Days 39-42  August 2-5, 2001

Wonderful days camping in Glacier National Park.  I went to a presentation given by one of the park rangers about the geology of this place. The  rugged features “started forming 170 million years ago when older rocks were forced eastward up and over much younger rock strata.” I found the information about the stromatolites fascinating. They are 500 million year old fossilized algae mats that once lived under the water.  Glacier National Park  has the most extensive occurrence of early life fossils in the world.

I saw a notice for a bus tour through the whole park but thought I would just drive around myself.  Then a very tragic thing happened. One of the many bicyclists who frequent this large park was killed when he failed to make a curve and went down a cliff. I signed up for the tour and gave my whole attention to the scenery as I was driven around by a very capable and knowledgeable driver.

Sunday mass was held outside by a beautiful lake. Since my spiritual church is the outdoors, I decided to give this type of worship a chance.  The priest’s homily was a standard message.  But a quote in the mass bulletin really made an impression on me. “Make sure your prayers are of benefit not only for yourself but for others. God would act that way wouldn’t He, being that He is a God of love?  Since he is so smart, He would want what He gives you to benefit as many people as possible—a ripple or sunburst.” Cool. I guess, God is a multitasker! Loved this.