Let the summer fun begin!

All right, let’s get this summer under way.

The monsoon rains finally have stopped drenching us, the long days of daylight beckon, and Going-to-the-Sun Road is open over Logan Pass.

That last benchmark always heralds the unofficial season opener for summer fun in the Flathead Valley.

Even though almost all of Glacier National Park previously was accessible to visitors, opening that last stretch of alpine highway over the pass is a psychological boost to visitors.

In effect, being able to travel over Logan Pass is equivalent to posting a sign saying, “Glacier Park is now fully open.”

So get out there and enjoy this treasure of nature during its centennial year. Glacier still is a magnificent place to go.

Speaking of bright spots, the local employment picture is improving.

Granted, the jobless rate is 11.5 percent, but that’s a full 2.3 percent less than it was at its nadir two months ago.

Perhaps this is an indication that at long last this seemingly intractable recession is loosening its grip on the Flathead Valley and Northwest Montana.

Seasonal hiring no doubt is helping improve the local job numbers, but any positive movement in those numbers means that people are getting work, which is a hopeful trend for all of us.

FINALLY, it is worth noting that the state Republican Party has jettisoned the presidential caucus voting system it used in 2008.

Good riddance.

The motives of the GOP in holding a caucus were entirely honorable. Because Montana does not have a party registration system, the official presidential primary in June allows anyone to vote — including Democrats.

That skews the results, and the state party wanted to invite Republicans to come to a caucus to express their presidential preference. Only problem was that the lack of party registration made the open caucus system a failure, too. It would have been too easy for anti-Republicans to come to the caucus and hijack it.

The unpopular alternative was to make the 2008 caucus a “closed” caucus where only Republican precinct officials and office-holders would be eligible to vote. Although anyone could attend the session, it still wound up looking like a “back-room” deal where the few decided for the many.

So in 2012 we are back to the open primary. It’s a lousy system, but it sure beats the alternative.