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National Parks are the go-to summer vacation destination for 2021. At the top of many bucket lists is one park in particular: Glacier. With sweeping vistas, incredible hiking, abundant wildlife, and cool alpine lakes, it’s no wonder this particular slice of the great outdoors has seen an increase in visitation this summer. In fact, to mitigate the crowds, there is a reservation system currently in place for much of the park.

It’s provel useful. But more than a little frustrating.

I’ve visited Glacier three times now and just got back from my latest solo visit. I’m not great at pre-planning and, in dealing with the reservation system, I learned a lot. I didn’t quite figure it all out quickly enough for me to have a perfectly smooth visit, but I can help you have one.

Because you definitely should still visit. The crowds are there for a reason.

Know before you go:

Reservations:

The most crucial thing to know before a trip to Glacier NP this summer is that you will need a reservation to access most of it. The jaw-dropping (and crowded) Going-to-the-Sun Road is reservation-only between 6 am and 5 pm every day. Sure, it’s just one road in a park of nearly 1,600 square miles, but it’s not to be missed.

One, because it looks like this:

And two, because it’s the only road to access anything between the West Glacier and St. Mary’s entrances — the two most popular. The 50-mile road winds through some of the most amazing scenery in North America. From lakes to mountain passes, lodges, hikes, and boat tours.

Let me be crystal clear: you want to drive this road at least once in your life.

Not surprisingly, reservations are extremely hard to come by. About ¾ of the entry tickets are released 60 days in advance here. The rest are distributed on a rolling basis two days before your park entry date at 8 am MST sharp.

The tickets go fast. Really fast. I’ve talked to several people who were never able to secure one and I had to try for several days before I did. Some tips:

• Start trying to secure a reservation earlier than your estimated arrival date. The entry tickets are valid for 7 days and you can enter at any time during that period. So, for example, if you wanted to be on the road July 23 and 24, you could start trying for a reservation on July 16 for a reservation that would be valid July 18-24.
• Have an account set up on recreation.gov in advance, be logged in, and have your payment info saved. Then you’re ready right at 8 am.
• Refresh, refresh, refresh. I got the error message “too many people are attempting to make this reservation” over and over, but I just kept refreshing and trying again. It took until the 4th day of trying that I finally somehow went from an error message to a ticket in my cart. It was stressful but worth it.

If you get that reservation:

Even with an entry ticket, you’ll still need to pay the vehicle fee or present your America the Beautiful pass in addition to the $2 entry reservation. Have the pdf saved on your device and a screenshot that clearly shows your name and entry date.

The rangers have a pretty organized system when you arrive, so you won’t be able to work your way in without it. I’d say at least half of the cars in line each time I entered were turned around because they didn’t have the reservation.

If you don’t get a reservation:

Bummer. But all is not lost. There are some workarounds and other options.

If you have accommodations or a guided tour somewhere along the road you don’t need an entry ticket. This includes camping, lodging, boat tours, etc. Although, as you might imagine, many of these are fully booked for at least a month out.

If you are on foot or bike you don’t need a reservation. I wouldn’t recommend walking in, as the road is 50 miles, but biking is a great option. Some parts of the road are closed to biking between 11 am and 4 pm though — so make sure you have a plan.

Another option is to just enter the park before 6 am or after 5 pm. The sun rises before 6 am in West Glacier and after 9 pm in July, so you’ll still have plenty of daylight either way.

There are also other entrances in Glacier! They don’t link up to the Going-to-the-Sun road, but they are similarly gorgeous, with plenty to do. Entrances at Many Glacier, Two Medicine, Polebridge, or along Highway 2 do not require any reservations.

How to get there:

GNP is remote. Like, “part of the park is on the Canadian border”-remote. The nearest airport is in Kalispell (just over 30 miles from the West Glacier entrance) but many people opt for a road trip or train ride. Amtrak is incredibly convenient in Glacier. It stops in West Glacier, Whitefish, and East Glacier. In fact, the Amtrak station was directly outside of my hotel, Glacier Park Lodge in East Glacier. I’d love to ride the rails next time.

