First, as I mentioned, we’d been given the terrific map which detailed all 88 “day hikes” in Glacier – all 734 miles of trails.
We hiked on about eleven of them, which isn’t bad for our first trip. However, ten of the 88 day hikes are 15+ miles long. we will never hike that far in a day. Also, in reading about some of them it appears that some of these long distances are one way, so after a very very long hike you’d have to find a shuttle to get you back to where you started. Another 26 of them are 10-15 miles; one of these is the Grinnell Glacier hike which was the first one we did, but we cut a couple of miles off it by taking a boat.
But i think these 10-15 mile hikes are certainly doable if/when we go back to Glacier because we did manage to hike 11 miles when we went to Wales. But since that was four years ago, we’d better think about trying them sooner rather than later. but then again there are other wonderful places in the world to explore…
anyway, we woke up bright and early on sunday morning and this is how stunning the view from our balcony was. it’s be great to spend more than one night in this lodge but it’s not worth the huge cost. but awesome to spend one night!
Kevin dropped me off at the train station after driving out of the parking lot and across the road. i had plenty of time to look around…here’s the view of the lodge from the station.
when kevin walked back from the car rental place i started wandering around the cute station. there were a few displays and i started taking pictures of them.
i wish there had been a reproduction of this funny old map for sale.
I know you can’t read the writing on the bottom of the map – it reads “Glacier Park Station (lower left) is a busy place in this recreational map of Glacier National Park done by Joe Scheuerle of Chicago. The piece is undated but is thought to have been done in the late 1920’s.
I hope you can read this next one, about flowers on the Great Northern trains – if not, the most interesting bit of info IMO is that in 1927 “each lady traveling on the Pullman cars on our lines was presented with a corsage bouquet of sweet peas and ferns.” It also talks about the huge amount of flowers grown which supplied the dining tables on the trains.
The blurb below reads “The 36 seat diner, with fine linens and tableware, matched with first class food and service. To complete the atmosphere, GN provided daily fresh flowers as wall vases shipped, usually by the Fast Mail Train, from GN greenhouses at Monroe, Washington. In this 1940’s photo, the greenhouse provided a mixture of Gladiolus and Salal.
No more fresh flowers on the trains! no fancy china and silverware either, and certainly no cloth tablecloths. But i wonder if the sleeping compartments were bigger than they are now? Surely they must have been, because i can’t imagine somebody back then being able to squeeze all their finery including hats and suits, into the tiny space where we slept.
This is a photo of the Glacier Hotel Lobby long ago. The blurb reads “”Two views of the fountain in Many Glacier Hotel Lobby, probably from the late 1930’s. Hanging baskets with ferns (Asparagus Springeraii) surround the lobby, the fountain is covered with Asparagus Plumosa. These were all provided by the Monroe Greenhouse. The lower level fountain has native ferns that were dug on a yearly basis from around Skykomish, Washington.”
this reads “A 1960’s post card view of Glacier Park Hotel. The flower beds were very well cared for during the time Great Northern operated the hotels. Walter Richards was gardener at Glacier Park Hotel for many years. Mr. Richards was a full time employee at the Monroe greenhouse during the winter, he was then given a ‘leave of abscence’ to supervise the garden crew at the hotel during the ‘Park Season.'”
one final photo…this is Arie (Andy) De Rooy, who came from Holland and started working for the railroad in 1926. He became the Supervisor of Parks in 1934 and did this until his death of a heart attack in 1951. I know you can’t read this poem, but it is so lovely that i have to copy it out for you here. It’s called “My Hobby,” and was published in 1949:
My Hobby
I have a little hobby,and am jotting/ down this line/ To tell you how I love it, it takes up/ all my time.
I’ve done it for a lifetime and don/e it all day long. And always will enjoy it, I think it/ keeps me young.
Who cares for gold and silver? These things are dead and cold/ But looking at our flowers, what/ beauty we behold.
Just see the little snowdrop, the/ flower girl of Spring/ Her basket full of Pansies, like but-/terflies awing.
Heralding spring is coming e’en that/…is here/ Soon Dasies, Daffs and Violets are/ showing everywhere.
We see the Bride of Springtime bedeck herself with bloom/To await the joyous coming, oh/beloved Summer Groom.
It can’t begin to tell you what all this/means to me/Just see how I am perspiring and/busy as a bee.
I do not count the hours, the time I/work and plan/My Summer, Fall and Winter, and/Spring merge all in one.
I love to dig or muddle, to/weed or plant or sow/ I love to see them coming in yellow,/red or blue.
In white or pink or crimson, and I/am telling you/That everything is beauty and peace/and harmony.
No disagreeing colors reveal them-/selves to me/If i could only tell you, how glorious/it feels
To really be a gardener, with dirt on/head and heels/ With dirt in all our pockets and/rough and calloused hands
Your mind is full of shapes and colors,/ of flowers, seeds and plants.
I ask God every morning to bless the work I do/That i may able do it, and see the/beauty too.
I thank Him every evening for what/the day has been/The joy that He has given, the/glory I have seen.
And when my back is straightened, / my tools been put away/My work continues onward, no/matter where I stray.
Thus when the day is ended, and I/enjoy a rest/I think “of all the hobbies: My/hobby is the best.”
such a darling poem!
but wait, the train is coming! all aboard!
Here’s a quick video of the spectacular morning view from our balcony, and then the train pulling in.
one more posting to go!
ok then,
mrs. early november hughes.