Sleeping Jellyfish

Ok, so I have realized that the last few posts were a it bloated, and after writing so much, I took a little break from keeping up like I said I would. So, I will wrap things up quick so you we can get on to Japan, which is what you all actually care about (maybe).

Saturday was fantastic. We woke up and packed up the car. Since we were kind of camping illegally, we got gated in by the bridge but thanks to my strong liberal arts education and the engineering know-how I got from my Dad we were able to pop the gate off its hinge a bit to get the chain off the post. Nothing was broken, everything was returned to its place, and we were off into the park. We were told that if we got into the park before 8 there wouldnt be anyone at the gate cause it was too early and we could skip paying the fee, and we arrived about 10 to, but alas, they were already checking tickets. So we went back to West Glacier and had the best breakfast I have had at a restaurant in a long time. It was a artichoke and veggie and cheese wrap and absolutely beautiful. Bottomless coffee and we were all able to brush our teeth in a bathroom for the first time in half a week. It was excellent.

After food we came to reason and broke down and paid the $25 fee to enter the park. None of us regretted it. It was absolutely amazing. Coming from the Midwest, the mountains are a rare commodity that we all appreciated more than a local might, though the locals seem to live there for a reason. I think these absolutely darling mountain goats might have something to do with it. We took a shuttle ride up to The Pass, and though it is the touristy thing to do and everybody does it, our tour boat friend said that it is the best glimpse of what Glacier is exactly about. It was absolutely gorgeous, and we ran into a bunch of these buggers while we walked up to Hidden Lake. We played in the snow (Heather has that picture) and all in all had a euphoric time. At about 4 that day we headed back and saddled up for a long drive back.

We drove through a forest fire in western Montana, but dont get too excited. We weren’t in any immediate danger, and there weren’t really any visible flames, it was more like the charred trees on the side of the mountains that we were driving through were smoking. It took about 30 minutes to get through that area. When we got to Idaho we were all pretty beat and Heather suggested we take a break. So we made the decision to pull over at a truck stop just outside of Spokane, WA and take a bit of a snoozer. We slept from about 1am until 4am and then I took the wheel and brought us into Seattle. A good 5 hour burn, we got in about 9 am, and had the sun rising at our backs starting at about 5. It was beautiful. Very glad Heather suggested stopping so that when we got into WA we would actually be able to see it instead of barrel through it blindly in the middle of the morning. Gorgeous.

When we got into Seattle we drove around aimlessly for a bit looking for wireless and settled on (I know….) a Starbucks. We did make the effort and checked a local shop but they didnt have the net and actually suggested Starbucks so we took them up on their offer. We made our own respective contacts and I finally got a hold of AJ (<3) after a few phone calls. My phone crapped out the last day we were in Glacier and even when plugged in just would not turn on so I had to use the internet and few numbers I had written down of Seattlites to track down my darling. Her and an escort of church going ladies came and picked me up and met my traveling companions, Mike and Heather. AJ, Libby, and Christy came and it was great to see them all, particularly of course AJ (duh). They all thought Mike was a character as well and I think so what a great person Heather was too, just in the short amount of time we met. Hugs were given and goodbyes were exchanged and I left Heather and Mike for now, but hopefully not forever.

We hung out Sunday evening with some of the Seattle ladies and then met up with Ian for dinner and went to this awesome Mexican place with the BEST burritos (the size of small children)! On Monday we met a group of the Church Planters and ran some errands that me and AJ needed to get down before we left and then, albeit late, made a phenomenal dinner for all of our friends, with of course, a little help from our friends (Beatles ref). Frank, the peach that he is, gave me a ride at the crack of dawn on Tuesday to the train station. A sad but happy goodbye with AJ took place, and then we were on the way to the station, and I made it just in time. It was an old building but still kept up pretty well. The train was not all that heavily populated and my neighbor was in the Lounge car most the time so I slept most of the way in between bouts of sightseeing. We finally talked for the slow leg into Vancouver and Mr. Constantine is one fine German. He had been traveling in the Northwest for the last couple weeks and was then going on to Canada. We dished about international politics, university life, and the difference between Europe and the US. We I think became the best that acquaintances can and were happy for each other’s journeys.

Then there was Vancouver.