My Copilot Is A Troll

Experiencing Waterton National Park in the off season is an incredible thing. Yes, most of the shops and restaurants are closed, but that is a small price to pay. Every road you drive down, every trail you hike, every view you pause at to soak in - you have mostly to yourself. You don't have to share it with hoards of international tourists.  You can sit at any spot for as long as you like, and not feel like you have to move along to make room for the next group of people. It's easy to take pictures without getting other people in them. When you are driving down one of the roads and see something of interest, you can stop and look at it or take a picture without worrying about backing up traffic.  When you go to a restaurant, you can chose the perfect patio table; great view, the sun at your back, not in your eyes (with option of shade), and there's no one close by to look at you funny when you take pictures of trolls! A well deserved raspberry ripple break! If you go into ...

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 ...