WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:45.000 Welcome to two Travel Dads podcast. Here we share our favorite destinations, travel tips, stories from our adventures, and bring on awesome guests to share insights into their travelsome lives. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check out our detailed show notes at Dash episode. Hey, welcome back to another episode of two Travel Dads podcast. I'm Rob, and today I have a super duper special guest, my little bestie, Elliot. Say hello. 2 00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:47.000 Hello. 3 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:50.000 And what are we going to talk about today, bud? 4 00:00:50.000 --> 00:01:05.000 So we're going to talk about a place where we stayed, Montana. And we are going to talk about Missoula and different places and where we stayed. 5 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:11.000 And then I think we're going to finish by talking about the most magical wildlife experience any of us has ever had. 6 00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:12.000 Yep. 7 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:13.000 Sound good? 8 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:14.000 Okay. 9 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:29.000 So, yeah. So Elliot and I took an adventure, just the two of us, to Montana in October. So we got to be there for fall colors. Was it prettier in Montana than Florida for fall? 10 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:32.000 I would say yes. 11 00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:34.000 Do you like the fall leaves more than you like the beach? 12 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:42.000 No, I just feel like it had more follish. 13 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:43.000 Yep. 14 00:01:42.000 --> 00:01:45.000 Than Florida. And. 15 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:57.000 Yeah, I agree. I agree. Super fun. But we started in Missoula, and we stayed at a really cool little hotel. Remember the hotel with your favorite piece of. 16 00:01:57.000 --> 00:01:58.000 Yes, yes. 17 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:02.000 What was the piece of art that we walked by every day? 18 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:19.000 So every day at a hotel called the Ren in where we went up, it showed a piece of art that was a baby bear climbing. What? 19 00:02:19.000 --> 00:02:25.000 He was like, climbing like a fire lookout tower or something like that. Yeah, it was like a baby smokey the bear. Super cute. 20 00:02:25.000 --> 00:02:26.000 But with no hat. 21 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:48.000 But with no hat. Exactly. No. And the ren was perfect for us. It's a cool. Was, like, outdoorsy, industrial, fun sort of place with state park and national park stuff and smokey the bear and all that stuff. Perfect for a little family trip to Missoula. But, gosh, we did all kinds of stuff. We went to the Montana Museum of. 22 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:56.000 Natural History, and it had, like, different animals that were alive, but now they're dead. 23 00:02:56.000 --> 00:02:59.000 Do you remember what that's called when they preserve an animal like that? 24 00:02:59.000 --> 00:03:00.000 No. 25 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:07.000 It's called taxidermy. Yeah, it was actually kind of an amazing taxidermy collection, if you ask me. 26 00:03:07.000 --> 00:03:13.000 And there were, like, baby bison, bears. 27 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:22.000 Cougars, mountain goats, all that stuff, which we ended up seeing some of those things later. And there was cool microscope stuff, too. 28 00:03:22.000 --> 00:03:23.000 Yeah. 29 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:32.000 Always a hit, but, yeah. No, Missoula was super duper fun for us. Lots of cool things. The Missoula library was definitely great. 30 00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:33.000 Yeah. 31 00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:36.000 It felt more like a children's museum than a library. Right. 32 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Yeah. 33 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:49.000 There's all kinds of interactive stuff that you could do. And, yeah, Missoula was lots of fun, lots of art. Farmers market. Ooh. I know what I think one of your favorite things was. Do you have a guess? 34 00:03:49.000 --> 00:04:01.000 My favorite thing in Missoula was a playground that had one ride, and it was. I forgot what it was called. 35 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:02.000 The carousel. 36 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.000 Yeah. 37 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:14.000 So the carousel at Keras park in Missoula. It's beautiful. And each horse is very different. Each one kind of has, like, a different theme. 