Our Road Trips

5/22/14

We got up at 7, had some breakfast, and were gone by 730. Our drive north from Browning would have been extremely bland if not for the beautiful mountains to the west, a combination of Glacier & Waterton Parks. All are snow capped and very rugged. We arrived at the border at the Chief Mountain checkpoint just before 9 am (opening time) and sat at the road block and watched the RCMP (mounties) & US Border Patrol do their ceremonial gate opening. It was almost humorous...a female BP had the keys to both gates, she opened the US gate first and then handed the key to one of the Mounties, who opened the other gate and handed the key back to the other US agent. The whole time they were all chuckling & smiling like 'let's make this look good for these tourists from Florida'...sort of hoky. But we passed through customs with no issues and were on our way. One thing we noticed, the road on the US side was much better than on the Canadian side...but they have free health insurance...lol. That is a little chuckle from last summer...a US border patrol told us that answer when I asked about the difference in gas prices...they pay more for gas but they have free health insurance...lol.

We proceeded to Waterton Lakes and went straight to the marina to inquire about a lake cruise on Upper Waterton Lake, which travels the length of the lake to Goat Haunt in Glacier...one boat ride, two countries. We found out they only had 5 passengers, including us, and the minimum was 8, so we needed to wait to see if anyone else showed up...it was a beautiful morning, so we waited. About 15 minutes later, another couple showed up, so the 7 of us and 2 crew set sail on a 2 hour cruise...a twooo hour cruise...sounds like Gilligan's Island.

We spent the next 2 hours following the shoreline of the lake south to Goat Haunt and back, crossing the Canada/US border twice, marvelling at the beautiful scenery and watching for wildlife. What a pretty ride! The whole time, Gilligan, I mean the mate, gave us a running dialouge over a not so good PA system, telling us what we were seeing. The water was sparkling, the sky clear and the mountains gorgeous, so it was worth the trip. With only 7 passengers, it was almost like a personnal tour, so it was a nice way to spend 2 hours.

After we got back, we took a drive along Red Rock Parkway (the only road open in Waterton Lakes) which ends at Red Rock Canyon. We then set sail out of Waterton Lakes north, which took us through Pincher Creek, Alberta and then west into British Columbia, crossing the Continental Divide again, through Sparwood, BC (home of the worlds biggest truck) and south through Roosville and back into the US (the US BP at least looked in our back seat) and realizing that all the jackets were probably normal for 2 Floridians, so he said, Thank You, have a nice day, and we were on our way. US 93 is a pretty road, passing trough the Flathead National Forest, Whitefish, and into Kalispell. We stopped in Woods Bay for dinner and had a nice meal looking out at a very calm Flathead Lake. We got back home just in time to watch the sunset over the lake from our backyard. It was a very nice way to end the 2nd day of a very beautiful trip.

Steve & Barb Larson