06-09-2026 Tuesday, West Glacier National Park and Glacier Distilling Company

- June 16, 2026

We both slept for eleven hours. I can't believe Barry slept that long. It's not like him. On the other hand, I can!

The KOA offers a free breakfast for its campers. We decided to try it out, so we walked over. They had French toast sticks, scrambled eggs, biscuits and gravy, a large bowl of cut-up melons, cereal, instant oatmeal packets, juices, coffee, and some stuff I’m sure I missed. Lots of great choices.

The large rec room next to the breakfast area was video game heaven. All the video games they had were the old ones like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and so many more. There must be twenty machines in the room. All of them cost twenty-five cents a game. These were all the games I played with my youngest brother, Shawn, when I was in high school. We loved playing Pac-Man. Ping-pong, air-hockey, pool, and fussball were also available.

As we left, we decided to walk out to see the pool area. Three-quarters of the pool was under a roof. There was a pipe sticking out of the roof that dumped water into the pool. Next to the pool was a round little pool about six inches deep for the little. The best part of it all, the water was heated. I wish we had time to use it. I would love going in a heated pool, and there was no one using it. There were steel garage doors that were used to close off the area when not in use. What a clever idea. You can see them in the photo below.

Off to West Glacier for the day. We drove the Going-to-the-Sun Road as far as we could. We knew it was closed for most of the way since we could not drive the whole road from the other side of the park where we stayed. This side of the road was not as long as the other side.

On the way back, we stopped at a few turnouts to view falls. The two we stopped at you can view from the built decks and see the falls. The views were pretty, and we lingered for about 15 minutes at each.

The Going-to-the-Sun Road followed Lake McDonald. The lake is the largest in the park. The Bull trout is native but a threatened species due to the introduction of other trout species into the park.

Native Fish (list taken from the NPS.gov site)

· Bull Trout

· Westslope Cutthroat Trout

· Largescale Suckers

Northern Pikeminnow

· Redside Shiners

· Peamouth

· And several species of sculpins

Non-Native Fish Introduced (list taken from the NPS.gov site)

· Rainbow Trout

· Brook Trout

· Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout

· Kokanee

· Lake Whitefish

· Grayling

We decided to check out the Lake McDonald Lodge. What an impressive building. It’s a Swiss Chalet-style lodge. It was built in 1913. You enter the building and find yourself in the huge great room with an awesome fireplace, where a fire is burning. We walked down a hall to see the dining room, but the doors were closed. It opens at 5:00 PM; however, Lucke’s Lounge was open and serves food. We settled in Lucke’s and ordered drinks, a charcuterie board, and a salad. Barry had a pilsner, not an IPA (his fav), because they ran out. They only serve one IPA. I had a delicious Huckleberry Margarita. The meats on the charcuterie board were yummy, roasted duck breast and bison pastrami, along with a few cheeses and a huckleberry chutney that was to die for. We need to learn how to make a Huckleberry Margarita.

After rolling ourselves out of Lucke’s, we walked upstairs to view the great room from a different level. It’s so impressive. There are animal heads all around the place, and hanging from the railings. Hopefully, a few of the photos below give you an idea, but you can also click on the link I provided above. We also stopped at the hotel gift shop and at the camp store in the parking lot.

Our next stop was the Glacier Distilling Company for whiskey tasting. I’ve been looking forward to this all day. What a fun place. Our server was great and gave us a lot of tips. There are so many whiskeys to choose from that I couldn’t make up my mind. You get four tastings for $6.00. Plus, you can get cocktails. I did have an old-fashioned, and it was so yummy. We both ordered flights and shared our tastings so we could experience eight different whiskeys. I went with the more specialized types, and Barry went with the more traditional ones. These are some great whiskeys. I loved three of my four, and we ended up buying my three and one of Barry’s traditional. What a fun experience. This is a must-stop if and when you are in the area.

Later, for dinner, we went to a pizza place recommended by the people working in the KOA office. The place was Jersey Boys Pizza, a family-owned business. Their pizza is thin-crust, which is what we like. It was very tasty, but I still prefer 1285 Restobar at home in Florence, Oregon.

Now home to close out the day and get ready to leave for Hot Springs, Montana, tomorrow. Hot Springs is our last stop in Montana.

Lake McDonald Lodge

Entrance to one of the cottages.

Other side of the Lodge

Lodge great room area.

Specially made lamps.

2nd floor view

2nd floor additional view

This was a group of kids who just got their Junior Ranger stuff.
I thought it was great that they were all working on the Junior Ranger stuff together.