38 00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:15.000 Yeah. 39 00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:41.000 A different story. Yep. And they're all carved by local carvers, and they all kind of reflect something else. Montana ish. And besides that, it's beautiful. It's the fastest carousel I've ever seen. Like, it's pretty fast. Pretty fast. It was crazy. Very. I'm glad I didn't ride it with you. I'm so glad you were fine riding it by yourself because watching you kind of made me a little nauseous. 40 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:42.000 Really? 41 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:42.000 Yeah. 42 00:04:42.000 --> 00:04:49.000 Because spinny things make me not feel so. But that's okay, because that's what you're a champ at. What else did we do in Missoula? 43 00:04:49.000 --> 00:05:02.000 We did some hiking, and we went to a place called Hidden Lake. And it's right by going to the road. 44 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:05.000 Ah, so you're jumping up to glacier national park. That's okay. 45 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:06.000 Yeah. 46 00:05:06.000 --> 00:05:11.000 We could talk about that, and we'll come back and talk about some of the other stuff we did. That's totally fine. 47 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:12.000 Yeah. 48 00:05:11.000 --> 00:05:19.000 So tell us about hidden Lake, because we were just going to do the short version of the hike, and then you got inspired. 49 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:35.000 And we hiked all the way down to hidden Lake, and I spotted the most biggest Bighorn sheep that dad has ever seen. 50 00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:40.000 He was amazing. Oh, there's a picture of him just as a little refresher for us on this side. 51 00:05:40.000 --> 00:05:42.000 It was, like, bigger than dad. 52 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:51.000 He was the tallest bighorn sheep and the most muscular bighorn sheep I've ever seen. And do you remember what that's called when their horns do that thing? 53 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:52.000 A curl. 54 00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:59.000 A curl. He had a full curl, like, starting to do another one. Such a cool animal. 55 00:05:59.000 --> 00:06:03.000 And I had to hide right behind dad. 56 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:04.000 Yeah. 57 00:06:03.000 --> 00:06:28.000 You're really good at staying safe when there's lots of wildlife. And we definitely had our share of wildlife experiences when we got up to glacier. But, yeah, I think one of my favorite things about doing this hike with you was that we were just going to do the little overlook, and you're like, let's go down to the lake. And you just marched yourself right on ahead. And it was so cool to see you do stuff like that. 58 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:35.000 Dad, I only wanted to do it because it's where you saw that baby mountain goat. 59 00:06:35.000 --> 00:06:36.000 I know. 60 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:38.000 And then right above you. 61 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:48.000 But. So it's funny, because for all the times I've done that hike, when me and Elliot did it, that's the first time I haven't seen a mountain goat on that trail. But, hey, we saw one later, right? 62 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:50.000 Yeah. 63 00:06:50.000 --> 00:06:51.000 More than one. 64 00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.000 Yeah, we saw two later. It's true. 65 00:06:53.000 --> 00:06:57.000 No mountain goats. We saw more than two. 66 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:06.000 No, we saw lots of bighorn sheep. But remember, we saw the mountain goats at night. They were in the parking lot, walking around, licking the pavement. 67 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:08.000 That was more than two. 68 00:07:08.000 --> 00:07:09.000 Oh, okay. 69 00:07:09.000 --> 00:07:11.000 It was like, I don't know, four. 70 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:43.000 Well, there you go. So you have better eyes than I do, but no, that was a super duper fun hike, and I'm so glad we got to do that. But before we did that hike, and it might not have been feel as special to you as it did to me, but we got up really, really early. We had stayed in big fork the night before, and we drove into the park before sunrise, and we got to watch the sun come up two times. Two times. It was the craziest thing, because we made it up to Logan pass in the middle of Glacier National park, and we were at the. What would that be? I guess it was like the south end of the parking lot. 71 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:44.000 Yeah. 72 00:07:44.000 --> 00:07:51.000 And we saw the sun come up behind one mountain, and then we ran to the other end of the parking lot, and we watched the sun come up behind another mountain. 