summer adventure day 4

Glacier National Park is only the US portion of the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park.  The other half of the park lies in Canada and is known as Waterton Lakes.  Monday, July 23rd we spent on the Canada side of the border, boating, hiking, and fine dining.  When we crossed into Canada, we handed the customs officer our passports and he let us through.  But he first questioned why Leslie had her children without her husband George.  He asked if George knew Leslie was taking their children out of the country.  She replied that he did, and the customs officer asked to see a letter from George verifying that.  She didn't have one, but we were let through with a light chastising.  Scott had a similar issue (I was riding in Leslie's van and not with him and Jed), but since I was just a couple cars ahead, it wasn't as bad.

It wasn't very far into Canada that we saw something the kids had been dying to see the whole trip:

A BEAR.

On the side of the road, right by the cars.  They were SO excited.

 We all said it was a black bear, but later that day the boys decided it was a grizzly.  One of my nieces and I maintained that it was a black bear, and after a big debate that lasted for a few days, we called in an expert (Scott's uncle Karl) to end the argument.  He verified that in fact the bear was a black bear, and I felt validated.  I think the boys were disappointed, because they had really wanted to see a grizzly in person.  

We first drove to Cameron Lake, and took rowboats out onto the water.  Everyone loved it except Jed, who HATED life the instant we put the life jacket on.  And I don't really blame him - it squished his face and looked rather uncomfortable.

The only way Jed was happy on the boat was with a bottle in his mouth.

After boating, we had lunch at a nearby picnic table.

After we finished our lunch, we drove to the base of the Bear's Hump mountain and hiked to the top.  It was about a mile each way, and rather steep.  But the only one who didn't make it to the top was the almost-3-year-old (I went up faster than the rest of the group so I could run back down and relieve his mom so she could finish the hike).  Even the almost-4-year-old hiked up the whole way, which was pretty impressive.

From the hike to the top:

Once we made it to the top, the view was very rewarding.

The wind, though, was fierce and I thought at times that we might be blown right off the mountain.  We stayed far away from the cliff edge.

After hiking back down (which in a way was as difficult as going up - my calves were so tired that they were shaking trying to go DOWN all the steps without letting me fall over), we drove across the street to the Prince of Wales hotel (pictured above, next to Scott and Jed) and had High Tea - which consisted of fancy little drinks and snacks, most of which the kids had never tried before.  The view of the lake from the hotel lobby/dining room was beautiful.  I couldn't eat the food that was served (though they did bring me and my mother-in-law a small plate of fruit and cheese), so I spent most of the time doing the communal puzzle in the lobby.  Two of my nieces helped.

After High Tea, most of the group continued on to Red Rock Canyon to let the kids splash in the water.  The original plan had been to swim, but it was way too windy and cold for that.  But the kids still had a blast wading and enjoying playtime with their cousins.  Scott, Jed, my in-laws, and I opted to return to the cabins instead - Jed needed to go to bed, and Scott had to pack to leave at 4am the next day (his flight wasn't until noon, but he had to drive all the way to Spokane).

When he left, I was very, very sad.  Jed and I return home in 2 days and while we have been having SO much fun on our trip, we will both be glad to see Scott again.