Day two started with a omen - free Tim Hortons. Yes, a free iced cappuccino for me and a free coffee for my Uncle Lenox. A nice cowboy (hat and boots gave it away) in line in front of us bought our drinks before we could get up to the counter to order. As we walked up to the Tim Hortons that was conveniently located minutes from our hotel, we held the door open for this gentleman and began to stare at the menu. We failed to notice where the line really started and by the time we figured it out we were a good 5 people behind the cowboy that we held the door. He offered to let us in line in front of him, but we option not to anger those behind him and politely declined. Then when we made it to the counter, they informed us our drinks had already been purchased and the cowboy was heading out the door holding up a wave. A nice kind guesture and a great way to start our trip.
We made it back to the bus just in time to load up - Kelley clan in the back occuping 14 seats and hopeful we woudln't have to rotate with the rest of the group and could remain in the back. We took off through Calgary, a city with a population of just over a million to our knowledge. They recently experienced a housing boom and we also learned that Alberta is home to the second largest oil reserve in the world - just north of Edmonton.
We traveled south to visit Ft. MacLeod's replica on our way to our next 2-day destination, Waterton National Park (the smallest national park on our journey). Ft. MacLeod's original location has been flooded, so they re-built it a bit north so people could still see a piece of history. The fort was originally estblished to lay down some law on the whiskey & gun traders, while making peace with the First Nationers (Native Americans). Today the fort features a lot of historical artifacts including a scale from Dayton, Oh (yeah, seriously, I come all the way to Alberta to see something from Dayton).
Following our short stay at Fort MacLeod, we headed on into Waterton National Park and got our first glimps of the Canadian Rockie Mountains, but not without passing a half a million air-power turbines (Alberta has more than any other provence). We all kind of went photo crazy trying to catch some mountains, but little did we know we were headed for 2-days in between huge peaks. Our hotel, Bayshore Inn, sits on Waterton Lake - literally. As I write I can see the lake and a huge mountain peak from my hotel bed. Amazing.
We arrived in Waterton just in time for lunch, so we were directed over to a neighboring hotel for a bite to eat. All fourteen of us piled into two big tables and some got a little adventureous. Aunt Dottie ordered a wild hog burger with sweet and savory chutney and both Uncle Jerome and Zeke ordered bison burgers. I stuck with beef since we had more to see that day, but I have a suspicion I received an elk burger because oddly enough the receip said elk and not beef!
After lunch we boarded the bus for Cameron Lake - where we were greated with freezing cold temperatures, an icy mountain and a bit of snowfall before we returned back down the mountain to our hotel. It was a nice pit stop and we took our group photo with an ice packed mountain towering over the chilly lake. We didn't stay long, but long enough for Zeke to grab a video of Jeremy Schuler diving face first into a snow bank and Dana snapped a few shots of Zeke trying to catch snowflakes in his mouth.
We returned to our hotel and set off on our own to hike to Cameron Falls. A nice short walk that lead to picturesque waterfalls shooting out into a mountain stream. We climbed to the top along the path and were greeted by four wild deer that were as tame as puppies and walked right next to us as they grazed for dinner. As the weather continued to turn on a dime, our bright sunny afternoon soon turned dark and a hail storm chased us back to our hotel.
Dinner was in the hotel restuarant - a nice Mediteranean stuffed chicken with potatoes and chocolate mousse for dessert. We had a nice time at dinner as today is Christopher Schuler's birthday. His dad suprised him with confetti and cake featuring trick sparking candles. Half the entertainment came from Christopher's brother Jeremy trying to steal his cake and him successfully fighting him off.
Following dinner we all went to check out the shops in town, however, Zeke and Jeremy had other plans in mind - an little dip in the chilly lake. Not sure who's idea it was, but Jeremy ended up jumping into the lake and Zeke filmed it. I would guess the temerature was somewhere around 30 degrees since I was wearing a fleece, stocking cap, scarf and gloves.
While we were out shopping, I picked up some postcards of the places we visited and found some fantastic fleece lined wool mittens. No way my hands will be cold for ice skating next year! I couldn't pass up these amazingly warm accessories, even though it's in the 80's back home.
Before retiring to our hotel, we visited a chocolate shop (expensive) and connected pie shop - yes all pies and coffees that are freshly baked on site. The woman that ran the shop and baked the pies was exceptionally nice and took a liking to Uncle Lenox. He's going to have some coffee with Uncle Jerome there tomorrow and we'll see if he gets some more free goodies like today :)
No comments:
Post a Comment