73 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:52.000 Yeah. 74 00:07:51.000 --> 00:07:58.000 It was pretty crafty. It was magical. Yeah. What else did you love about Glacier National park? Oh, you want to talk about that? 75 00:07:58.000 --> 00:07:59.000 Yeah. 76 00:07:59.000 --> 00:08:03.000 Okay, I'll let you tell the story. So I'll set the scene. How about that? 77 00:08:03.000 --> 00:08:04.000 Okay. 78 00:08:04.000 --> 00:08:16.000 So, on day two in glacier, we went to an area of the park called two medicine, which is not the easiest to get to if you're based over in west Glacier. But it's a little drive, like an hour's drive. 79 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:17.000 Yeah. 80 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:26.000 So we got there nice and early to start our day. We saw the lake, and it was beautiful. And then we were just going for a short little hike, and then Elliot will tell the story. 81 00:08:26.000 --> 00:08:37.000 So once we set off on the hike, we got surrounded by. Was it two bull moose? 82 00:08:37.000 --> 00:08:46.000 Initially, we saw two bull moose, and so we made it past them safely and thought we were in the clear. Were we in the clear? 83 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:51.000 No, we got surrounded by one family. 84 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:54.000 Of moose, so there were four more. 85 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:15.000 And there was a mama and a baby, and we had to huddle up with two more families. And my dad and another person had out their bear spray if they were going to charge. 86 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:16.000 Yeah. 87 00:09:15.000 --> 00:09:38.000 Which I imagine it would have been effective if they came at us. But luckily we didn't have to because the other safety thing that we did was all of us got off the trail and kind of moved into the woods a little bit to put some trees between us and the six moose because, yeah, we came past the two bowl, and then there was the family with the mama and the baby, and then two juvenile moose. 88 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:39.000 Right. 89 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:48.000 And then those other two bowl moose came out of the woods. So then we've got six of us, so that's why we had to hide in the woods. And then, gosh, how did we get out of there? 90 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:58.000 The moose just walked on the other way we were going. So we just speed walked. 91 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:04.000 Yeah, we got. We got out of there once it was clear, but it was kind of crazy because. Do you remember the sounds they were making? 92 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:05.000 Yeah. 93 00:10:04.000 --> 00:10:06.000 Can you make a sound? 94 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:07.000 No. 95 00:10:06.000 --> 00:10:26.000 I'll try. It was like. That's my impression. But it was funny because before we saw the big group of them, we could hear them deep in the woods, and we thought they were far away because they were doing this honking thing at each other. But turns out, no, they were just around the corner. So we did that, and we did the rest of our hike. We saw a pretty waterfall. Astrofall is where we were at. 96 00:10:26.000 --> 00:10:34.000 And we met another person that was also a travel writer. 97 00:10:34.000 --> 00:10:36.000 Oh, that's true. Because you're so good at introductions. 98 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:41.000 And she also got to the same place as we were going. 99 00:10:41.000 --> 00:11:07.000 It's true. It's true. Yeah. We met somebody else who was also in Glacier National park writing about it, and they got to have the same sort of experience as us, but. So then we walked with them up to the waterfall. Right. And then on the way back, we're like, no. Do you think that the moose will be gone? And we were kind of hoping, and they weren't. They were off the trail, though, so that was okay. So we made it past them safely, and then do you remember what we saw after we passed the six moose again? 100 00:11:07.000 --> 00:11:12.000 So there was like a pond, or was it. 101 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:15.000 Yeah, it was a pond. 102 00:11:15.000 --> 00:11:30.000 So there were one baby moose following a mama in the pond, drinking. And on the right side of us, there were. What? 103 00:11:30.000 --> 00:11:32.000 Were there two more? 104 00:11:32.000 --> 00:11:34.000 Yeah, I think there were two more bull moose. 105 00:11:34.000 --> 00:11:35.000 Yeah. 106 00:11:35.000 --> 00:11:44.000 So if you're keeping track. If you're counting it. That's ten moose on one hike. Was it crazy? 