Lake McDonald Lodge

Lake McDonald Lodge

I probably would have imagined how a lodge would be considered historic. Glacier National Park has several of these historic lodges and it would have been great to be able to stay in them. Unfortunately, these places tend to be beyond my price range. Back then when Montana was still considered the frontier, people would come here to vacation. Thus a lot of hotels sprung up back then. As the west was opened up, there were less people coming here. Some of the hotels stayed and became historic. True enough looking at them makes you feel it is from a bygone age. In these kinds of places, it seems fitting that they stay. Lake McDonald Lodge is one of the most well known of these lodges.

Porch at Lake McDonald Lodge

Lake McDonald Lodge was built in 1913. It is reminiscent of Swiss cottages that were popular for hotels like these. I think sitting right next to Lake McDonald is an excellent choice even if it might be little difficult to get to back then. The lodge is in a quiet side of Lake McDonald, away from Apgar village. You get the feeling of exclusivity here with the spacious lawn and car park outside the hotel. The hotel itself is a tourist attraction now and it would be the perfect place to relax and enjoy the beauty of Lake McDonald. Having said that, there are hardly any facilities outside the hotel. There is a restaurant here but visitors staying several days here would have to drive out to get food. In a sense it might be worse since this is basically in the middle of nowhere. To make up for that, the restaurant seems to be one of very high quality. Such that you don’t want to go elsewhere for dinner.

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