St. Mary, MT (Day 1)
Wednesday, September 11
Next stop: Glacier National Park! But first, we had a few chores to complete this morning to get ready for our time in the national park where we know services will be limited.
We packed up and left Holter Lake Recreation Area Wednesday morning for Choteau, Montana. Nothing particular in Choteau, other than it being the biggest “small town” on the way to St. Mary, Montana (an eastern access point to Glacier National Park). The drive to Choteau was super foggy but otherwise uneventful. We might’ve been the only other vehicle on the road the entire way there. Cell service was non-existent.
In Choteau, we stopped by the laundromat to wash a load of clothes, then Andi parked the RV in the supermarket parking lot and he went inside to buy groceries while I stayed in the RV to do school with the kids. Andi brought back a rotisserie chicken and a pre-made salad for lunch. We topped off the RV with propane, stopped by the post office to mail postcards Tory was sending out to friends, and finally stopped back at the laundromat to grab our laundry. Some full-time travel days are like this one — a day full of driving and chores to restock & refuel so we can keep going.
About 20 minutes from our destination, we met another Winnebago View on the road. It’s always fun to see other people traveling in the same rig as us — to hear where they’re from and where they’re going. This couple spent the last few days on the east side of Glacier and were now driving to the west side. Unfortunately, the only way to get to one side of the park to the other if you have a vehicle over 21 ft. long is to leave the park and drive all the way around it (40 miles total). There’s only one road that cuts thought the middle of the park called the Going-to-the-Sun Road and most RVs are too big to drive it. The Winnebago View couple suggested we take their campsite in St. Mary Campground overlooking the mountains. They said it was beautiful.
We arrived at Glacier National Park around 4:30pm and decided to stop at the St. Mary Visitor Center before it closed to pickup Junior Ranger packets. Tory likes to do every page of the packet and it’s easier to complete it in the comforts of our RV vs. perched on a park bench somewhere when we’re out & about.
After we picked up the packets, we drove a mile further inside the park to St. Mary Campground. A sign at the entrance gate said Loop B was closed because there was recent bear activity. That left Loops A & C as camping options. Andi wanted to stay in Loop C because it allowed generators, so we cruised though that area first. Uh-oh! It was full, including the campsite our friends in the Winnebago View recommended. We drove through Loop A and those sites were full, too. Andi was frustrated. “We know better than to roll into a campground at 5:30pm and expect to get a spot,” he said.
We had two options: We could either drive an hour south to Two Medicine Campground in the park, or we could call the private KOA Campground a mile away to see if they had any openings. I called KOA. We were over driving anymore today. Fortunately, KOA had two spots left, so we took one and headed there next.
We typically prefer camping in places surrounded by nature and have really been enjoying the free federal and state land available for camping in Montana, but the private KOA East Glacier campground was actually really nice. There was a pool and a hot tub, gift shop, clean bathrooms/showers, and a nature trail on the property. Andi and I decided we should go for a walk first so the kids could burn some energy after being cooped up in the RV all day. Three hours of travel is Aden’s limit — he turns into a caged animal.
We looped back around by the pool at the end of our walk and both Tory and Aden exclaimed, “They have a pool here! Can we go swimming?! Please, please, please!” So, we grabbed our swimming suits and towels and hit the pool next.
The kids read me the riot act for forgetting to pack their goggles. Honestly, when I packed our swimming suits for this trip, I wasn’t expecting to use them! I assumed we’d be using our winter coats and stocking hats more than swimming on this trip out west.
We spent a few hours at the pool swapping travel stories with other KOA campground guests hanging out in the hot tub. There weren’t any other kids there, and fortunately the adults in the hot tub didn’t mind our kids running between there and the pool. One of the women suggested to the kids that we order pizza for dinner because KOA will deliver it right to your campsite. Tory thought that sounded like a fabulous idea! “Can we Dad, please?!”
It was almost 7:30pm by the time we left the pool. I told Andi I’d shower the kids and get them into pajamas if he ordered a pizza for delivery. There was no turning back now that Tory and Aden knew that was an option. By the time we got back to our RV, it was 8:00pm. Pizza delivery came shortly thereafter, and it really did hit the spot! We were all starving by that point.
Hot tub. Pizza. Full RV hook-ups. This evening certainly ended in a different way than we’d expected. After dinner, the kids snuggled in bed watching cartoons on TV while Andi and I snuck outside for a few minutes of kid-free time. Campgrounds like this one are like a social science experiment — it’s interesting to see how people live while they’re camping. It’s like seeing into someone’s living room. Some people have big flat-screen TVs playing their favorite evening shows. Others are gathered around the campfire having cocktails. Some people have “Welcome to the Smith’s” signs displayed proudly and others string lights and decorations. No way is the wrong way; everyone enjoys camping differently.
Tomorrow morning, we’ll wake up early and head over to St. Mary’s campground to secure a camping site within the park. Then, let our Glacier National Park adventure begin!
