Today has been a long day so far and it is only 6:00 pm. This morning I woke up really early before the sunrise to go running. I was astonished to see the morning lights on the mountains around 6:00 this morning. The sides of the mountains were all lite up in red, unfortunately I didn’t have my camera to snap a picture but I am going to try again tomorrow morning. We decided to do a guided hike with a ranger which is really cool because they explain stuff on the way. We stopped off at the ranger station to stamp Elisabeth’s national park’s passport, which completed the whole Rocky Mountain section of her passport. The ranger also let us know that they had a pre-readers version of the junior ranger program which is nice because otherwise the kids have to be 5 years old to complete the junior ranger program. So we went to the lake shore to complete the interactive booklet that he had given us and we brought it right back to him so that she could proudly wear her little junior ranger badge. She had to swear under oath that she would always do her best to protect nature and the animals. She took this very seriously and was very proud of her new status.
Well after this we met up with the hiking group to set out on the South Shore Trail to go to Aster Falls and the nearby lookout point. The walk out there was very nice and relaxing. We learned lots of names of plants and flowers along the way which was really nice for Elisabeth in particular who loves the wild flowers in the parks. We stopped off at the falls and then hiked a relatively steep climb up to the lookout point to have an awesome view on Two Medicine Lake and the surrounding mountains. (Tidbit: Two Medicine was named after the two medicine lodges on either end of the lake that were previously built by the Blackfoot Indian Tribes that used to inhabit this area.) So we headed back down the mountain on our own and stopped off at another nearby trail called paradise point which peaked our curiosity. It was a small rock covered beach which gave a beautiful view of the lakes. It was the perfect spot to sit back in the sunlight to enjoy the view.
On our hike back we spotted a female moose drinking in a small pond which was cool because they are quite rare in this area. We probably will have an early dinner and get to bed not too late tonight because we have to get an early start tomorrow if we want to get a campsite at St. Mary’s about an hour north of here.
We didn’t get as early of a start as planned so we decided to stay another day at Two Medicine which was nice since there were still some things we wanted to see and we loved the area. I don’t think this area of Glacier is as well known as the others and it is very peaceful. Today we went down to East Glacier which is the area where there is the lodge and some shopping. We visited some of the little shops which was fun and also saw the lodge. We just bought a little bracelet for Antoine’s brother Vincent (Joyeux Anniversaire!! J ) The lodge is very beautiful and I believe was built in 1904 so it is also a historic landmark. The interior is like the most awesome log cabin style with big fireplaces, animal heads and dark wood covering the whole lobby area. We saw the famous red buses outside which historically were the way people travelled in Glacier. We found out that they had been outdated for awhile due to safety concerns since they were so old and were recently brought back, fully renovated by Ford with a new structure and engine. So today they are 93% more efficient then before and are a popular way to see Glacier… that is if you want to pay for it. We were happy to find out that there is also a free shuttle that runs along the Going-to-the-Sun road which was our mode of transportation once at the Rising Sun Campground. 
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