107 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:55.000 So after we got out. Wait, was it like, what's that place when we were driving back when we saw the mountain goats? 108 00:11:55.000 --> 00:11:57.000 Oh, that was later that night. 109 00:11:57.000 --> 00:11:58.000 Yeah. 110 00:11:57.000 --> 00:12:01.000 Oh, actually, no. You're talking about the bighorn sheep in the parking lot. Was that what you're talking about? 111 00:12:01.000 --> 00:12:03.000 Those were mountain goats? 112 00:12:03.000 --> 00:12:20.000 No. Okay, now I see why we're confused. So after we did our hike with the ten moose, we got in our car and we were going to leave that part of the park, leave two medicine, and then I was like, let's go over and just roll through the picnic area. And that's when there was a herd of bighorn sheep. 113 00:12:20.000 --> 00:12:23.000 No, a lady told us that there. 114 00:12:23.000 --> 00:12:33.000 Were mountain goats, but she was incorrect because those were indeed bighorn sheep. I know they were, because here's a picture. Here's a picture. I took a picture of them. 115 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:34.000 Voila. 116 00:12:34.000 --> 00:13:04.000 Even though those are little horns, those are big horn sheep. Right? Because mountain goats, they've got the scruffy beard and they're white, and mountain goat horns are black instead of creamy grayish brown. But look at that. Oh, so cool. And be sure to check out the show notes on twotraveldads.com because we've got pictures of all of this amazing wildlife that we saw. But after we saw the bighorn sheep in the parking lot and we were heading to our next destination, what do we see? 117 00:13:04.000 --> 00:13:07.000 We saw three more. 118 00:13:07.000 --> 00:13:19.000 We did. We saw three more moves. It's true. So we went to the many glacier area, which many glacier is my favorite part of the park. And do you remember the name of the hike we were doing? 119 00:13:19.000 --> 00:13:20.000 No. 120 00:13:20.000 --> 00:14:25.000 We were doing the bullhead lake hike. It's the start of the swift current pass trail. And, I mean, swift current pass is amazing, but the two of us weren't going to conquer that in a day. So we were just doing the bullhead lake hike, and we got to see three moose on that one. There was the. Which was your favorite? Was your favorite the cow moose who was by herself? Or did you like the really big bull moose that was hanging out? That was just kind of like chilling out on that little kind of island that we saw. Let me find a picture of him so that you can kind of refresh your memory about it. Oh, here he is right here. There was this guy who was an amazing bull moose. And then we saw that other one. There was a third moose, and he was a juvenile bull moose, and he was farther away, so he was a little bit more difficult for us to watch. But I think my favorite thing about it was when we were watching the cow moose, you were so patient, and I'm so thankful. 121 00:14:25.000 --> 00:14:31.000 And you could see the tracks that she was making in the water. 122 00:14:31.000 --> 00:14:32.000 It's true. 123 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:33.000 Yeah. 124 00:14:32.000 --> 00:14:35.000 That was really. Because it was a really shallow lake she was in. 125 00:14:35.000 --> 00:14:36.000 Yeah. 126 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:43.000 And what was she doing? She was just kind of, like, walking around. It was kind of like a lake based salad bar. 127 00:14:43.000 --> 00:14:44.000 Yeah. 128 00:14:44.000 --> 00:15:01.000 There was just so much. And she would go in the water, and then she'd come, like, rise back up, and she'd shake. And it was pretty special. It was, I think, one of my favorite moments. But really, I was so thankful that you were so patient with me, because especially with that cow moose. Do you know how many pictures I ended up taking? 129 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:02.000 How many? 130 00:15:01.000 --> 00:15:04.000 Over 600. 131 00:15:04.000 --> 00:15:05.000 Are you serious? 132 00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:06.000 Yeah. 133 00:15:06.000 --> 00:15:18.000 It was amazing. And the sun was shining on her, and she was in that beautiful turquoise lake. How could I not? I had to do it. I had to do it. It was too amazing to not take pictures. 134 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.000 Why it took so long. 135 00:15:19.000 --> 00:15:45.000 That is why it took so long. Oh, and then here you go. Here's a picture of the little juvenile bull moose that we saw, too. And again, I put all these pictures in the podcast episode show notes on our website so you can see what we're talking about. But, yeah. Gosh, another thing that I wanted to make sure we talked about in Glacier National park, because it's actually one of the most popular hikes. And, Elliot, you conquered it. You did so great. And this was the day that we got 28,000 steps. 