Cheers…

So when I get up in the morning I've been noticing that the sun has been coming up redder than normal.

This of course, gets me thinking that maybe, just maybe, I should haul myself out of bed just a little earlier than normal because, well because it just might make a good picture somewhere and it's awful hard to take good pictures while scratching your butt in bed. Trust me, I've tried.

So Sunday morning rolls around and Boy Wonder is up at 6 a.m. and I'm awake too because I went to bed at 8 p.m. the night before.

That's right, I went to bed at 8 p.m. on a Saturday night.

Don't tell anyone, but it felt good.

But normally I am not a morning person. I don't even like saying good morning. Cheery morning people remind me of my mother. Don't get me wrong, I love my mother. But she is a cheery morning person. The same cheery morning person that cheerily turned my bedroom light all through my teenaged years so I, too, could be a cheery morning person just like her.

Which is why, when I was younger, I wrote a lot of horror stories late at night.

It seemed like the thing to do.

But I digress.

Like I said it was Sunday morning and I have to admit I felt pretty good so I loaded the kid in the truck and the cameras in the truck and we went to Glacier Park right to the spot where I knew, if anything was going to happen with this sunrise, it was going to happen here.

A big swirly looking cloud hung over the Divide and it was still pretty dark and we waited. It was cool and there was a cool breeze but it wasn't horrible cold.

If the sun comes up like I think it should come up that cloud will look pretty cool and sure enough the sun did come up like I thought it would - came up better in fact. It came up and lit that cloud with a pallet of pinks and reds and even, yes, even a hint of green.

In a word, spectacular.

One of the nicest sunrises I've ever seen ever.

And then it was over. In the span of a few minutes the clouds went from red and pink and a hint of green to just yellow and another day was on its way.

But the sunrise was so nice we decided to drive to Logan Pass and went for a hike on a trail that is normally mobbed, but it was a Sunday morning after all and still pretty early and we saw just two other people, which, for this trail, is virtually empty.

On the way down the masses were unloading gear and starting up the trail because by now church had let out and regular people had had their coffee.

We watched a big flock of gray crowned rosy finches for awhile and then went home. They had many pink feathers, something I hadn't noticed before.

It's always sort of nice to be heading out of Glacier National Park as everyone else is headed in. Makes you feel sort of smug. Smug, sometimes is good.

I got home and later in the day I went into the office, which of course is always a mistake on the weekends and made the even bigger mistake of checking my messages and the last message was a doozy.

It was some guy who was angry about a bill I have nothing to do with (keep that in mind if you have a billing problem. I don't handle bills, I handle stories and photos, but not bills).

At any rate he left a message that peppered with f-bombs. A real gem.

Whew, I thought to myself. It's good to be back in the Valley.

Just great.

Glad I made it.

I missed it soooo much.

Chris Peterson is the editor of the Hungry Horse News.