Glacier History
According to Glacier Country: Montana’s Glacier National Park (R.C. “Bert” Gildart, American Geographic Publishing, 1990), the range of Rocky Mountains in the park was formed by volcanic fire, quenched by torrential rains, overwhelmed by vast seas, forced upward by tectonic plate upheaval and then gouged by continental ice sheets that came and went on at least four occasions. There are numerous peaks over 10,000 feet high, more than 200 lakes, and 60 species of mammals. This happened 65 million years ago, plus or minus 10 million years.
Church was very nice today. There are not enough priests in this area, so a deacon came and conducted a Mass-like service. He, and about half the congregation of 40 people, is a Blackfeet Indian. The church is very poor, and so the 20 tourists there were pretty generous, I think, at the collection.
Then I drove to Duck Lake, about 9 miles due east of the park, between Babb and St. Mary. I got to an elevation of 5,400 feet (per GPS), and I looked back at the 10,000 foot peaks in the park, and the valleys and lakes at 3,500 feet. Simply breath taking, and more of a church than the little building I had just left. Except that poor people built that church, which makes it very special, too.
Today was a day to cook: meatloaf, egg salad, a lemon cake with French vanilla icing, corn on the cob, Caesar salad. Lacy and I took a mile walk, and now we’re ready for another one.
My cell phone doesn’t work up here, so I called two of my sons and my daughter, and had great conversations. Kevin is so busy with the opening weekend of his summer show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, that I didn’t bother him. Break a leg, Kevin!
It was warm today (high 70’s), but the sun just dipped behind a mountain and the temperature has instantly dropped 15 degrees! I’ll wear a sweater on our walk!
Church was very nice today. There are not enough priests in this area, so a deacon came and conducted a Mass-like service. He, and about half the congregation of 40 people, is a Blackfeet Indian. The church is very poor, and so the 20 tourists there were pretty generous, I think, at the collection.
Then I drove to Duck Lake, about 9 miles due east of the park, between Babb and St. Mary. I got to an elevation of 5,400 feet (per GPS), and I looked back at the 10,000 foot peaks in the park, and the valleys and lakes at 3,500 feet. Simply breath taking, and more of a church than the little building I had just left. Except that poor people built that church, which makes it very special, too.
Today was a day to cook: meatloaf, egg salad, a lemon cake with French vanilla icing, corn on the cob, Caesar salad. Lacy and I took a mile walk, and now we’re ready for another one.
My cell phone doesn’t work up here, so I called two of my sons and my daughter, and had great conversations. Kevin is so busy with the opening weekend of his summer show, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, that I didn’t bother him. Break a leg, Kevin!
It was warm today (high 70’s), but the sun just dipped behind a mountain and the temperature has instantly dropped 15 degrees! I’ll wear a sweater on our walk!
posted by Greg Finnegan @ 11:38 PM
1 Comments:
At 12:05 AM,
Greg Finnegan said…
Good for you, Meredith, for sticking with it until the meatloaf emerged! And I think I speak for most of us when we say we are very glad you are a registered nurse and not a professional maker of, say, gunpowder, with all of those complicated recipes.
My meatloaf came out fine, but the cake had a difficult time at this altitude. It cracked. But I frosted the pieces so all is fine!
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