136 00:15:45.000 --> 00:15:46.000 Yeah. 137 00:15:46.000 --> 00:15:50.000 Do you remember what that really pretty lake was called? 138 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.000 Not avalanche. 139 00:15:51.000 --> 00:15:52.000 Yes. 140 00:15:52.000 --> 00:15:54.000 Avalanche Lake. Good job. 141 00:15:54.000 --> 00:15:55.000 Yeah. 142 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:06.000 See? Avalanche Lake. Did you think that was a hard hike, an easy hike? Or do you think we were just tired because we'd already done a big hike? What's your thought? 143 00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:10.000 I was tired, but I'm guessing dad was not. 144 00:16:10.000 --> 00:16:19.000 I was tired, too. But just like, you made it through it. I made it through it, too. It was just buckling in and doing the hike because it was so pretty. 145 00:16:19.000 --> 00:16:28.000 Look, the first hike that we did there, I kind of regret going down, but also, I kind of don't regret it. 146 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:29.000 Yeah. 147 00:16:29.000 --> 00:16:38.000 And remember we talked about regret and what that means? And that regret means. Oh, I wish we wouldn't have done that. But I'm so glad we did. 148 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:39.000 Yeah. 149 00:16:38.000 --> 00:17:18.000 I thought it was amazing. And then getting to go and do that avalanche lake hike with you. You were so good about throwing rocks when people were not taking pictures because the reflection was so nice. And then you threw your rocks when people were ready for you. I appreciated that because it's one of the prettiest places. So what other fun stuff did we do in Glacier National park? Do you remember? We did some short little hikes, just like, to check out McDonald Creek because it's so pretty. What color would you call the water of McDonald Creek? Is it icy blue? Is it turquoise? Is it green? 150 00:17:18.000 --> 00:17:24.000 I would say turquoise and greenish yellow. 151 00:17:24.000 --> 00:17:32.000 Yeah. The water in McDonald Creek is so pretty, and especially because it's got all those red. Oh, and that was something else we saw was red rock Falls. 152 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:33.000 Yeah. 153 00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:37.000 Oh, and the other thing that I thought was so cool, do you remember running eagle Falls? 154 00:17:37.000 --> 00:17:38.000 Yes. 155 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.000 Tell us about running eagle Falls. 156 00:17:41.000 --> 00:17:54.000 So, fun fact about a tribe. Was it the Blackfoot? Well, one of their tribe members was the only girl to get a warrior name. 157 00:17:54.000 --> 00:17:56.000 And what was her name? 158 00:17:56.000 --> 00:17:57.000 Running eagle. 159 00:17:57.000 --> 00:17:58.000 Yes. 160 00:17:57.000 --> 00:18:00.000 And this waterfall, which they call it. 161 00:18:00.000 --> 00:18:03.000 A trick falls, is called running Eagle Falls. 162 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:04.000 Yeah. 163 00:18:03.000 --> 00:18:08.000 Can you explain why it's called trick falls, like a trick waterfall? 164 00:18:08.000 --> 00:18:12.000 I'm guessing because you can't see where the water comes from. 165 00:18:12.000 --> 00:19:02.000 Exactly. Yeah. Because the creek starts somewhere up high, and then it pours through the rock and it exits a cave as a waterfall. Super cool. It reminds me of when we were in Wyoming earlier this summer, and we went to that place, the sinks, where the water also went down into the earth and then came out on the other side of the highway, just kind of like coming out of a hillside, out of a little cave. But they don't know what happens when it's underground. Very interesting. Strange. Yeah. Gosh, I could talk about Glacier National park all day. I had so much fun with you. We did five hikes in two days. We got to drive all of going to the sun road, which is really special because I think this was your third or fourth trip to glacier. 166 00:19:02.000 --> 00:19:03.000 Yeah. 167 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:38.000 And the first time you were a baby and you were so cute. But we got. I will shush. But we got stuck on that trip in the many glacier area where we saw the three moose. We got stuck there because there was a huge forest fire and they had closed the rest of the park. So that was your first trip. On your next trip, we rode the train to glacier, and that was fun. And it was fall. It was actually the same week that we were here this year, but there was already snow, and so we didn't get to drive going to the sun. But this time the snow had already melted and it was all the way open for us, which was really special. 168 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:49.000 And on the way to going to the sun road, we saw mini waterfalls. 169 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:51.000 Oh, yeah. Lots and lots of waterfalls. 