South Alberta - Fields, farmers, cowboy’s flatlands are surely what spring to mind.
Although you can be sure to find lots of wheat fields, some wind turbines, flatbed trucks and wrangler jeans in this area, if you put your foot on the pedal a little bit longer and head adjacent to the Canada - US boarder you will discover one of Southern Alberta’s hidden gems ‘Glacier National Park’.
I remember being a child and going for picnics with my family and grandparents, just a short jaunt in the automobile from Lethbridge to the mountains. What always sticks out from those memories was the deep red colors of the rock surfaces, the wonderful smell of forest and the mountain goats that used to lick the exhaust pipes of your parked car!!!! We used to bring picnic lunches and wander the ‘Red Rock Canyon’ along the riverbed for hours on end.
Waterfalls, mountain trails, rocks, blue lakes like you’ve never seen, and adventures for days.
If we were lucky we’d see other wildlife like Moose, Elk, Bison, the cutest chipmunks and we hoped and prayed we wouldn’t encounter a bear (although secretly we wanted those photos…from a safe distance mind you!!!)
This summer I got to go on another picnic at the National Park, this time to show my Scottish friend it’s beauty. The memories arose and new ones were made as we sat at the shore of ‘Upper Waterton Lake’, chucking pebbles into the deep blue (or is it green you tell me!) water, basking in the sunshine. We found a shady spot to escape the heat and devoured our picnic lunch (I sure do miss those ‘All Dressed chips’ now that I am back in the UK).
After checking out ‘Cameron Falls’ and taking a dip in ‘Cameron Lake’ we encountered some friendly deer as we sauntered through the wee town exploring their tourist traps and taking full advantage of their wonderful ice cream shop ‘Big Scoop Ice Cream Parlor’ (trust me the scoops are BIG!!) then we ventured into the ‘Prince of Whales’ Hotel for a peek at what we could only dream of affording to stay at one day.
The Prince of Whales Hotel was fashioned sometime from 1926 - 1927, by ‘the Great Northern Railway of the U.S. to lure tourists during the prohibition time’ (1). It sure was amusing to see the staff dressed in Kilts serving guests in the fancy hotel nestled in the mountains!!!!
Although our time there was short I’m so happy to have been able to re-visit a childhood favorite and hope that if you ever get there you enjoy the stunning nature as much as we did!!!
References
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_of_Wales_Hotel
