I woke up a bit early on our last day so that I could take some photos of the morning sun hitting the mountains. It was really pretty to watch the sunrise, and I got a few good photos. I also wanted to get up early so that we could get an early start to our busy day. We had to pack all our stuff back into the suitcases, drive back across the park (about 50 miles), drive to the airport, return our car, and catch our plane. In the end, we had ample time to make our 4pm flight, but I didn't want us to be rushing at the end.
After breakfast, we set about breaking down our camp and packing up. Penelope was eager to help, so we gave her little tasks to do. Eventually we got all our stuff back into the two suitcases and duffel bag. We loaded up the car, and set off on the main park road back to the west side. The weather was beautiful that day, clear skies and warm. We enjoyed stopping at a number of view points. Penelope was very into taking photos, so I let her take a few pictures with my camera. We climbed up over the pass, then down the other side, again stopping for a few photos. We were making great time, so we decided to stop at a picnic area along Lake McDonald for lunch. We tried to eat up as much of our camp food as we could, and by the end we had only a few things left over that we could bring back with us.
After Penelope and Katie were done eating, they walked down to the shore of the lake to play. I was finishing up, when Katie comes running back up holding Penelope, who is saying "I need to poop!" We had actually forgotten to scout out where the restrooms were at the picnic area, and they were not in direct view, so we were a bit panicked. As Daniel Tiger says, "When you have to go potty: stop, and go right away." Not knowing where the bathrooms were, and not knowing how much time we had, we decided that pooping on the ground was better than in the undies, and so we started getting Penelope's pants off and holding her in position. Thinking fast, I grabbed our garbage bag and held it under Penelope's butt, while Katie held Penelope. Penelope of course thought all of this was great fun. Soon enough, she was pooping straight into the garbage bag, and of course she was interested in seeing it after she was all cleaned up. I kind of wished we could have taken a photo of us, since it was pretty funny, but very effective and an easy clean up. With that taken care of, I set off to find a trash can, only to discover that the restrooms were just behind a clump of trees, about 15 seconds from our picnic spot. It would have been easy to get there in time, but then we wouldn't have such a great poop story, so I think it was worth it.
We finished cleaning up our picnic spot, then went back to the lake one last time. We played on the shore and took some self portraits against the mountain backdrop. We were about to head back, but Penelope announced that she wanted to take a photo of Katie and me. She stood where I had set up the camera for the self portrait, held the camera all by herself, and took a pretty good photo of us. I was impressed. I think soon I will have to get her a camera, because she is really into it and is pretty good, too. We just have to work on framing and holding the camera level.
We got back into the car and drove out of the park, saying "Good bye, Glacier National Park" as we left. We got on to the highway and drove back to Kalispell, the whole time discussing how we had to return the car to "Thrifty", the guy, not the company. We pulled in to the car rental shop only to find a note on the door that he wasn't around, but we should return the car to the Hertz counter at the airport. Penelope was a bit disappointed that Thrifty wasn't there, and confused why he left us a note. In any case, we drove to the airport (5 minutes away) and returned our car. We arrived with plenty of time to spare, especially considering that the airport is tiny and it takes no time to get through security or walk the 10 steps to the gate. I was a bit nervous about the weight of our bags, since I had used a scale at home to make sure they were both under the 50lb weight limit, but it turned out that we had packed them perfectly balanced at about 45lbs each.
We went through security, and proceeded to wait for our plane. Penelope and I walked around and watched a 737 (the only big plane there) and a regional jet get refueled, load the bags, and take off. They also had some Legos that Penelope played with. Eventually our plane arrived, and we got on board. It was a short and uneventful flight, with nice views of the mountains. When we got to Seattle, all our bags came off quickly except for our car seat. Eventually we found it far away at an over-sized luggage area. We got to our car and headed home, stopping for dinner along the way.
We had a really great time in Glacier National Park. The lakes and mountains were great, good hiking, and cute animals. The only complaint was that the hikes were either short and easy or long and hard, without much in the middle. That said, with Penelope on my back, I didn't mind the short and easy stuff, but one longer hike would have been nice. The weather mostly cooperated and gave us some interesting experiences. Now we are well relaxed back in Seattle, ready to begin the process of moving to Boston.