It’s the Little Things
The past few days have been busy. We landed in Kalispell and hit the ground running. Within two hours our 4-wheel drive SUV had entered Glacier National Park and was dodging rocks and ruts on back roads. We have seen indescribable beauty and experienced new adventures. “Maud & Me” have been inspired by God’s grand creation but have also been renewed in spirit by the little things.
Just in the first part of our trip Maud was handed a new ticket on our first flight that put our seats next to one another; the pilot stopped and chatted with us several minutes about where we were going and what we doing; on the second flight a lady gave up her seat so a couple could sit with each other and though she didn’t know it at the time, they just happened to be newlyweds.
When we entered the park, I asked the attendant, at Maud’s suggestion, about a senior pass. I now am the proud cardholder of my very own Lifetime Senior Pass into all National Parks & National Monuments. That includes anyone who is in my vehicle. So be nice to me!
Our destination for that afternoon was Polebridge, Montana. We went into the Polebridge Mercantile and got a few pastries. Let me tell you, those are some of the best cinnamon rolls I’ve had, and they are huge! Maud was going to eat just a bite of her cinnamon roll, but she ate it all (with a little help from me). We proceeded on to Bowman Lake. When we arrived, a wedding was about to take place, so we crashed a wedding! On our way back to Polebridge to get Maud another cinnamon roll, we came across a couple pulled off the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. They had a couple of chairs set up and were getting a table so they could have their supper.
We have passed at least two Plein Air painters in different remote locations with easels and paints set up on the side of the road painting landscapes of the mountains and valleys.
We have talked with numerous travelers. We both took photos for people trying to get selfies. There was a set of grandparents taking their small grandchildren on an adventure to the park. There was the bicycling couple who have cycled all over the world. He had a stuffed pink bunny on his helmet. Later, we passed them on the road and immediately recognized the bunny hopping along in the wind. There was a group of handicapped athletes that must have been having some kind of activity in the park. There were young people from all over the states and the world that we talked with that are working in the park for the summer.
I made a quick turn off the road to try to find a spot for a photo of an old railroad trestle. We were greatly rewarded with a mountain goat sighting of a mama with her baby. The stop was known to be frequented by goats because of the minerals in the ground. As we went on, Maud wanted to see a moose, and there was one in the marsh. We saw wild horses with two new foals as we went towards St. Mary. On the way back, we saw the horses again. I told Maud to look at their feet and discovered they had shoes. We were rewarded with seeing a juvenile Big Horn Sheep. I told Maud, “Hand me my lens NOW!”
At the little store at Two Medicine, we got a couple of shirts and a soda each. Maud got a Red Jammer Huckleberry Crème Soda, and I got a Flathead Lake Gourmet Soda. They were both good!
These are all some of the things that may be the “little things” that are sometimes taken for granted or not appreciated – people helping one another, people enjoying life, beautiful scenery, teamwork, enjoying one another’s company, encouraging one another, taking time for the simple things of life. Maud & Me say, “It’s the little things that make it all worthwhile.”
June 2019
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