Today we’ve got some tips and updates for reserving entry to Glacier National Park, but then we’ll keep it a little wacky for the weekend with a creative version of stealth camping, and a special guest player for the Savannah Bananas.
Tips for Getting into Glacier National Park
I know I’m not alone in saying that Glacier National Park may very well be the most beautiful National park we have, especially if you want to see wildlife and incredible mountain terrain. It’s in Glacier National Park where we saw baby bear cubs climb a tree right outside of our tent! (Depending on who you are, that may register as a positive or a negative – maybe a bit of both!) But visiting National Parks these days requires some research and finesse not unlike that of travel hacking. Especially with the pandemic causing such a resurgence of interest in domestic destinations.
Every year since the pandemic, Glacier National Park has been working on refining its visitor-management strategy to strike the right balance between accessibility and crowd-control. This year, that effort includes the addition of a timed entry program at the West Entrance to the Going-to-the-Sun Road and the North Fork from June 13 to Sept. 28. There had already been a reservation system in place in previous years, but this year it’s only required for these two locations, and adds a timed entry function. As always, booking these time slots may be the tricky part. Basically, you can either book your reservations 120+ days in advance, or the day before (starting June 12 at 7 p.m). Go to Recreation.gov to learn more and to book these timed entry reservations.
A Man Built A Camper So Stealthy It Looks Like A Random Stack Of Pallets
I would call myself a pretty avid camper (as it’s one of the primary ways I spend my warm weekends here in West Virginia), but I’ve never been much of an urban camper or stealth camper. However, van-life has always kind of intrigued me, and stealth camping is part of that van-life-style. In many cities it’s illegal to park a camper (or camper van for example) on a public street. (Or perhaps the illegal part may be occupying your parked vehicle overnight in street parking? I’m not sure of the technicalities.) In any case, stealth camping is basically any attempt to vehicle-camp overnight and unnoticed in urban places. I think I literally laughed out loud when I saw this guy’s clever way around such rules. The space is teeny tiny, and the windowless-ness contributes to that feeling, but it does have a little skylight to let in natural light, and it might not actually be less space than many van-life vans I’ve seen.
‘The Sandlot’ Star Patrick Renna Joins the Savannah Bananas for a Game
The Savannah Bananas are a baseball team in Savannah Georgia who are just as focused (or maybe more focused) on entertaining audiences as they are playing baseball. (They don’t even technically call it baseball, but rather “Banana Ball”.) This is the kind of thing I’d love to see if I ever had the opportunity to get reasonable tickets – a sort of cirque du soleil of sillyness. If you use social media, you may have seen some of their mid-game dance routines or flaming bats, or most recently, the appearance of the Sandlot’s Patrick Renna at the plate! (Patrick Renna was “Ham” in the Sandlot.)
He commented on the experience saying:
“I’m sorry I didn’t hit it out of the park…400 feet is a lot longer than the sandlot was. But, hey, I got a piece! Was it a meatball? Yes. But it was still a 70 MPH meatball. Fine, 63. Whatever who’s counting? Not the point! Is yellow slimming? No, no it’s not. Also not the point!
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
LoveloveLOVE the pallet camper!! My P2 and I have been known to do the occasional stealth camping while driving cross-country but that meant closing all the black-out curtains in our camper, nothing like this! We once made up a plan to buy a white van and put a magnetic sign on the door that said “Infection Disease Testing Team, under quarantine, please stay at least 50 feet from the vehicle”. Then we discovered miles and points so we’ve opted for Hyatts instead. 😉
We did GNP wheN i was little kid in the 70s and many other NP when road trips foe vacations were fairly common. Probably going to wait a few years to take P2 to GNP.
Instead for P2s Bday. We’re pivoting to five days in Banff and Lake Louise spemding a night each with FHR at Fairmont Banff and Lake Louise – we booked Fairmont Gold for Lounge access, we will probably hang mostly at the property those two days (might go horseback riding on around property.
We did Fairmont Whistler for P2s b-day this year and did Fairmont Waterfront in March when a schedule change on her flight from TPE forced an overnight stay (no other flights to PDX that night) it worked out perfect for getting over Jetlag – she would have just slept at home rather than fight it by touring Vancouver. We took advantage of stay Vancouver a killer deal on two nights with the $250cad MCGC they applied to foilo if you wanted.
The Waterfront was our first Fairmont. Now we have most of the iconic Fairmont properties booked like Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Québec for aroad trip from Rhode Island with a visit to the Berkshires, Boston, etc for the Fall foilage.
We booked inexpensive 3☆ for when we venture out into Banff NP and explore the other three days. Doing a sunrise tour of Moraine Lake to beat the tourist.
Been sitting on 62K AC miles from a year ago and had brain fart and transfered UR to AC instead of Flying blue for our EU trip
Found killer deal on tickets 28K +$78 USD on AC for.2 PAX PDX-YYC and return on UA YYC-PDX 16.2K (after Quest 10K discount) and $125K USD for 2 PAX.
Since the AC are 2+2 seating and short i flights of 1± hr didn’t opt for the free bag and seat selection 48K AC for 2. I”ll just pay for 1 Large checked bag and we will do carry-on.