Jeff Schmerker
Surprising solitude.
My dad bought everyone huckleberry and chocolate double scoop ice cream cones and brought them over to the table. Spending money on ice cream – must be a special occasion! Just 20 yards to the left was the old-school motel we stayed in as a family some 30 years ago, and from stolen peeks in the windows it did not seem to have changed a bit. Neither has the lake, really; though Glacier is much more crowded now, it’s still true that 95% of the visitors to the park go to the same handful of places – it’s easy to find a quiet spot to enjoy the view even when the parking lots nearby are full. And so it went.
Cooper shoved his half-eaten cone into my hand and ran across the pebbly beach to the dock. Mountains hulked beyond. Everyone else finished their cones and as another family wandered over looking for an empty table by the lake, we got up and left, on to the next sight.
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