Day 17.

We woke early. Even before the alarm, the 6am the trash truck came by. Rough. But we had to get up anyway for breakfast and a head start on a long day of driving. Old Town breakfast in town with Aunt Kathy and Uncle Mark helped ease the pain of getting back in the car. It's so hard leaving Joseph. We wish we could stay for a week. Onward, a 10 hour drive, from Eastern Oregon to Upper Montana. The first leg was the Rattlesnake through Hell's Canyon alongside the impressive Grande Ronde River. We were instructed to stop for milkshakes at Boggan's at the bottom. Imagine a long winding road, going up and down and it is worse than that. Joseph elevation is 4190 and Grande Ronde at the bottom is 344. Now add towing and switch backs. Blah. But it is a gorgeous landscape and the milkshakes were the best, even at 940am. :-) Crossing the High Plateau and rolling hills of western Idaho, was a little like being in a painting. We stopped in Coeur d'Alene for groceries and lunch. We found a genius business concept, The Growler Guys, where we were able to try local beers on tap and fill our growler to take back to camp. We lost an hour crossing the time line, coming into West Glacier at 8 but really 9pm. The pizza at Glacier Grill was delicious. Camp set up at 10 was challenging as we were exhausted but excited to see the park.