170 00:19:51.000 --> 00:19:52.000 Yeah. 171 00:19:52.000 --> 00:20:00.000 And at one place, I believe. What place did we see that grizzly? 172 00:20:00.000 --> 00:20:01.000 Oh, the grizzly. 173 00:20:01.000 --> 00:20:02.000 Yeah. 174 00:20:02.000 --> 00:20:09.000 No. So we saw a grizzly at the start of going to the sun road. When we entered, it was on the St. Mary side. That was the name. 175 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:11.000 There was a grizzly, wasn't it, at night? 176 00:20:11.000 --> 00:20:23.000 It was at night. It was at dusk, we like to say right before sunset. And he kind of emerged from the bushes and he was eating something, but he was super cute. 177 00:20:23.000 --> 00:20:24.000 Also, we saw two black bears. 178 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:26.000 And we saw two black bears, too. 179 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:27.000 Yeah. 180 00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:33.000 So we saw one black bear at two medicine and then one black bear at mini glacier. We saw the big old grizzly in St. Mary. 181 00:20:33.000 --> 00:20:38.000 I didn't get to see it in real life because you didn't want to. 182 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:41.000 Get out of the car because you were cold, which I don't blame you. It was chilly. 183 00:20:41.000 --> 00:20:44.000 Also, I didn't want to get attacked. 184 00:20:44.000 --> 00:20:53.000 That's true. And you are always safety first, which I appreciate. I think that's it for what I wanted to talk about with Glacier National park. Do you have any other last thoughts on glacier? 185 00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:56.000 Well, never go on too many hikes in two days. 186 00:20:56.000 --> 00:20:57.000 Never go on too many hikes in two days. 187 00:20:57.000 --> 00:20:58.000 Yeah. 188 00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:11.000 Your feet do start to hurt after a little while. Oh, you know what? We should talk just a little bit about the really cool. The chalet that we stayed at. Oh, Cec, Cec. Do you remember what it was called? Do you want to hint? 189 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000 Yes. 190 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:12.000 The Belton. 191 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:13.000 The Belton chalet. 192 00:21:13.000 --> 00:21:14.000 The Belton chalet. 193 00:21:14.000 --> 00:21:18.000 It was first a train stop. 194 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:19.000 Yes. 195 00:21:19.000 --> 00:21:23.000 It was an original Railroad hotel, and. 196 00:21:23.000 --> 00:21:27.000 They didn't have much for breakfast. 197 00:21:27.000 --> 00:21:53.000 That's true. They just had some muffins and coffee, peanut butter cookies. Yeah. Things like that. But it was really cool because it was very vintage. It was kind of antiquy, would you say? Yeah, we had cute little room with two twin beds. And can you imagine, though, that this room that 100 years ago, that was kind of like the highest luxury you could imagine in a national park, and. 198 00:21:53.000 --> 00:21:59.000 We were the only ones to get onto the porch right by our room. 199 00:21:59.000 --> 00:22:14.000 You're right. We had our own private balcony to watch the trains go by and to appreciate the fall colors. It was beautiful. I would happily stay there again. Yeah, probably in the summer when the rest of the stuff in West Glacier is open. Like, what's the place that you wanted. 200 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:18.000 To go where we went? Horseback riding. 201 00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:24.000 Oh, that was fun, too. You did want to go see skittles again. Yeah, that was in whitefish, but no. Golfing to the sun. 202 00:22:24.000 --> 00:22:25.000 Oh, yeah. 203 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:29.000 In West Glacier, there's a cool little mini golf course called golfing to the sun. 204 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:30.000 Yeah. 205 00:22:29.000 --> 00:22:31.000 Next time, got to do it. Next time. 206 00:22:31.000 --> 00:22:33.000 Yep. 207 00:22:33.000 --> 00:22:45.000 Thinking about anything else? Oh, you know what else we did that was really cool? So we're going back down towards the Missoula area. We had that really lovely float on the Clark fork River. 208 00:22:45.000 --> 00:22:46.000 Oh, yeah. 209 00:22:46.000 --> 00:23:14.000 Remember how you ate that entire charcuterie board? It was super fun. We got to go on this beautiful wooden drift boat. Huh? And we were on the Clark Fork river. We started, and it was really foggy because it's this weird spot where the fog just starts, and it was really cold. And then when the sun broke through, it got extra pretty. And what did we see along the river? 210 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:28.000 Do you remember? We saw a fish called pike. And if you live in Florida, you might see a fish that's similar to a pike. 211 00:23:28.000 --> 00:23:29.000 Do you remember what it's called? 