food or drink. Our guide, Mike, was a wonderful guy who is also married to the mayor of St. Louis. Go figure.
The Red Bus tours go up the Going to the Sun road, stopping briefly at Logan’s Pass. You can run to the restroom or the gift shop, but that’s about all you have time to do on that stop. (If you have the National Parks Passport book for stamps, you can get it stamped at Logan’s Pass. They also have the stickers for sale there for the book.)
On our way down to the other side of the road, we had one stop where we took a brief walk. Then we boarded our busses again and saw our first bear! The guides said it was the first time they had seen a bear on that road, so it was special for everyone. (Please note - I have no bear photos, but I'm hoping for some when the group photos are available from our guides.)
In the evening, you have a voucher for dinner in the hotel restaurant which includes an appetizer, soup or salad, entree and dessert. Normally you could purchase alcoholic beverages there and pay for them, but the Blackfeet nation was having a special event that started that day which meant that the hotel could not sell alcoholic beverages. Our guides arranged for us to make a stop before we returned to the hotel where beer/wine could be purchased on your own if you wanted something for that evening.
Next up - Day 3