And of course, a long road trip across the west to an iconic National Park is about as quintessentially “American summer” as you can get. You will need a car in Glacier so driving is a great option if you are anywhere near. It’s about 10 hours from Seattle, 14 from Denver, and just under 20 from San Francisco.

Accommodations:

While there are more boutique accommodations opening up all the time around Glacier, it can still be tricky to find some that are available. I camped during my previous trips to Glacier (outside of the park due to quick filling campsites). There are nine campgrounds open within the park this season, with two being reservation only. The others are first-come-first-serve, but I heard from everyone I talked to that there is a line each morning at 6 am for those.

In short: get up early or reserve one of the many private campsites outside of the park.

This year I stayed in two Pursuit Glacier Park properties during my latest stay. One in Whitefish and one in East Glacier. Pursuit runs eleven properties in and outside of the park along with other shops, restaurants, and activities. I was also super grateful to be able to snag a room at Glacier Park Lodge at the last minute, a historic lodge that was built over 100 years ago by the Great Northern Railway.

Once you’ve got a plan for entry and accommodations there is a never-ending list of things to do within the park. So many that I’ll be detailing them in another piece. But you truly cannot go wrong here. Just make sure you get in.

Donald Trump is collecting new enemies in his quest to remain in the news with a potential run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. The twice-impeached former head of state and failed blogger is apparently furious with Florida governor Ron DeSantis for even thinking about campaigning for the gig himself. And as it turns out the Twitter-less Trump has frustrated even his closest allies well before the January 6 insurrection attempt that made him a disgrace among all but his biggest supporters.

In a lengthy inside look at the final days of his presidency from the Wall Street Journal, new details about a fiery interaction between Trump and then-vice president Mike Pence emerged on Thursday. The piece is full of the usual Trump bizarro world things like potentially hiring people with neo-Nazi ties and “crazies” taking over his administration in the waning months as he tried in vain to find ways to overturn his election loss. But there was also a description of a conflict that showed just how off-base Trump was from reality years before he convinced himself he won an election he lost by millions of votes and a sizable margin in the Electoral College.

By January, Mr. Trump’s attention had turned to his vice president, who was responsible for presiding over the Jan. 6 congressional certification of the election. The two men had debated for weeks whether Mr. Pence could reject the results.

Trump, as you likely recall, wanted Pence to overturn the election and declare him the winner instead of certifying the Electoral College results on January 6, which was generally seen as a ceremonial job more than anything until Trump’s wonky constitutional scholars started looking for long shots. Pence, of course, said no and got a crowd of Trump-fueled insurrectionists storming the US Capitol trying to find and kill him for his efforts. But it apparently wasn’t the first time he’d stood up to Trump.

The only example some administration officials could remember was in 2018, when Mr. Pence’s political committee hired Corey Lewandowski, the president’s ubiquitous adviser. Mr. Trump was holding a newspaper article about the hiring and said it made him look weak, like his team was abandoning him as he was probed for his campaign’s role in Russian election meddling. He crumpled the article and threw it at his vice president. “So disloyal,” Mr. Trump said.

Mr. Pence lost it. Mr. Kushner had asked him to hire Mr. Lewandowski, and he had discussed the plan with Mr. Trump over lunch. Mr. Pence picked up the article and threw it back at Mr. Trump. He leaned toward the president and pointed a finger a few inches from his chest. “We walked you through every detail of this,” Mr. Pence snarled. “We did this for you—as a favor. And this is how you respond? You need to get your facts straight.”

It’s certainly the most animated report we’ve seen about Pence’s behavior, as he’s distanced himself from Trump in recent months to say the least but not said anything notably critical of him publicly. The report, which has plenty of behind-the-scenes details about the final days in Trumpworld, certainly makes it clear that Trump was frustrating just about everyone who worked with him. Even well ahead of his spiral into delusion about the election that’s continued into the present.

One of the biggest NBA stories in recent weeks was the Portland Trail Blazers hiring Chauncey Billups as head coach. It was a big story mostly due to rape allegations against Billups from 1997 (when he was playing for the Boston Celtics) and whether or not that should disqualify him for being a head coach. The Blazers only added fuel to the fire when they shut down questioning at Billups’ introductory press conference about the allegation and general manager Neil Olshey say said, “You’re just going to have to take our word,” when asked about the investigation the team ran about the incident during the hiring process.