212 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:30.000 No. 213 00:23:29.000 --> 00:23:40.000 It's the gar. Pike. Looks a lot like gar, we decided. But pike were kind of cool because they didn't seem really active. They just kind of. I don't know, they kind of float in place. So as you're drifting on the river. 214 00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:43.000 They'Re just kind of like a floating statue. 215 00:23:43.000 --> 00:23:52.000 Kind of. Yeah, like a fish statue. Yeah. That was cool. And then the other thing we saw on our river float, we saw one of the most impressive bald eagles. 216 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:53.000 Oh, yeah. 217 00:23:53.000 --> 00:23:54.000 He was really beautiful. 218 00:23:54.000 --> 00:24:03.000 It was just standing on top of a tree that had no leaves, right at the tip of a branch. 219 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:04.000 Yes. 220 00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:07.000 It was really pretty. It was really cool. We got to do some really fun stuff on that trip. 221 00:24:07.000 --> 00:24:08.000 Oh. 222 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:15.000 One other thing that we got to do that I thought was super special was, do you remember getting to feed the pigs? 223 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:16.000 Oh, yes. 224 00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:26.000 So it was kind of like a random, weird spot for us to end up, but we went to the moon Randolph homestead is what it was called. 225 00:24:26.000 --> 00:24:27.000 Yeah. 226 00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:36.000 And they had a coal mine, chicken coop. Chickens, pigs. 227 00:24:36.000 --> 00:24:39.000 You really liked the pigs. 228 00:24:39.000 --> 00:24:45.000 One thing about the pigs, always feed them something a little bit rotten. 229 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:48.000 Yeah. They like things that are starting to go rotting. 230 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:49.000 Yeah. 231 00:24:48.000 --> 00:24:50.000 The chickens, not so much. 232 00:24:50.000 --> 00:24:53.000 Yeah. They like their corn and grain and stuff. 233 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:54.000 Yeah. 234 00:24:53.000 --> 00:24:56.000 But it was great because we picked apples to feed the pigs. 235 00:24:56.000 --> 00:24:57.000 Yeah. 236 00:24:57.000 --> 00:25:00.000 Also, we picked apples to feed the chickens. 237 00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:02.000 That's true. And the chickens like to peck at them. 238 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:03.000 Yeah. 239 00:25:03.000 --> 00:25:21.000 That was a really fun little stop, and it was great. I was excited to see you getting so excited about farming type things, because we used to have chickens a long time ago, and now we don't, and now we can't where we live. But it was nice to see you communing with the chickens like you used to when you were little. Oh, good times. I'll stop being gushy. 240 00:25:21.000 --> 00:25:26.000 And what place did I have the huckleberry? 241 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.000 That was back at the belt in chalet, up at. 242 00:25:29.000 --> 00:25:30.000 Oh, yeah. 243 00:25:30.000 --> 00:25:33.000 So. But do you want to talk about huckleberry and what you think about? 244 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:34.000 Of course. 245 00:25:34.000 --> 00:25:36.000 Okay. Tell us about huckleberry. 246 00:25:36.000 --> 00:25:44.000 So Montana should not be called the glacier country. It should be called the Huckleberry country. 247 00:25:44.000 --> 00:25:47.000 Tell us why. 248 00:25:47.000 --> 00:25:53.000 Just, like anywhere you go, there's, like, at least one thing of huckleberry things. 249 00:25:53.000 --> 00:25:54.000 Yeah, there's so much huckleberry. 250 00:25:54.000 --> 00:26:00.000 I got huckleberry ice cream. Wasn't there, like, huckleberry beer? 251 00:26:00.000 --> 00:26:02.000 You could get huckleberry soda. 252 00:26:02.000 --> 00:26:03.000 Yeah. 253 00:26:03.000 --> 00:26:05.000 Huckleberry licorice. 254 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:27.000 Oh, I like the Huckleberry licorice a lot. And huckleberry chocolate. Yeah, everything Huckleberry. And if you're there in summer when everything's open, you find even more huckleberry stuff. Everything is Huckleberry jam and Huckleberry syrup and. Love it. Gosh, I don't know if you want to talk about anything else. It's up to you, because we can also just call it a day. We covered a lot of territories. 255 00:26:27.000 --> 00:26:29.000 I would like to talk about more stuff. 256 00:26:29.000 --> 00:26:31.000 Okay, tell me. 257 00:26:31.000 --> 00:26:34.000 So we went to a great arcade. 