Another early morning. Camping in the mountains demands early mornings -- the animals are out, the weather is best and there are less people. I really don’t mind getting up early, but sometimes on vacation it is hoped that one could dream a little. We headed out for Logan’s Pass. At the Visitor Centre we headed up the trail to Hidden Lake. The trail cuts through an alpine meadow -- small, fragile flowers and stunted, twisted evergreens cling to the thin layer of soil that covers the slope. The trail is a raised wooden platform that helps keep all the millions of feet that visit this site from trampling on the fragile vegetation. A marmot poked his head out from under one of these platforms. I took a quick photo thinking it would scurry away. But, ... read more

About an hour down the road from Waterton Park is Glacier National Park. In 1932 these parks became the first International Peace Park celebrating the world’s longest undefended boarder in the world. In the 1970’s they were designated Biosphere Reserves and in 1995 a World Heritage site. After settling in at the St. Mary’s campground, we went to the Many Glacier Hotel. This hotel holds some of my most treasured memories. Surrounded by mountains on the shores of Swift Current Lake this is Swiss-styled chalet was built in early 1900’s. David and I came here on our honey moon nearly 31 years ago. We had my parent's car and tent trailer and had planned on staying in the nearby campground. However, there was a bear in the area and no soft-sided trailers were allowed. So, we ... read more

5:25 am -- alarm goes off. Oh, what was I thinking! David and I had a hearty breakfast -- bacon & eggs, and headed out to Maligne Lake. The drive out to the the lake was wonderful! There is nothing like the mountains in the early morning! I just sat in the passenger seat with the music playing and felt like I had been transported to the most beautiful place on the planet!! A few bull elk were feeding by the side of road. They were oblivious to our presence as we stopped and took a few photos. We arrived at the lake at about 7:00 am and were on the water by 7:30 -- the first canoe in the water for the day! Maligne Lake is a 22.5 km glacier fed lake. With not even ... read more

Standing by the raging waters of two powerful waterfalls is a transcending experience -- the spray shooting up cooling your face, the thunderous roar, and earth-moving rumble. Today we saw two magnificent waterfalls -- The Athabasca Falls and the Sunwapta Falls. Standing by these falls, I was struck by the sheer amount of water!! The source of these falls is far up the mountains in the glaciers. Millions of tiny trickles of melt-water, together with rainfall combine to eventually become these raging torrents. We are so fortunate to live in a country blessed with such an abundance of water -- the source of all life. So it’s 5:00 pm and very hot! -- 29 degrees celsius! What to do? Oh, what about going to one of those “cool” glaciers? You can walk to Angel Glacier on ... read more

September 9th - 12th -- Glasgow & Bishopton Another train ride from Inverness to Glasgow and then onto the small community of Bishopton. I tried valiantly to keep my eyes open on this ride. Inverness is in the Highlands of Scotland surrounded by large hills covered in green grass, trees, shrubs and purple heather. There are waterfalls, bogs and of course, scores of sheep. The constant mist punctuated by sunlight makes this the perfect spot for painters (or photographers). After another “travel adventure” (read: not what we were planning), we finally arrived at the most delightful B&B. The Miller’s Guest house dates from the 1700’s and was originally a stable courtyard. It is in the countryside a few miles outside of Bishopton. There are only two guest rooms and we were the only ones visiting at ... read more