On Thursday, in his first public comments in a media setting since the hiring, Portland star guard Damian Lillard shared his thoughts on the hire and how he felt about it after the allegations came back to light. Speaking after USA Basketball practice, Lillard said he didn’t know about the allegations when the search process started, and that it wasn’t his place to tell the team who to hire and who to not.

“When I said that I didn’t know, I meant, right away when we let Terry go, I was asked about names that had been floated out there. And of the ones that had been floated out there, I said I like J-Kidd and I like Chauncey,” Lillard said, per Bleacher Report’s Sean Highkin. “At that time, I had no idea of any of it. When I did learn of it and the process continued, I never felt like it was my job or my duty to say ‘do this’ or ‘don’t do this.’ I do my job, I improve my game and show up as the point guard of the team. In the past, I’ve never stepped on anybody’s toes or demanded anything or told anybody what to do and it was no different in this situation. That’s all I can really say. I’ve known Chauncey before and I never knew of that until this coaching process came into play. Our organization said they did a thorough investigation and went through everything, they went through the process of hiring a coach as they did, in a comfortable way. That’s not my decision or my job to say ‘This guy is hired ‘ or ‘This guy’s not hired ‘ or anything. This is what it is now. So here we are.”

Lillard’s comments are notable in that he seems to be distancing himself from how the Blazers handled the hiring and the reaction to it, particularly after his interactions with some fans on Twitter over the situation garnered plenty of attention and led to murmurs of him potentially looking to get out of Portland. He now seems to be trying to indicate he plans on moving forward with Billups regardless. But Lillard is also a star player with the clout to have his voice heard on this if he wanted to. As he himself said in the same scrum, if he had something to say, he’d say it directly.

Dua Lipa may have to hand over a large amount of cash after she was sued for posting a photo snapped by the paparazzi to her Instagram page. Integral Images filed an eight-page complaint in California court on July 6 that accuses the Future Nostalgia singer of copyright infringement. It adds that Lipa shared an image owned by Integral Images to her Instagram page in February 2019 “without permission or authorization.” The company also pointed out that she uses her Instagram account as a marketing tool to bring in more revenue.

“The Account is monetized in that it contains content designed to accumulate followers who are directed to, via link and/or advertisement, consume and purchase Defendant’s content, Defendant profits from these activities,” the complaint reads. As a result, Integral Images is seeking $150,000 in damages or “an award of actual damages and disgorgement of all of Defendant’s profits attributable to the infringements,” whichever is the higher amount. They also seek an order that would instruct the singer from committing any future acts of infringement as well as coverage for litigation costs and attorney fees.

The screenshot of the singer’s Instagram post in question, one that depicts Lipa at the airport while wearing a large hat, was also included in the complaint. According to Billboard, representatives for both Lipa and Integral Images failed to immediately return the publication’s request for comment.

The incident comes after Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber were both sued in 2019 for posting paparazzi-taken pictures of themselves.

Dua Lipa is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Alright, listen, I’m just as mad as you are that this post exists. But here we are, stuck in a world where instant replay is changing how sporting events are officiated all across the globe, and now, the Scripps National Spelling Bee — THE SPELLING BEE — is being taken over by replay. I hate this so much.

Thursday night marked the final of the year’s Spelling Bee, and one of the contestants, Roy Seligman, spelled “ambystoma” wrong. You can probably guess how the misspelling went — the “y” was turned into an “i” — but an issue arose: Seligman was told his misspelled version was correct.

According to Maria Cramer of the New York Times, “The judges are listening to a replay to determine whether he gave it a Y or an I. His father shakes his head as they wait for the judges’ decision.”

THEY WENT TO REPLAY. THEY WENT TO INSTANT REPLAY IN THE SPELLING BEE.

The official Spelling Bee Twitter account went on to apologize for [gestures at everything].

