…and we’re back.

Whew! What a great mini-vacation that was. We departed a little before noon on Thursday, so we were pretty famished by the time we got past the city limits on 22X. Lunch was in Turner Valley, just SW of Calgary along the “Cowboy Trail,” highway 22, which straddles foothills and the mountains in a most pleasing way. We ate at the much-lauded Route 40 Soup Company, on Main St (which conveniently is also 22) in Turner Valley. It was completely superb- we shared an order of “road chips,” which are thick-cut fries with various root veggies and a sort of curry mayo dip. I could have eaten a bushel of these; they’re fabulous. A cup of soup with chorizo sausage and roasted veg and vermicelli noodles was lovely, and my entree of rice penne (I wasn’t sure if rice pasta lent itself to penne, but the waitress was so adamant about its deliciousness that I gave in) with wild mushrooms and smoked turkey in a wine-y cream sauce was rich and just shockingly flavourful. We’d heard lots of good things about this place (when it was actually on route 40 somewhere else in that bucolic area south of Calgary- High River, maybe?) and now knowing that it’s at most a 45-minute drive from home (in decent traffic, mind), we’ll be back for sure.

The rest of the drive was dependably breathtaking, since we had perfect weather and not much traffic aside from an annoying house being moved VERY slowly. The weather was perfect the entire weekend, warm (mid-20s) and cloudless skies. Just amazing. We relaxed on day 1, having brought “dinner” (cheese, salami, and wine from home- we bought crackers and some fruit in town), and that was it. Free wi-fi in the hotel’s lobby meant that Brian camped out there that evening and the next morning; meantime I went for a walk to the famous Prince of Wales Hotel at the edge of the townsite on a hill with gorgeous views of Waterton Lake. I met some lovely people from Paris who took my picture and offered to house me on my next visit to France; not that I’m planning one, but still, sweeeeet. Here I am in front of the hotel:

Of course this picture doesn’t to the hotel justice, but you can see pics of it all over the place, including the link just provided. The amazing thing about this hotel, besides that it’s a WOODEN building that’s not yet burnt down, is that view- but there are even better vantage points. More on that in a bit.

After lunch, we drove the winding, precipitous (think a shorter version of the Sea to Sky in BC) road to Cameron Lake and did the little 2+ mile hike around the western shore. The lake is framed by a mountain so the whole lake looks like God took an ice cream scoop and… you sort of have to experience it yourself. I’m about halfway through the trail in this pic:

That evening we took a 2-hour boat tour of Waterton Lake, which traverses the border, so its midpoint is in Montana at Glacier National Park. We were allowed to clamber along the shoreline there. The tour is beautiful, and as the guide said, if you can only do one thing at Waterton, make it this boat tour. Here we are en route, in the boat:

And on the Montana side:

…not that you can see much of the scenery with our goofy heads in the way, but trust me, it’s spectacular.

Okay, day 3 was really something. First, after breakfast, we drove to Red Rock Canyon, which is a… canyon… and it’s… red. Very pretty, short “hike” to the top and back, and we saw David Suzuki there but left him in peace and we would with any wildlife. I think he was in town for a book signing or something. And wow, I just read that DS is an Amherst College alum. I was accepted to Amherst but chose Reed instead. We could have talked about that. Damn.

The jaunt at Red Rock was a warmup for the big undertaking that I had, I must admit (and do admit, willingly), I had dreaded but had also promised Brian I would TRY: the climb up the Bear’s Hump. A 1.2-km hike with an elevation gain of 240 metres. Let me pause here to let my readers know that no matter how hale and hearty I might come across as being, and no matter how much I love walking, I am not a hiker. I am moreover scandalised at the very idea of anyone relishing torture like this. But I did it. It was tough, but over, for us, in a little less than 30 minutes- we’d heard “a 45-minute” hike. 18 switchbacks. But I did it, and so did Brian, and it was, I must say, worth the climb. The view from the top is nothing but amazing, especially on a clear, sunny day as we had for it. Me at the top, avec shit-eating grin and sweat:

…and one of the two of us that gives a better sense of how high we were:

What an experience- the whole trip. If you’re in Calgary, you owe it to yourself to occasionally forgo that day trip to Banff or Canmore and give Waterton a chance. It deserves more of an audience.

We just arrived home this afternoon after a stop for lunch and a little shop at the Farmers’ Market. Good to be home and to look forward to good espresso, but as “vacations” go, this was one of the best I’ve ever had.