Being in a National Park on 4th of July has always been a bucket list item for me. I’m not sure why, maybe because I think the National Park System is a really cool thing about our country. I’m so amazed that someone long ago had the forethought to preserve these amazing natural areas… and further amazed that we haven’t managed to screw this up since then 🤪

First: Happy 4th of July🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

We woke up really early to head to West Glacier for an all-day rafting trip. The first half was an easy float down Flat Rock River, and then white water rafting the second half.

We suited up and hopped on the bus headed to where we would drop into the River. The guides were so fun and made the ride pretty entertaining. They reminded me of the Turtles from Finding Nemo… “I was like Whoa, and he was like Whoa, and then it was like Whoa.” 🤣🤣🤣 Nothing seemed to get them too worried.

The views were just breathtaking

And the water was so clear and blue. It looked like something you expect to see in Hawaii. Our guide, Brennan, said it gets this blue color because it was snow on the mountain about a week ago.

Around lunchtime, we pulled onto the riverbank. I knew we had lunch included and just assumed sandwiches etc. Oh no! The guides asked us to gather sticks for cooking, and while we did, they pulled out grills and and tables! In a few minutes, they had chips, salsa and guacamole with fresh fruit ready with steaks and chicken on the grill!

As we ate, look what we saw in the tree… a Bald Eagle! Seriously, could we get any more 4th of July 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Did I mention the water temperature? It was a chilly 50-55° but guess who wanted to see just how cold that really was…

We got back in our boats and off we went to find some rapids!

It was so fun to do this together! Our synchronized paddling may need a little work but we did pretty well.

No one accidentally went in the water, although 2 crazy children did jump in when given the opportunity 🤪

They were frozen! Just look at Michael’s face 🤣🥶

We finished rafting and killed some time doing a little shopping in West Glacier Village. Due to Covid, the Park Service has a timed entry system to get into park. We never could get a pass for our car during peak hours so we piddled around until 5 (when passes are no longer required) and then took off into Glacier National Park.

I had heard about how beautiful Glacier was before coming on this trip. However, my favorite National Park has been Zion in Utah, and I didn’t think Glacier was going to compare… oh my! Was I wrong?!

We spent about 2 hours hiking around. We hiked the Trail of the Cedars – a easy planked trail that was amazing!

We decided that Trail of the Cedara looks a lot like Endor, the plant where the Ewoks lived in Star Wars… and then it was on the television when we got back to the hotel.

Then we stopped by a few overlooks and rivers. These mountains and views are breathtaking. They definitely put things into perspective. Leo said “Mom, I don’t know how people see this and then say there isn’t a God. Like something this beautiful just happened.” ♥️

We stopped by Moose’s Saloon planning to stay for dinner but they were slammed for the 4th of July so we ordered to go, and with our 60 minute wait, we headed to the grocery store to stock up on the week’s groceries. Groceries loaded, we returned to Moose’s (literally it’s a saloon)

(For full disclosure, Moose’s had great rating for pizza, but the inside was a little sketchy – you know my mama spidey sense – so pizza to go was the choice for us. Anyway, we collected our pizza and headed back to the hotel. So Moose’s may have been the sketchy but dang! They can make some pizza! It was delicious!!!

And just to wear off any remaining energy, we headed back to the pool.

Just to finish off a perfect 4th – we watched fireworks from our room 🇺🇸♥️🇺🇸 Only in America 🇺🇸♥️🇺🇸