Oh, Canada!

On Saturday, we all piled in the car and took a day trip to Canada. Our destination: Waterton, a beautifully scenic town just on the other side of the border in the province of Alberta. Waterton Lakes National Park borders Glacier National Park in Montana to the south, together making up the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park--a world first.
We crossed the border at the Waterton entry, and the border patrol made everyone get out of the car so that the sniffing dog could search every seat! My mom has crossed the border at Cardston a dozen times and she has never had to get out of the car...note to self: go through Cardston.
When we got to Waterton, we took a two-and-a-half hour boatride down Waterton Lake. It was an absolutely gorgeous day--not too hot, not too cold, nice and sunny. (Three weeks ago, the temperature dropped 40 degrees or more and it started snowing; so, I guess we picked the perfect day to go!) On the boatride, we crossed the border back into the US, which has been cleared into a distinct divide on both sides of the lake.


They widened this divide after 9/11. At the time, the US wanted to build a fence and even include sensors; however, due to the amount of resistance that proposal received, they left it like this.

On the return trip, we saw lots of wildlife! We saw a golden eagle, a bald eagle (in Canada, no less) and a black bear cub! We were hoping that the mama bear would show herself, but no such luck. It was a really incredible trip! It was also really interesting to learn about how the glaciers formed the rocks over time and to see all the different lines in the sedimentary rock.














On the way home, we drove through Glacier National Park and on the road saw a family of Rocky Mountain Rams. What a day!