Ok, I am sorry, we do not need this. For one, just, you know, listen to the kids a little better, and if you, the judge, mess up, then too bad, the kid stays in the Spelling Bee, and it is your fault. But more broadly, the Spelling Bee is supposed to be one of the final sporting events that is totally free from the crap we get in all the other sports that we watch where instant replay has ruined everything, all because one slightly incorrect decision could lead to a domino effect that costs people millions. Get this Spelling Bee VAR out of here this instant. I do not like it.

Wendy Williams is certainly no stranger to clips of her show going viral, but a bewildering segment from this week slipped into the truly bizarre. The clip from Wendy is truly something you need to see to believe, as describing what actually happens pales in comparison to what transpires on the next 75 seconds of television.

The clip first circulated on Wednesday but it gained steam in earnest on Thursday, presumably because people actually watched until the end. What was just a weird, somewhat aimless comparison of Williams’ social media following with a TikTok star had a twist that even the best screenwriters and comedians would struggle to come up with for themselves.

The clip begins with Williams setting up her Hot Topics segment, which apparently was about a TikTok star that goes by the name Swavy. Real name Matima Miller, the 19-year-old has more than 2.5 million followers on TikTok and a wide following on other social media platforms. In fact, Williams used an image from his Instagram profile to set up the segment.

For some reason, though, the meandering introduction was framed by Williams’ frustration that Swavy has more followers on TikTok than she does, mostly because she is not on the platform and “as far as TikTok, I don’t use that at all. I don’t know what that is and I don’t want to be involved.”

It’s, well, weird. Because for starters, Williams seems pretty unsure who the person the segment is even about is in the first place.

“I have no idea who this person is,” Williams says. “Neither does one person in this building.”

Williams asks the audience if they knew who he is. It’s a bit uncomfortable, and the cuts to a confused audience going along with the segment adds to the tension. Williams then commands people who know Swavy to cheer, and a few do. She then complains that he has more followers than she does, before a member of her crew reminds her that she has more Instagram followers than he does. Thankfully, her audience cheers the news that she’s beating him on Instagram.

It’s awkward television, for sure, but then it gets even weirder when Williams jumps right into announcing that the 19-year-old Miller was tragically shot and killed this week. It’s entirely unclear why this introduction of a person she had “no idea” existed needed to be brought up on the show, or handled that flippantly. But when the clip circulated online people were shocked by its contents and conclusion to say the least.

Basically, no one could comprehend that this was real and the news was broke that way.

While the reaction on Twitter and elsewhere boiled over, it’s unclear if the segment had reached those who knew the tragically killed young man mentioned in the video above. His family hasn’t seemed to directly address the Williams clip, as they apparently had to fight to get his TikTok page back online in the wake of his death. But they did eulogize Miller on social media.

Miller’s family has set up a GoFundMe, if you’re interested in donating.

Following his 2019 EP, Falling Man, which he described as a “death and rebirth” during an interview with Uproxx, Duckwrth wiped off the debris off himself to start a new chapter in his career. That would turn out to be his 2020 project, SuperGood, an effort that made the fall and rise discussed on his 2019 project, at least somewhat worth it. Now, nearly a year removed from SuperGood, Duckwrth is preparing to share a new project with fans, but not without gracing them with a new video for his latest single, “Make U Go.”

The visual begins with Duckwrth cheerily walking through a park as he sings about a woman in his life and the good moments he hopes to bring to her. The camera soon pans away from him and next appears the woman in question on the screen. Duckwrth later returns to stand by her side while declaring the additional ways he plans to treat her right.

The “Make U Go” video arrives ahead of Duckwrth’s upcoming EP, SuperGood 8. The project will arrive in early September and it’s just a small bit of the music fans can expect from the singer in the coming future. Duckwrth is also slated to appear beside Cordae on “Settle The Score” from the upcoming soundtrack for the Space Jam: A New Legacy film.

You can watch the video for “Make U Go” above.

Cordae is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

For someone who delivered three albums in a matter of eighteen months, DaBaby is certainly taking his time with his upcoming fourth album. It’s been more than a year since the North Carolina native shared a project with fans, but it looks like all of that is going to change soon.

The rapper took to his Instagram Story to share a very bold update on his upcoming album.

