Vacations so totally rock!

I'm sort of tired this evening.

It'll be a little past midnight when I finally post this, but we arrived home from our vacation down south this afternoon.  We've done a fair bit of unpacking, some grocery shopping, and our house isn't nearly as messy as the state in which we left my in-laws' place Friday morning.

It was a very busy week away from home, and I don't discount lounging on the couch watching Blade 2 on TBS from being busy.  It totally was.

The easiest sort of holiday recap is the photographical sort, so I'll focus just on the little getaway Amy and I took overnight to Waterton, an hour and a bit away from her folks' house, but a stunningly gorgeous place to go.  Also, as you can see from the photo of the sign on the right, potentially dangerous.

But don't worry -- we both got home alive and relatively unscathed.

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Amy's been regaling me with tales of her previous trips to Waterton for the past six years now.  This being my first time, I had set my expectations pretty high.  The drive there is stunningly gorgeous.  Unlike other parts of the Rocky Mountains, there are no foothills to whet your appetite for the peaks.

It's just prairie, and then BAM!  Big-ass mountains.

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When we arrived in the actual town site, we were greeted by a crew of the Waterton Lake Landscaping Services Inc. hard at work.  One of them may have deigned to look at us, but so engrossed were they in the task at hand (hoof?) that they couldn't really be bothered.

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One of our first stops (after visiting every single one of the gift shops in the town and eating over-sized waffle ice-cream cones) was a quick jaunt around Cameron Falls.  Here, at the bridge near the foot of the falls, we see a squirrel chipmunk most definitely NOT chewing on a cheezie we certainly didn't give him.  Grabbed right out of our hands.  A couple times.

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We took one of the thrice-daily ferry rides that spends two and a half hours touring up and down Waterton Lake, where the winds gusts, on average, about 20 miles per hour every day.  There were only about a half dozen of us hearties that braved the open upper deck for the entire trip.

This is the most plain picture of this small series, but sort of the neatest.  That, my friends, is the 49th Parallel.  To the left is Alberta, and to the right, Montana.  Something I didn't know is that the entire stretch of over 5,000 kilometres is maintained with that same degree of precision and diligence.  Hewn over mountain tops through boreal forests, and mowed over prairies -- that perfectly straight, razor thin line gives no quarter to geography and is maintained with an unwavering vigilance that beats back the encroachment of nature upon the arbitrary demarcations of man.

As can be seen when viewed like this, there is no difference between Canada and the good ol' U. S. of A.

(Well, some of us thought we felt a bit warmer when we crossed over.  I had this odd reflex action to reach for a hip holster.  And all of us had to fight back the urge to join in singing John Denver music.  But other than that, totally the same.)

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Us.  On the ferry, still at the 49th. 

In between our heads you can see a concrete marker - one of two - that represents the exact place of the border.  We discussed it, and neither one of us has been in the States since we had a five hour layover in Houston during our trip to Costa Rica for our honeymoon four years ago.

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This is the view from the front door, across the lobby of the Prince of Wales Hotel.  We had a couple glasses of wine at those same tables later that evening.  Next time, we want to get a room here.  Uh, kinda pricey.

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This is the same Prince of Wales Hotel viewed from the top of the Bears Hump.  It's a well marked trail leading part way up a nearby mountain.  The trail terminates at the peak of a conspicuous ridge of rock that looks a whole lot like the hump of a grizzly bear.  It was NOT named for... well, you know how my mind works.

(Below this pic is a link to a much larger version of it.  I really do suggest you click on it.  this tiny image can't do justice to the majesty of the scenery.)

Bigger, better, picture.

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Me and Aim at the top of the Bears Hump.  Amy was peering cautiously over the edge; I had my legs dangling over.  And I thought it was windy on the boat!  I climbed up a little further and higher on the rocks and it sort of made my wife nervous.  The neat part, coming back down from the rocks, was that the wind was blowing at me so hard I had to lean downhill to prevent myself from getting pushed backward, which didn't really help with vertigo.  Kewl!!

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Token artistic shot.

Scraggly, hardy yellow flower with mountain in background.

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The next day, on our way out of town, we stopped for a hike around the aptly named Red Rock Canyon.  Hoo Boy!  Was that water cold.

The entire trip, only a day and a half, was way better than my anticipation had led me to expect and I left with a huge hankerin' to go back to take in all that I missed.

