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A Park Memory: Susan Karlstrom for Glacier National Park


A special customer, a special memory

Ed. note: Please enjoy this special customer memory from Susan Karlstrom. It’s a special one! Please note, the Glacier blanket in question has been renamed “Crown of the Continent,” one of the beautiful names for this magnificent park.

For Christmas this year my husband gave me the Glacier National Park 100th Anniversary blanket.  It’s beautiful with the profile of the Garden wall, as seen from Lake McDonald.  This is the view from my favorite spot on Earth.  The west end of the lake.

hands hold a cell phone showing a photo of Glacier National park, next to the silhouette of the glaciers on a Pendleton blanket.

My father was a naturalist for the park. As a child, the day after school was out we hit the road, Michigan to Montana in 3 days.  We had to get to the park to start our summer.

A photo of a father and two children from the 1970s.

My brother and I “grew up” in Glacier.  No tv, no phone, just outside and everything the park had to offer.  Woods, trails, streams, rivers, snow, bears, that was our summer adventure.

A young Susan Karlstrom in her overalls.

My mother was confident in our “bear skills” and always knew we would come home when hungry.  We always did.  

Today

Now, I sit with my Glacier park blanket, in Michigan, and tell my children of my incredible experiences in Glacier. I am fortunate that my family wants to return with me to Glacier and explore it together.

I still get a feeling deep in me that says it’s time to go back and to see, smell and feel Glacier, to reconnect with the park.   Fortunately, my husband is ready to go.   Now, my kids look at me and say it’s time to go back.  I could not agree more.  I am thankful it’s in them.

I am thankful that this beautiful blanket keeps us warm and keeps us planning for the next trip to Glacier this summer! The blanket is so special to me.  Someday, I know I will wrap my grandchildren in it and foster their love for Glacier too. Thank you for creating it!

Susan Karlstrom

The Crown of the Continent Pendleton blanket

See the blanket here: Glacier National Park 100th Anniversary Blanket