I went to a travel website today while planning my summer vacation to Glacier Natinal Park. To my surprise, at the Great Falls airport rental companies, convertibles were the cheapest car being offered by several hundred dollars. I quickly snatched one up but then I wondered - is there some reason these would be undesirable at Glacier? Is this an automotive bear incident waiting to happen? Or is there something else I am missing?

You might ask saintgrizzly about the rock fall that almost took him out on Going to the Sun Highway.

I was thinking that maybe a convertible would be bad if there was food or the odor of food in the car. We did not want to have easy open packaging for a bear. We are staying in East Glacier (July) but plan to be parked all day at various trailheads.

Thanks for the word about rockfall...

Rockfall scares aside, you will love having a convertible in Glacier. Without one, you may drive over a cliff as you crane your neck out the window to see the amazing scenery! I'm not kidding-- GTTS Road is very narrow in places with huge drops, and you all the time see drivers' heads out the windows and looking up.

So to steer off the topic a bit-- drive GTTS Road only early in the morning if possible. The heavy traffic and bad drivers make it slow, frustrating, and dangerous most of the rest of the day. And bring a book to read; you'll be stopping a lot so assholes can stop in the middle of the road and get out of their cars to photograph mountain goats and waterfalls.

My tone aside, I think Glacier is the most magnificent place on earth I have seen, so enjoy!

Edit: Don't worry about the food issue as long as the car has a trunk. I'd worry more about bears being able to see the food, which is why I almost always put food and coolers in the trunk, anyway.