June 30,2007

Waterton National Park, Canada

After two days near West Glacier and one day at East Glacier, we headed to Waterton National Park, the ‘Canadian’ part of Glacier Park for two days.

The US side has suffered from some horrendous wildfires. Notably is the area around Lake McDonald and the area around St. Mary. Thousands and thousands of acres of burned trees are a brown contrast to green trees unburned. In areas out of the park (on Blackfeet Indian land), the burned spires have been harvested, presumably for pulp mills somewhere. In the park, the rules prevent logging, so the brown mess will remain for a long time.

We love Waterton. Gorgeous scenery, a nice town next to our park (Waterton townsite). Just returned from dinner at Zum’s (4 blocks away) where we dined on the front porch as the cottonwood trees created a virtual blizzard around us. We were one of the last 2 tables outside to stick it out. This would be a meal to remember. A little cottonwood fluff seasoning ain’t too bad. We are dry-camping next to the lake, conserving our battery power.

Afternoon exercise to ‘Bear’s Hump’, a mile hike overlooking Waterton. Pretty steep hike---thought we were going to have to call a pack mule for Janice, who finally wheezed her way to the top. Julie is restored, post-Ironman and mountain-goated her way to the top. Here's a short video of the view.

Janice has been working exceedingly hard on her book revisions, hoping to get this stage of edits done before Calgary. Very fortunate to have satellite internet for this work. (Got that, IRS?)

If I were back in Sacramento right now, I would be toasting good friend, golf partner and RV newbie Karl Engeman, who is retiring after 35 years with the State of California. Karl served as the head of the state’s Office of Administrative Hearings and was a skilled Administrative Law Judge. Karl….job well done. Time to join us geezers. I’m toasting you this very moment with a glass of Corbett Canyon chardonnay, smuggled into Canada this very day! (Don’t look down your nose at Corbett Canyon. The box fits perfectly on the shelf of the RV refrigerator—a tip from my sister Mya, who carried a boatload of Corbett Canyon up and down the Alaska coast the past several summers. In the RV realm, it’s all about how it packs! )

(Which reminds me, the great wine crisis was averted as we cleared the border. The guard asked if we had any guns, alcohol or cigarettes. I advised, “Just some wine, about seven bottles. No smokes, no guns.” She responded, “Have a nice day”, and we were outta there. Welcome to Canada! Didn’t need to guzzle all of that wine the last couple days after all.)