First lady vacationing with friends in Glacier

GLACIER NATIONAL PARK, Mont. – First lady Laura Bush, vacationing here this week with four childhood friends, is keeping such a low profile that even some park workers were not aware she is in the park.

Bush, who canceled plans to visit Glacier last summer because of wildfires that closed much of the park, apparently arrived in Montana on Saturday with friends, and attended a private reception at a home on Lake McDonald.

She later checked in to the Many Glacier Hotel on the park’s east side.

Bell clerk Ron Hoppner, 23, a University of Montana student, said Bush’s entourage has “kept the first lady and her party pretty well removed from most of us employees.”

Cindy Ognjanov, president of Glacier Park Inc., the private company that runs the park hotels, said few employees were told any details because Bush wanted to keep things quiet.

“She came with her friends so she wanted to be left alone,” Ognjanov said.

“The Secret Service agents couldn’t tell us enough times that this is her personal vacation and it was not political. She just wanted to have a good time.”

Still, it hasn’t been easy for the first lady and her party to go completely unnoticed.

Kathryn Hiestand, manager of the Park Cafe in St. Mary, south of Many Glacier, said the first lady and her friends ate breakfast there Sunday morning.

“She was very friendly and gracious,” Hiestand said, adding that Bush ordered eggs, bacon and a cornmeal muffin.

Randy Gayner, owner of Glacier Wilderness Guides, said Monday that one of his outfitters is leading the Bush party on a trip in the Glacier area, at least a portion of it on horseback, for a few more days; but said he couldn’t say exactly where they were or what they were doing.

“We’re being told by the Secret Service not to say much,” Gayner said.

“I’m not in direct contact with them, but the Secret Service has told me that everything is fine and they’re all having a great time.”