It's a Small World After All

Saga and Leif had quite an adventure today. We visited the second of 48 National Parks today, Waterton National Park. It was a gorgeous day, low to mid 20s. I may have gotten a bit of a sunburn. The perfect thing to do on such a day is take the boat ride on the lake. So my first stop, after the visitor center for maps and coffee, was to the marina to check the schedule and buy a ticket (Trolls ride for free!)

I had about 90 minutes before boarding, so we wandering up and down the side of the lake, took some pictures, did some gift shopping, the usual touristy stuff. Being off season, most of the restaurants and shops are closed. That didn't stop me from finding Christmas gifts though!

The official Parks red chairs!

The iconic Prince of Wales hotel built in 1926

The Trolls got a little carried away with posing!

"Miss Waterton" has an upper viewing deck, a lower inside deck which provides shelter from wind, and the aft sundeck. So we finally boarded the boat and got, in my opinion, the best seats. We were on the bench, right at the stern. No matter which way we were going, or which side the point of interest was on, we had an unobstructed view. The one downside was the boat's exhaust, which occasionally got to be a bit much. The bench held 6 people comfortably, and I was in the middle with a couple on either side. Just before we left the dock, a lovely lady asked if she could sit by me. Her husband wanted an inside seat, but she wanted to be outside. 

We all chatted about the views, as one does. Taking pictures of each other on our phones, as one does. Making comments about the tour guide's spiel, as one does. He did a marvelous job; interspersing history, geography, geology, etc. He made the same joke that the tour guide made 35 years ago, asking passengers if they had passports, as we would be crossing into the United States. At one point he mentioned Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the lady next to me commented that she had a teacher who used to read his poetry in class. She asked me if I was a teacher, because of the way I commented on and explained things.

About 20 minutes later, I happened to ask her where she was visiting from, as I do with most of my random encounters with other tourists. She said they were down from Grande Prairie. To which I replied, "Oh, my Mom grew up at Valhalla Centre!" Startled, she replied, "That's where I grew up! What was your Mom's name?"

"She was a Hanson". With a stunned look on her face, she said, "The teacher I was talking about was Mrs. Hanson." My grandmother! What are the odds! It can be a very small world. Valhalla is a tiny hamlet. Waterton has tourists from all over the world. There were 150 people on that boat. Yet we sat next to each other and stuck up a conversation.

Of course, being from Valhalla, she was absolutely delighted to meet Sage and Leif! 

p.s. We saw two bears