Honestly, this should have been a day unworthy of a picture or a post. At least that’s true for the first 95 percent of it.

We slept in … again, and stayed inside as the rain continued to fall. The boys were happy to play Monopoly and read, and PB&J never tasted so good. We took a brief hike down to Lake McDonald to walk Timber and enjoy a momentary break in the rain. The boys made lots of noise and I carried bear spray, but still no sightings.

With effort, and I mean a lot of effort, we pried ourselves out of the campground to have dinner at the West Glacier Restaurant. Huge portions. Acceptable and standard diner fare, and reasonable price; plus solid desserts, which we didn’t really need but worried that we’d never again be able to find Huckleberry Ice Cream.

Then, the day took a turn for the better. Instead of driving back to the campground, we continued on the North Fork Road that we had taken the day before. It was nearly 10:00p and the sky was finally starting to look like dusk, and there were no other drivers out at all. Again, we found ourselves alone in one of the most popular national parks in the country. For an hour, we drove along the road, pulled out at every vista point and sat … in the silence … of the ending day … in hopes … of maybe … seeing … a bear … or a moose. Instead, we saw the burned spires of the pines rising sharp against the indigo to blush sky; and the meadows golden with light reflected from the snow-covered peaks; and a single jackrabbit as big as a coyote who leapt from a bush almost directly into the front of our parked truck. Mostly, we sat and listened to the night falling on Glacier.