“This will be my third consecutive No. 1 album,” he said which means the project would join 2019’s Kirk and 2020’s Blame It On Baby as the chart-topping albums on his resume. That is, if his prediction is correct. Next, DaBaby took a moment to deliver a stern and harsh message to his haters.

“All you dirty ass dog d*ckriding, hating ass b*tches understand me, when this new one drop, I’ma politely let you motherfu*kers get right back on this d*ck,” he said while laughing. He added, “I’m the best at doing what I do…New album on the way, will be a No. 1 album.”

DaBaby’s message comes a month after he claimed rappers are “scared” to work with him because he’s “the best.” “Best mf rapper & I’m on ALLLAT shit these n****s LIE about,” he declared. “I’m him frfr. If a n**** ain’t tryna work with the real thang he SCARED. The best supposed to compete w/ the best These n****s just TALK like they like dat SHUUUUT UP.”

You can watch DaBaby’s bold proclamation in the video above.

PJ Tucker has long held the title of the NBA’s sneaker king. Tucker has long worn rare sneakers before and during games, sometimes even stunning the likes of Michael Jordan with Jordan PEs that even the man himself had never seen before.

Tucker’s sneaker choices are fodder for Sneaker Twitter to go crazy over almost every game, but on Thursday he managed to one-up himself as he arrived to the Phoenix Suns Arena for Game 2 of the NBA Finals wearing the Nike MAG Back to the Future.

The original 2011 release saw 1,500 pairs made, with them currently going for north of $12,000 on the secondary market, but these appear to be the 2016 release (as evidenced by the blue lighting of the midsole) which had only 89 pairs made and were given away in a raffle to benefit the Parkinson’s Foundation (raising over $6 million) and now go on the secondary market for a staggering $50,000. Tucker regularly wears extra-rare sneakers and player exclusives that have only seen a few pairs made — ahead of Game 1 he had on some Oregon 13s that were a Friends and Family release — but breaking out the MAGs is taking it to a whole different level and it’s hard to see how he tops this one.

The Brooklyn Nets put together one of the best offensive seasons in the history of the NBA in 2020-21, but they largely did it without Spencer Dinwiddie. Dinwiddie, a multi-talented 28-year-old guard, suffered a partially torn ACL after just three games and, in addition to leaving a hole in Brooklyn’s perimeter rotation, he also missed most of the season just before he was eligible to hit unrestricted free agency. While Dinwiddie did have a $12.3 million player option, he is reportedly seeking a lofty deal, either from the Nets or another franchise, and Dinwiddie recently spoke to Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated about his upcoming free agency.

The entire interview will certainly be worth listening to but, in the clip above, Dinwiddie cites the Nets as having “the ability to do something that other people can’t,” even while acknowledging he isn’t expecting every last dollar that he could possibly receive under the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. In short, Brooklyn can exceed the salary cap to give Dinwiddie any contract up to the individual max, as the Nets have Dinwiddie’s Bird Rights in advance of free agency. “If the Nets come to the table like that and they’re being aggressive saying ‘Hey, we got five (years) and 125 (million) for you,’ I would say there’s a high likelihood that I go back to the Nets,” Dinwiddie said.

It is worth noting that the Nets are already projected to be well into the luxury tax, making a massive commitment to Dinwiddie financially painful, but he is correct in noting that the franchise can give him more money than any other under the NBA’s salary cap rules, and they are also the only team that can give him a fifth year. Later in the interview, he notes that “anybody can do that” when discussing offers of three years and $60 million, which may be a bit aggressive, but it is clear that Dinwiddie is envisioning a (very) large payday in the near future.

On one hand, Brooklyn is on the short list of teams that don’t necessarily have a glaring need for what Dinwiddie provides, as his primary value would be as an on-ball creator and the Nets have plenty of options with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. As such, it might make sense for both parties to move on. However, Dinwiddie’s market could be challenging as he comes off a long-term knee injury and, for the Nets, they have no way to replace his salary slot as a team that is already operating well over the cap. As a result, Dinwiddie’s free agent machinations will be highly interesting to die-hard NBA observers, and the veteran guard seems to want to stick around in Brooklyn, provided they pay him handsomely to do so.