Waterton Lakes

If you ever get the chance to travel up north, you must, must, must visit Waterton Lakes, Alberta!  Waterton is one of our most favorite places that we have ever been.  If we could figure out a way to get there that wouldn’t take two days, we would spend a lot more time in the area.

Waterton is the Canada side of Glacier National Park, so it’s located above Montana.  It is home to the historic Prince of Wales Hotel (in the upper right hand of the photo).  This hotel is stunning inside.  It’s nice to visit, but we would prefer to stay down in the village or townsite as some folks call it. 

This time we stayed right in the middle of the townsite, in a “chateau”. Fancy schmancy.  Actually we didn’t know what to expect and we both agreed that we got pretty lucky on this one.  The complex was basically a dead-end street of these buildings (each one a different color).  There were six to eight separate rooms in each one.  Our room was on the bottom right.  Those are our green lawn chairs, where we spent some quality time people watching.

 

The thing about the townsite is that it’s pretty much four blocks north to south and four blocks east to west. Our “chateau” was right in the middle.  We wanted dinner, we walked across the street.  We wanted to do some shopping, we walked across the street.  We wanted to enjoy a beer, we walked across the street.  We wanted a fancy coffee in the morning, we walked across the street.  We wanted to see a movie, we walked across the street.  We wanted an ice cream, we walked across the street.  Unfortunately the ice cream shoppe was already closed for the season.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was dinner at the Lampost Restaurant.  I believe that this is the only five-star dining establishment that I have ever eaten at.  The food was so good!!!  Last time I ordered the cedar plank salmon.  You could keep the cedar plank as a souvenir.  I am guessing that not many of the cliental asked to keep it, but I surely did!  We hauled that stinky cedar plank all the way back from Canada.

On this leg of the trip we would be celebrating a milestone.  The tenth anniversary of our first date.  Wow, ten years.  We were so looking forward to another fine dinner at the Lampost.  Imagine my surprise as we pulled into town to find this:

It may not look like anything to you, and that’s because there isn’t anything there!  The Lampost burned down two years ago!  What!!!  All that is left is a large, overgrown hole in the ground where the only five-star restaurant I could say I ate at used to be.  Thank goodness I still have the cedar plank to prove it.  It was time to come up with a back-up plan.

The first morning we were in Waterton Scott got up early to take pictures.  I had made it clear the night before that I had no intention of getting up early.  I was taking the day off.  My plan was to sleep in, drink a fancy coffee, and do some shopping. 

Early morning here is very quiet.

Not many people are out and about.  But you are likely to spot one of these guys.  Another thing that Waterton is famous for.

This little guy was enjoying a morning of playing around in the meadow.

That was until mama came along and made sure that her cubs weren’t up to too much mischief.  I think she was also keeping an eye on everyone who were keeping on eye on her babies.

The second full day we were in Waterton was our first date anniversary.  We decided that, in honor of ten years together, we would go on a ten mile hike.  Why not, right?

We rode the International across Middle Waterton Lake.  You have two options on this boat ride.  1. You can buy a round-trip ticket and ride across and back, or 2. You can buy a one-way ticket and ride across and hike back.  It sounds like a good idea, until the boat pulls away from the dock and your only option becomes hiking the 9 miles back.

One unique tidbit about this boat ride is that Middle Waterton Lake is half in Canada and half in the United States.  If you are riding both ways, no worries; but if you are hiking back, it’s considered technically crossing the border and you have to go through customs in the United States once the boat drops you off.

Even though we have been to Canada before, both Scott and I got our first official stamp in our Passports.  The customs agent would not allow Scott to take his picture while he was stamping them.

After making it through customs, we were on our way.

Sometimes the trail was easy to define.

Sometimes it was overgrown and questionable.

Making sure that Scott followed the rules of not taking anything from the National Park with him, we stopped a few times to take care of rock issues.

About halfway through the hike, we crossed back into Canada.  These markers on either side of the lake line up to define the international boundary line.

We stopped a couple of times along the lake to enjoy a snack and the scenery.

These people were also enjoying the lake, canoeing topless!

By the afternoon the hazy smoke from a nearby fire had rolled into town.

Towards the end, I was starting to believe that the trail would never end.  I was beginning to think we may never make it back.

We did eventually make it back, but not before we shared an international moment.  Each of us is standing in a different country.  You can see the international boundary line cut through the trees across the lake.

Our time in Waterton did not disappoint.  We both agree that this will not be our last time visiting this place.  But, after three days, we headed home. 

The drive we had planned to do over the last three days of our vacation, we decided to do in two very long days in order to get back a day early.  Our plan was to not get home until Sunday, September 11th, but due to some things that came up, we busted butt to get home on Saturday the 10th.

I have a couple of more postings about our vacation, so check back soon for those.  Thank you for joining us on this journey.  We are definitely ready to get back to the journey of everyday life for a while.