Alberta Roadtrip: Part 3- Facing the Beast

This is the last post I promise about our trip, but for all the Belgian family visitors (and posterity), I feel the need to round out the rest of our trip, because the wedding was not the only thing we did in Waterton.  So warning, this sucker is photo heavy!

H and I arrived in town the day before the rest of the wedding crew, it started out a wet, so we took advantage of the alone time for a cruise around town (all 4 quaint blocks of it!), picked up some supplies.

On our trip back into the park from "the city", we saw some spectacular scenery, I just loved the way rain clouds hugged the Rockies.

We timed our outing perfectly,and as we pulled up at our hotel, the sine came out, so we put on our hiking boots and went out to see some of the park itself.

Our hike up to Bertha falls gave us a great outlook onto Waterton Lake.  We were lucky that we ran into only two other couples during the hike, because we had waaaay to much fun taking wacky pictures of ourselves the lower falls, thanks to the steep angle of the rocks....

 

Yeah, like I said, we had way to much fun!  I guess one could say that the expression about little things and little minds might apply here?!  Meh, we thought it was hilarious at the time :)

 

The day after the wedding, while I .... took it easy in the morning *cough cough*.... H went out on his own to explore some perfect male entertainment... a vintage/hotrod car show!

 

 

 

With my "easy morning", doing the trick, we met us with friends (and their two little ones) to explore the Prince Wales Hotel (one of early railway hotels), which is perched on a hill over looking the lake

 

 

 

Which housed the largest chandelier I think I have ever seen!

 

 

followed by a walk in the red rock canyon, the perfect easy walk for little legs and tired heads.  We were able to explore nature

 

and spend some quality time with close friends,

before heading back down to Waterton lake for some serious rock skipping

 

And... fishing...

 

 

And the whole day wrapped up with a trip back up to the ranch, for an open house where we had time to catch up with new and old friends, and the groom's uncle regaled us with stories from his time in Russia working with orphaned and wild grizzly bears.

 

 

The groom's uncle Charlie, is such an inspiring man, after having the opportunity to hear him speak and later watch the amazing documentary on his work there, it's made both H and I look at ourselves and grizzlies in a whole new light. 

 

The next morning was our whirlwind trip home (14 hr drive), but not before we stopped by the bison paddock, just outside the park.  As a chef, H gets to work with all kinds of ingredients, and one of the newer ones to him was Bison, so the opportunity to see "the source", was too good of an opportunity to pass up.  It seemed that our timing was perfect, as we got there just as they were waking up.  It also so happened that they were near the road so we could see then in action....

 

But then all of a sudden they were a little too up close and personal....

In front

And behind our car...

 

It seems it was time for a drink and their route took them right over the road we were driving on!  It was a bit more "action" than we had anticipated, but it was amazing to see them so up close. 

Alberta Roadtrip Recap: Part 2- The Main Event

So, I mentioned in my original post about our summer road trip that we were going to be celebrating.    The celebration was because some very close friends of ours were getting hitched.  I've known the bride for years.... like since Girl Guides kinda years!



that's me on the left and the bride on the right

So, when they told us that they were doing a destination wedding, we were like heck yeah!  The location  of the ceremony up on a hill at the groom's family's ranch just outside the National park.  With this as the view from the ranch house

I mean hello! The prairies and the Rockies, with a gorg bride and groom, and the sun shining, it doesn't get much better!

 

Before and after the ceremony we had time to kick back and enjoy the ranch - that's H with the Best Man sitting on the front porch, ain't he the cutest!!

 

The main house of the ranch Hawk's Nest hasn't changed much since it was built in 1923, and looks just like you think a traditional ranch house should look woody and manly.

After the ceremony we all headed back to town and boarded a boat to take a cruise around Waterton Lake.  And boy was it the perfect weather for a boat ride.

  The bride and groom made sure we all got the party started.

 

 

It was a great time to hang out with the bride and the rest of the girls (and the boys too!).  The captains' hats were from the stagette, and were a huge hit!

The final leg of the wedding was the reception at the former school in Waterton, a very appropriate venue as the bride is a teacher!

 

Now I dropped the ball when it comes to pictures of the reception as our friends asked me to be one of the MC's for the evening (yeah, so sweet!), and I forgot to give H strict photo documenting instructions in my absence, whoops... lesson learned!

But,  I did manage to snap some pictures ahead of time of some of the sweet details before things got underway.



I loved the wood votive holders made by the groom's family with wood from the ranch (and may have snuck a few home with me)...

 

And their favours of pickled beans, such a perfect choice for this couple as they are "famous" for their homemade pickles (my non-pickle eating husband devours them they are so good!) - we even broke the rules and snuck home with 2 jars ;)

 

I managed not to trip and fall or let loose with any too embarrassing stories, the drinks flowed and the dancing went late,  a good time was had by all.  We are so happy to have been able to share in their big day, so thanks guys!



Alberta Roadtrip Recap: Part 1- Getting there

So, we've been back from our mini break for a few days and it's about time I fill ya'll in on where we went to.

Our destination was Waterton National Park in southern Alberta.  But as H and I havn't had a holiday just the two of us since our wedding two years ago (eeek... yeah I know it's terrible!) we decided to stretch the trip out and see a bit more on the way.

So, we planned out our trip, and route looked something like this:

As our outbound route took us through the Coastal Range and Rocky Mountains, we had to take a few stops to take in the scenery.

Our first pit-stop was Revelstoke.  H and I both loved this quaint little mountain town, we even indulged in some time fantasizing about setting up a little B&B in one of the adorable Victorian and Mid century homes in the "downtown".

What we also saw which was just too cute was this house below.  The yellow signs in the windows say "Don't tell Tanner, it's a surprise"... it seems that they were doing their own version of a DIY home makeover, there was a whole group busily working at painting the house and re-landscaping the yard.

 Next up were the Rockies, and we couldn't not stop at a few places along the way.

 

The milky blue waters of Lake Louise- milky because of sediement created by the grinding of the glaciers against the mountains.

 

And the bright turquoise of Moraine Lake.

 

Yes, the above is a true reflection of the colour of the lake! It was truly stunning!

After the Rockies, the landscape totally changes as we hit the praries.  Which actually reminded H of Belgium, due to the flat landscape.

 

 Sigh, I'd forgotten how stunning the big blue skies and miles and miles of wheat fields can be.

H's one big request for the trip was a visit to Drumheller to go and check out the dinosaur museum.

 

That's H on the toe of the 'worlds largest dinosaur' ...

And with a real dinosaur leg.  The museaum was great, I'd been the there years ago, but even a second visit was facinating.  H was really taken by it all, and spent the rest of our trip turning over rocks looking for fossils. 

 

As we were already in Drumheller, I included a short stop at the local Hoodoos, although a bit dissapointing in size (hehe that sounded naughier than intended!), they are on the edge of the badlands and offered some stunning scenery.

 

 

After that we headed south down to Waterton, pulling into town just after a spectacular prarie sunset

 

 



Road Trippin'

We're sneaking away to this beautiful place...


source

To enjoy some R&R as well as to celebrate with friends.   I can only hope my photography skills will be able to do it all justice!

See y'all soon!