adventures of a tired coder

For the 4th of July week, the Tang family took a family trip (the first one in awhile) to Glacier National Park in Montana. Dad flew to Seattle (so he could leave immediately after the trip for Korea) and the two of us rented a van and drove the 9 hours over, making stops at the Wild Horses Monument by the Columbia River and the Thorp Fruit & Antique Mall. The rest of the family took a very long and very delayed train ride from Chicago -- they ended up arriving in West Glacier hours late, at 1am!



This trip ended up being a very memorable one. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather for most of the week; despite forecasts of thunderstorms and hail for several of the days, we only had one day of real rain and one half-day of light showers. The other days were clear and provided the right skies for photographs. Though the wildlife were somewhat shy, we did see many deer (including a really pretty mule deer), two mountain goats, two wild horses, lots of cows, a big-horned sheep, and a moose. No bears, fortunately.




Going-to-the-Sun Road was the road that went through the park, and driving through it provided beautiful views of the mountains, rivers, and valleys. There were many trailheads and viewpoints scattered along the road, so we were able to frequently stop and discover something beautiful. Logans Pass, in the middle, was still closed due to snow at the beginning of the week, but it opened up near the end of our trip, and we were able to go through. I did a lot of the driving on this road, and let's just say that it's a miracle that news headlines didn't include a story about a minivan carrying a family of six veering off a cliff.

Now that I'm pretty settled in Seattle, I don't get as many opportunities to spend time with my family, so I really treasure these moments. Usually when I go back to Indiana for Christmas, each person has a computer and spends a lot of time in front of it. The beauty of the national park is the lack of internet access, so the week really was spent interacting with each other. It's fun to see my brothers as they get older and continue to look more and more alike. Hopefully the next trip won't be too far in the future!