Much more on the overall vacation to come.  But that'll have to do for now -- domesticity reasserts itself:

Dex has swim classes this morning; there's a whole heap o' laundry to churn through; the back lawn is nearly deep enough to lose the dog, and maybe the younger boy; and we have a wedding to go to in the afternoon and evening.  (Wedding gift came courtesy one of the Waterton gift shops.)

Good thing we're able to ditch the boys on the other set of grandparents for the night.

Comments

[Grandpa]

Si, I do believe that those little squirrels with the racing stripes are known as chipmunks. A rodent non the less.

[Moksha Gren]

Wow...I totally wanna go there! It looks absolutely beautiful and your pictures, every one of them, are great.

You say that the US and Canada are exatly the same in your shot...but I disagree. The trees on the Canadian side have a distinctive red tinge to them. Chalk it up to patriatism or a socialist leaning depending on who you talk to ;)

I look forward to the rest of your vacation and hope you have a good time at the wedding. From the pictures I've seen...I think you normally do.

Good to have you back, Si.

[Jayson Merryfield]

Tres interessant. Congrats on the well deserved vacation - it looks beautiful. Now I'm going to have to find some time to head down there myself, from the looks of it. Rugged mountains? Yep - right up my alley. Hopefully the boys enjoyed grandma and grandpa.

[Mark]

Definitely a chipmunk.

I never knew that about the 49th parallel's upkeep. Very cool.

Great post -- pics and text. What struck me was the clarity of those mountain lakes. I haven't seen that since our 9th anniversary trip to western Wyoming.

This gets me totally stoked for our upcoming trip to New Mexico/Colorado, for our own time in the Rocky Mountains. I can't wait! Jackets in July! Woot!

[Tal]

You totally win the prize for cheesiest grin, that's for sure. Glad you two had a nice time away!

[K-Slacker]

Waterton rocks. Sue and I went there two years ago and had a great time. I nearly died on the Crypt Lake hike, though. Silly cliffs.

You should check out the book "The Bear's Embrace"...

[Émilie B]

Well since no getaway is planned into our upcoming vacation time, it's great to be able to peek at other people's trips. Awesome pics!

[TerriTorial]

Great shots. We had planned to head to the mountains this summer, but with moving and all, that sort of got put on the back burner. Ah well!

[hazelhazel]

Spectacular pictures.

Happy Father's Day.

[Paul]

Gotta say, anyone who doesn't recognise a Chipmunk when he sees one has been away from Ontario far too long.

[Cheeseburger Brown]

Welcome back!

[Moksha Gren]

Happy Belated Father's Day, Si. Hope it was a great one.

Also, I hope you first day back to work isn't too horrible after enjoying mountain views, crystal clear lakes, and squirrels camouflaging themselves as chipmunks.

[Simon]

Grandpa, thanks. Fixed. I feel shame for my oversight.

Moksha, it was way beautifuller than even the pictures can express. Definitely going to make at least an annual trip of it. Perhaps we can spark some sort of uprising due to the proximity to the US border. Get Montana and Alberta to secede and form an independent, socialist country. Who's with me?!

Jayson, the boys were great with the grandparents. Which is nice, because that means next time we can leave them alone for two days in a row for a little personal getaway.

Mark, thanks for the rodent reminder. Vacations in the mountains are awesome! Not least because you always run the risk of death, whether by gravity or bear mauling. Combine that with the epicurean delights of a triple chocolate waffle cone and there's hardly a better holiday to be had.

Tal, cheesy grins are one of my specialties.

Kelly, thanks for supporting my theory that the potential for death makes vacations funner.

Émy, I live vicariously through others so much of the time, I'm happy to be able to do the same on rare occasions like this.

Terri, I feel your pain. The holidays I have remaining for this year will be consumed with taking time off for home renos. Damn!

Hazel, thanks!

Paul, the third reminder is the best one. I do (now) recall that Ontario squirrels are about the size of Alberta house cats. How I got that mixed up with a chipmunk will haunt me for the rest of my days. Or at least for the rest of this week.

CBB, I had your stories to come back to, and that was awfully swell.

MOksha (again), I got Dairy Queen ice cream and a home made dinner for F-Day, so that was great indeed. Working isn't quite as fun as camouflaged chipmunks, but at least I have the pics to keep me company.

*wipes brow in exhaustion*

[fv]

Man, how is that border maintained? Is there some orbital laser? Is that really like that? I'm going to look it up on the internets...

[Mark]

Somehow, each time I read "F-day," I'm not thinking Father's Day.