258 00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:35.000 That's true. 259 00:26:35.000 --> 00:26:50.000 On the hip strip, and there were, like, pinball games. There was this super fun game called Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and it had, like, I don't know, 100 characters. 260 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:51.000 Yeah. 261 00:26:50.000 --> 00:26:53.000 Because I think that's a game that you played other times, right? 262 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:54.000 No. 263 00:26:53.000 --> 00:26:55.000 Oh, you hadn't played it before? 264 00:26:55.000 --> 00:26:59.000 No, that was only super Smash Bros. And Super Smash bros. Me. 265 00:26:59.000 --> 00:27:29.000 Gotcha. So the place that we did that, it was a place called Guild brewing. It's in Missoula, and it's across the river from the main downtown area. In the area they kind of call the hip strip, where there's cool shops and restaurants and all this. So we had yummy dinner upstairs, and I had beer, cider, all that stuff. And then downstairs is this whole arcade with vintage video games, new video games, some sort of Nintendo setup on a projector. 266 00:27:29.000 --> 00:27:30.000 Yeah. 267 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:31.000 Really cool. 268 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:39.000 And on Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, I only won once with a Pokemon named Skir Ninja. 269 00:27:39.000 --> 00:27:40.000 Oh, yeah. 270 00:27:40.000 --> 00:27:53.000 And the attacks that I kept on using was, like, this super powerful punch, and I defeated like a peach type person. 271 00:27:53.000 --> 00:27:55.000 Kind of looked like Princess Peach. 272 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:56.000 Yeah. 273 00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:57.000 Like a star, buddy. 274 00:27:57.000 --> 00:28:00.000 Yeah. 275 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:08.000 I would say that was a highlight of the trip. Not the highlight, but definitely a highlight. Super fun. I think that. Oh, you have something else. 276 00:28:08.000 --> 00:28:12.000 What was the big river that we saw almost every single day? 277 00:28:12.000 --> 00:28:14.000 The Clark fork River. 278 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:15.000 Yeah. 279 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:19.000 You cross it a bazillion times when you are in western Montana. 280 00:28:19.000 --> 00:28:27.000 Yeah. Like if you go to mazula, you cross it. If you come back from the airport, you cross it. 281 00:28:27.000 --> 00:28:39.000 It's funny. And then if you're driving on the freeway, like doing a cross country road trip. I think. So when me and Auntie Kelly did their big move across the country, we counted. We crossed the Clark Fork River 21 times. 282 00:28:39.000 --> 00:28:41.000 21 times. 283 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:50.000 I know, because it's this beautiful, windy river, and that's why it's so pretty. There is. Because this river makes sure everything has water and it kind of carves the hill. 284 00:28:50.000 --> 00:28:52.000 Where does it start and where does it end? 285 00:28:52.000 --> 00:29:17.000 Well, that's a question I'm not prepared to answer. I don't know where it starts and ends, but it's pretty long. Let's do a quick google and we'll find out. All right, so the Clark Fork river, it begins in Butte. Oh, we love butte. That's a different podcast for a different day. But Butte was that really cool mining town with all the mine stuff and the really cool water park. 286 00:29:17.000 --> 00:29:19.000 Did we cross it? 287 00:29:19.000 --> 00:29:42.000 Yeah, and we crossed the Clark fork River a bunch. But then it flows from Butte through western Montana, and then it joins up with the Columbia river, which. The Columbia river is what flows past Hood river and Lyle and where our friends and family all used to live right next to. Oh, I know. So that river just keeps on going until it hits the Pacific Ocean. 288 00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:45.000 The more you know which side of the. 289 00:29:45.000 --> 00:30:47.000 The. It would be called the eastern Pacific, which is funny because it's the west coast of the US, but it's the Pacific, so. Well, I think that's it for now. We can definitely record another podcast episode about even more stuff. Probably after we go to Hawai, we'll have to record at least one or two. So thank you so much for being on here today, Elliot. I love getting to chat with you, and if you would like to subscribe, go ahead and hit that subscribe button wherever you get your podcasts. And don't forget to check out the blog@twotraveldads.com and give us a follow over on Instagram at two travel dads. Have a great day. Adios, two travel dads. Podcast is created by Rob and Chris Taylor in St. Augustine, Florida. We'd love to answer your questions here on the podcast, providing both our experience and stories. 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