One Year and Counting

Woo Hoo!!! We made it! May 27th 2006 has been a massive landmark for me, considering the testicle tumour terrors of last May 27th! To celebrate we went down to Waterton Lakes National Park, which borders Montana in the US and Glacier National Park (the same place where I had a little difficulty gaining access earlier this year - see previous posting). It was awesome just to get away and take a good deep breath of fresh air and raise a glass to the future. The only thing that wasn't on our side was the sun. So much for my posting "the sun has a very big hat" - well we found out this weekend that the sun doesn't have a hat at all, or if he (she?) does, it wasn't being worn in Alberta. It didn't stop *issing it down all weekend. As you can see below, the torrential rain made for a very busy high street in Waterton on Saturday afternoon.

Not to be deterred, we fought our way through the none existent crowds and made the most of the very few coffee shops and tea houses that were open. Waterton is an amazing place. Absolutely beautiful mountains at the southern end of the Canadian Rockies, but the town only has a permenent population of about 35 people. The summer season is really short there - from end of May through to Sept. It's a UNESCO World Herritage Site and has a whole load of other accolades. The wilderness makes for a rather dense population of bears, Grizzly and Black - although we saw neither on this trip.

We stayed in a cosy little lodge called Kilmorey Hotel (It is one of only two places that is open all year round and dates back to 1911 - remember Brits reading this, that's old for Canadians! Most of the decor hasn't changed since 1911, and in that sense it really fits in with the whole feel of Waterton - like stepping back in time).

Braving the weather on Sunday (it still hadn't stopped raining), we headed up to Redearth creek to hike. No rain up there!! ha ha. Just snow - and plenty of it falling for the end of May. We plodded through the snowy trails for a few hours, shouting and a hollering just to make sure any critters knew we were there. As you can see, some of the wildflowers were out, foolishly thinking that Spring had arrived sometime last week in Waterton, only to be inundated with snow now;

These purple flowers must have got the shock of their lives when the snows began again this weekend.

Now I know what they mean when they say; "If you don't like the weather, just hang on five minutes and it'll have changed".

Here's Brina all ready for action with the Bear spray just in case there's a big old hungry Grizz creeping up behind me whilst I take the photo!

(Just keep that safety cap on for now Brina!)

So despite the weather, all was good and we're just looking forward to celebrating every May 27th from now on! Only two check ups per month from next month onwards...

As for other things.. I keep promising more animal photos (beavers etc..), they'll be up soon, hopefully with the Osprey pictures. We have an Osprey nesting out in the field in the front - which is quite unusual as it is not that close to water - although the Bow River is just across the way. We sit out on the deck viewing it and are hoping to see it's chicks pretty soon!!!

Work is still work for us both (although everybody keep your fingers crossed that my Visa papers still come through in time).

Hope everyone is fit and well,

Live Strong,

S & S.