MONTANA & GLACIER PARK - AS BEAUTIFUL AS I REMEMBERED!

CATCHING UP ON THIS PAST SUMMER:

I was born in Great Falls, Montana. At age 3 my family moved to Cut Bank, Montana. We went to church as a family in Cut Bank. I attended elementary school in Cut Bank. I attended Jr High School in Cut Bank. I attended High School for 2 and a half years in Cut Bank. I broke my leg at age 16 riding a motorcycle in Cut Bank. I swam, played tennis, played baseball, ran track, learned to drive, and learned to work and earn money in Cut Bank. I learned to sing, I learned to play the piano and the trumpet in Cut Bank. I had newspaper delivery routes in Cut Bank. I went on my first date in Cut Bank. My life truly started in Cut Bank.

The last time I visited Montana was in 1987 - twenty-one years without going back "home". For two weeks in August, my wonderful mother and I went "home" to Montana. We stayed with my sister Jan Gray in her beautiful ranch home in the middle of nowhere. And it felt wonderful to be back in Montana.

Montana is called Big Sky Country - and for all the right reason. It seems like you can see forever in Montana. The skies are big and beautiful in Montana with blue skies much of the time. One of the pictures is looking west from my sister's back deck. We visited family and friends. We drove around the neighborhood where we had once lived...and where my grandparents had lived. We went to the cemetary where all of my grandparents are burried and we cleaned and decorated their graves. I had very tender thoughts and feelings as I thought about each one of them and the many ways they had contributed to my life and who I am today. I was very moved at the grave of my maternal grandmother Anna Maude Williams Serdahl. Anna Maude died at the young age of 38. She died when my mother was only 7 months old. I never knew my Grandma Serdahl, I know a lot about her through my mother. I feel such deep love and gratitude for Grandma Serdahl - she didn't live an easy life, and she died young. But she brought my mother into this world. For that I will be eternally greatful. Another picture is of Grandma Serdahl's headstone.

We took five days and visited our family's favorite vacation spot: Glacier National Park. It is one of the most beautiful mountainous areas in the world. The mountains are tall and magestic, the lakes are deep, cold, and blue. Wildlife is abundant and the "Going to the Sun Highway" is an amazing road that takes visitors over the continental divide and connects the rugged and windy east side of the Park/Mountains with the beautiful, warmer and calmer west side of the Park. Our favorite location is Lake McDonald on the western side of the park. One of the pictures shows my mom in front of the Lake McDonald boat launch (which we took on her birthday) with the clear blue lake, blue skies, and the towering mountains in the background. It was a treat to visit Glacier Park and Lake McDonald.

The first and second pictures were taken near the summit of Logan's Pass - the highest place that the road passes over. If you look closely you can see the 2-lane road winding it's way down the western side of this mountain pass. This area is completely covered with snow during the winter and spring, and the road over the pass normally opens around July 1st when they are finally able to plow all of the snow off the roadway. This will end this post from the past. I could have included another 40 pictures and not repeated any of the awesome scenes....but I need to get some sleep before church meetings which start in less than 8 hours. I hope you've enjoyed reading about Montana, and looking at these beautiful pictures.