Looking back

Returning to Montana after 14 years is the closest thing I’ve experienced to the nostalgia of a class reunion.

I’m immune to (most of) the pangs of returning to my university alma mater, because I’ve worked there for 10 years. I don’t reflect on formative college experiences when I drive to campus on a Monday morning. And I’ve never been to a high school reunion.

But going to Glacier National Park, man, that hit me hard in the reminiscence bump feelings. I spent a summer there after college while I tried to figure out what to do with my life.

I was 22. I’m 36 now. Two different lives.

When a friend suggested camping this summer, I steered the group (most of us friends from college) to visit Glacier National Park. I’m biased, but I think it’s the best national park. Plus, I could play tour guide and show them my favorite hikes and restaurants.

In 2004, I was a bellboy in Glacier Park Lodge for the summer, right after finishing up college. I took a road trip out to Montana in a GMC Jimmy that my dad and I (mostly my dad) fixed up.

I worked from June to September. My then-girlfriend took the train out and visited me for a week, and we traveled to Canada, spent a day on the beach in Whitefish and survived a scare when my brake fluid leaked out shortly after we crossed the Continental Divide on…