Your Glacier National Park Adventure Starts Here

Mark Howser, Colleen O’Brien, Our Sons and Daughter

AND a whole lot of Incredible co-workers.

Mark came to East Glacier in 1995 on a USA Rail Pass. It was his first and only stop. After going back to Missouri to get his VW bus, he made East Glacier home. He bought the Two Medicine Grill and Whistling Swan Motel in 1996. In 2003 he purchased the Glacier Park Trading Company. In 2013 we opened The Rock 'n Roll Bakery; Gear & Goodness. He's dedicated to keeping the Trading Company open year-round so community members have a place to buy ingredients for a salad. In September 2024 Matt Lyson purchased the Two Medicine Grill assuming the reins of this good old fashioned diner.

Colleen vacationed in Glacier in 1989 and was struck by the thought "some people get to live here." She finally got to be one of them the summer of 1994 when she hired on at the Park Cafe. Years later, she was able to become a year-round East Glacier resident. She taught English at Blackfeet Community College and spent her summers working for the Park Service as a permit writer and on trail crew. She met Mark at the Fireman's Ball—a grand affair complete with metal folding chairs and the local band. He proposed above Dawson Pass on a snowy October day.

Colleen’s novel Baited is forthcoming from Unbridled Books in June of 2025. The summer of the grizzly bear DNA study a trail crew worker goes to roust her buddy and finds his tent shredded. She teams up with the district ranger to find the missing man. Together they untangle a knot of misdeeds and betrayals. Baited grapples with personal loss, the controversy over how to best manage grizzly bears, and how to behave honorably in an unjust world. Get your copy at the Glacier Park Trading Company or wherever you purchase books.

Her writing has been published in Montana Quarterly, Flathead Living, Whitefish Review, Inside Weddings, The Chronicle of Higher Education and on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency as well as in the anthologies “A Mile in Her Boots: Women Who Work in the Wild,” “Bright Bones: Contemporary Montana Writing,” and “A View Inside Glacier National Park: 100 Years, 100 Stories.”

Our oldest son helps out working in the store and around the motel when he’s not busy playing baseball or with his drum major duties for the high school band. Our daughter consults on our t-shirt, book and jewelry selection. She loves playing softball and creating art and is always willing to spot-check baked goods. She makes a mean pizza. Our youngest enjoys people, conversation and using the pricing gun. He keeps morale high with his boundless enthusiasm.

Our Staff - We are fortunate to work with a brilliant group of outdoor enthusiasts, photographers, philosophers, snow boarders, skiers, mountaineers, and all-around great people who love Glacier National Park and do an excellent job in the Rock ‘n Roll Bakery, Two Medicine Grill, Glacier Park Trading Company and Whistling Swan Motel.