Interestingly, my hubby and I have already checked the Amtrak schedule from Cincinnati to East Glacier and on to Seattle. Next trip planning is in the works! We figured seeing Glacier in June or July would be like seeing a whole different place. There were others on our bus tour who were traveling by train, too, and seemed to enjoy that.
The other sign next to it was this one:
Bellman (or Bell-evators) with a sense of humor!
Then we met our driver, Larry Perry (a Red Bus icon), and loaded into the bus. Here's Larry providing a welcome and some info about the day's tour.
Everyone was there early and so we started off a little before 9:30. First he drove over to the Amtrak Station and we were able to take this great shot of the East Glacier Lodge and gardens. Larry had the roof rolled back, so I could stand up and take the photo without a window.
Later in the day, we spoke with one of the gardeners. She said the garden crew weeded 40 hours per week. She was on her knees weeding at the time. They kept the gardens up beautifully. At the end of the season, the soil from the window boxes and baskets at the lodge would be dumped into the garden to reuse the soil.
Larry drove us past the road to the lake and up to where we could view Two Medicine Valley. Here's another passenger taking a photo from the rooftop. (I was the only one who did this while the bus was moving.) This particular bus was the first to be refurbished by Ford Motor Company. When the cost was deemed to be too prohibitive to do the entire fleet, the buses were retired. This bus was sent to Washington, D.C., to the Smithsonian Institution for a few years before Ford discovered a more economical way to restore the buses. Still, it cost Ford and some other companies about $7 million to restore the fleet.
Here's Larry and some of our fellow passengers. I believe that's the lower lake below.
There are three lakes in the Two Medicine area. Part of our tour ticket cost included a boat ride on one of the lakes. Here are a few photos taken from the bow of the boat, where I and a couple other photographers stood for uninhibited photos. From the boat, we caught a glimpse of a black bear on one shore and the tiny white speck of a mountain goat on another. Neither was close enough to photograph.
On a nature walk to Running Eagle Falls, Larry told us that the Mountain Ash berry led to the color chosen for the Red Bus touring vehicles. In early September, they were still orange, but later turned more red. The person who was ordering the park buses filled a mason-type jar with the red berries and sent them to the White Motor Company in Cleveland, where the buses were being made. He told them that the buses should be painted that color--and they have been ever since.
Here was the Running Eagle Falls. I didn't have my tripod with me, so I propped the camera onto a railing. I'm pleased with how it came out taken with a slower shutter speed.
Larry pointed out the three types of rocks found in this area of Glacier. The red ones were highest on the mountains and exposed to the most oxygen for more than a billion years. The greenish ones were in the next layer, getting their color from being undersea over that time. And the white ones were limestone, which were the lowest level.
This photo of Rising Wolf Mountain, taken earlier while on the lake, clearly shows the red and greenish layers. The white limestone layer is nearer the base.
Larry pointed out this tree where a black bear had scratched the trunk to bring out the sap, which would attract flies and insects. A couple days later, the bear would return to eat the sticky treats.
And this was the mark of a grizzly bear with it's larger claw (the wider one on the right) doing the same thing.
Little did we know that we would encounter a grizzly (or a "grizz" as Larry called them) on our hike at Many Glacier's Swiftcurrent Lake that evening!
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