Glacier National Park

At the end of July our family took a trip to Glacier National Park. Sean and I had been wanting to go for a long time, simply for the fact that we had heard from so many people how awesome it is. We had talked about going last year, but never got it planned, and almost didn't get it planned this year either. I am so glad we finally just sat down one night and got our hotel booked, because it turned out to be such an amazing trip!

It was a pretty lengthy drive so we split it up into two days. We drove to Island Park and stayed at my parents' cabin the first night. We stopped at our favorite breakfast spot, Campfire Lodge, and the visitor's center at Earthquake Lake before continuing on to Whitefish (where we were staying). The boys all got National Parks passport books and had fun stamping them at different spots throughout the trip. 

During our drive the second day, we passed dozens of cherry orchards in Bigfork, Montana and on a whim, decided to stop at one. The farmer let us pick our own and it was so much fun and a welcome break from being in the car. I loved having Flathead Lake behind us as our backdrop. It is so pretty! And huge! The cherries were so good and we picked enough that were able to snack on them the rest of our trip.

 Downtown Bigfork, where we stopped for a yummy dinner at a brewery on the lake.

We made it!

On our first day in the park we made a quick stop at the visitor's center and then headed to the Trail of Cedars. So beautiful and green!

This waterfall appears sort of out of nowhere after you come around a bend. It was incredibly beautiful and I could have sat and just stared at it all day. The water is such an amazing color and SO clear. We learned this is the norm for pretty much everywhere in Glacier. 

The hike to Avalanche Lake connects to the Trail of Cedars, and we decided to go for it. I feel like it is always a gamble hiking with the kids. Luckily our kids usually really enjoy hiking and are pretty good about going a decent distance. I usually just plan on carrying Davis at some point if the hike is longer than a couple miles. Throughout the entire trip, our boys did a great job hiking. We definitely did have to carry Davis at times (even Bode a couple times), but overall, they did so great and we were proud of them.

When Avalanche Lake came into view, we were all pretty blown away. The kids suddenly had energy again and we couldn't believe how beautiful it was. The multiple crazy long waterfalls down the mountain, turquoise water, trees, etc. It was all gorgeous! Jackson and Bode played in the water to cool down before our hike back.