Glacier

I've never seen rivers and creeks so blue and forests so dense as what we found at Glacier National Park. The Crown of the Continent, as it is known, was breathtaking.

We did not get to camp here as planned, as the eastern and northern parts of the park were closed (the Blackfeet Indians and Canada had not yet reopened their borders to us due to COVID-19). So we found a lovely cabin in West Glacier instead, one that the kids loved because it looked like a tiny house, and one that my husband and I loved for the evening views from the porch.

For an introduction to the park, we hiked the Johns Lake trail, and the boys earned their fourth Junior Ranger badges of the trip before calling it a day.

Throughout of trip (which included Grand Teton and Yellowstone), we were averaging about six miles of hiking/walking per day, as we prefer to do a couple of 2-3 mile hikes to see different spots. But for Day 2 at Glacier, we woke up early for our longest hike of the trip, an 8-miler up to Avalanche Lake via the Trail of the Cedars.

We went off the official trail, practicing a little parkour as we climbed rocks on this hidden gem of a lake's shore. And then we pretended we were on the show "The Floor is Lava," balancing ourselves across logs and hopping over streams to get to a beautiful spot for a picnic. (Then we went back to the cabin for naps).

On paper, the trail is only 6.7 miles, but we made it longer with our fun detours.

We hit one more trail the next morning to Rocky Point, with grand views of Lake McDonald, before starting our trek south. Glacier was like a scene straight out of a fairy tale, and we will come back one day to see the parts of the park that were closed.

L says: I thought it was beautiful, and I especially loved the view at the top of our hike to Avalanche Lake.

G says: The water was super blue, bluer than any water I have ever seen before.