I am dieing to buy a paddle board but with the shift in cars, it looks like I won’t be able to afford it this summer. But it is such a popular sport in Hawaii and the West Coast, and it would be perfect for Alberta with our lakes and rivers and hot weather (maybe not this year). It is such an amazing core workout and anyone who surfs, kayaks, or canoes can tell you how spiritual it is to be on the water.
So I have always thought I was in pretty good shape. I am not skinny by any means, but I am thin compared to most women and I was satisfied with that. Until I saw this picture taken of me in Glacier!!!!!
So, being half way through the summer I have go tot make a major change now! I thought I was pretty active, but I may have to do what I hate most and hit the *shudder* gym on top of all my outdoor activities. Eating too has got to change BIG TIME because I am a junk food/fast food addict. I have to fix that right away too.
They always say if you put something in writing like this it makes you more accountable. Watch this blog for cool nutritional facts, healthy recipes or good workouts as I work on slimming down.
I had to visit Glacier yesterday for work. After all, Waterton is an international peace park and visitors are encouraged to visit both parks.
First stop was, of course customs at the Chief Mountain border crossing. This border is only open in the summer and only from 7am-10pm. It does drive right past the base of Chief Mountain, a very significant mountain to the Blackfeet tribe in Montana. There is an old legend that as long as the mountain stands, there will be peace in the valley and the mountain is currently preparing to split in half. Who knows what will happen then?
We went to St. Mary’s and stopped at the Park Cafe for lunch. A cute, vintage cafe with good food and AMAZING pie! I ordered the sugar free razzleberry, and it tasted amazing.
We then headed to St. Mary’s visitors center which was such a cool place. Besides the small gift shop with every book you can imagine on
the area, camping, hiking and back packing, it had a neat interpretive center with an animal display and a faux tepee that you could sit in and watch various short videos on Native American history and their ties to the land. The visitor center also had a movie theatre which showed various films throughout the day. Always stop at the St. Mary’s Visitor Center if you are in the area, you won’t be sorry.
After the Visitors Center we headed up the Going to The Sun Road to Logan’s Pass (the Continental Divide). We stopped at Sunrift Gorge, which was this awesome gorge that went on for forever with the rock standing straight up on each side. You can hike through it when the water level is a little lower, so I think that will be a must do for me in August.
We went up to check out the Logan’s Pass Visitor Center and the Glacier. The Glacier was cool, but the visitor’s center wasn’t nearly as awesome as the one in St. Mary. One really cool thing about Glacier National Park is that they have a free transit system that runs along the Going-To-The-Sun Road and stops at all the major trailheads. This makes hiking an absolute breeze, because you can start at one trail and end on another and hop on the transit to your bus.
On our way home, we stopped at the Cattle Barron Supper Club in Babb, Montana right outside the border and had the best steak I have ever had. Apparently, local Southern Albertans have been known to cross the border for a great dinner at this great restaurant. The décor of the restaurant was a fabulous native/outdoor theme with a huge log serving as the anchor for the spiral staircase and placemats with local native stories.
And we had a terrific send off on the way home. The crappy rain brought with it, a gorgeous double rainbow that arced over Babb.
And that was my quick day trip through North East Glacier. A really cool spot, only a half hour away from Southern Alberta.
Wow! Talk about not doing so hot at this blogging thing. It will definitely take some getting used to.
A LOT has happened since my last posting.The most important being the fact that I totalled my little Chevy Aveo hitting a deer one night on my way home to Waterton. I always knew if that tiny car that I originally purchased for zipping around Seattle hit a deer it would be toast and it was. I wasn’t even speeding, but the deer flipped right over after I struck it. I love Canada too, because every single person who drove by me while I waited for the RCMP and tow truck for 45 minutes stopped and asked if they could help in some way. One was a border guard and when my boss drove through he asked how my car was! In the States, I would be lucky if two or three people stopped. Loving this wonderful country.
But everything happens for a reason because I was able to purchase the car of my dreams. The car I have been wanting ever since Barbie has a pink one, a Jeep Wrangler. But not just a normal Jeep Wrangler a Jeep with a big ass lift! I never understood why people made such big deals out of their cars, but I do now. It is possible to be madly in love with your car and to want to drive every single day just to be in it. I plan on doing some off roading this summer for sure.
I did manage to get a hike in besides Bears Hump. (My company is having a hiking challenge to see who can do Bears Hump 30 times this summer. I have done it 7 I believe. I better get on that). I hiked up to Bertha Lake and WOW I was to expecting that. In the hiking guides, Bears Hump is listed as moderately difficult and Bertha Lake was too. But what they don’t tell you is that Bertha Lake is much, much LONGER than Bears Hump and the inclined switchbacks go on forever! But the lake was gorgeous and you can camp up there, so if I can ever find a companion, I think that’s what I will do.
This weekend is South Country Fair!!!!!! I am so excited. Every summer for years my cousin Jenny would talk about South Country Fair and I would try to arrange my visits up around the same time, but it never worked out. Sadly, this year she and her hubby can’t go, but I am going with pretty much everyone else we hang out with. It’s this big hippie music festival with tons and tons of folk music and everyone camps by a creek in Fort Macleod. I won’t go out there until Saturday afternoon because I have the Magrath Triathlon on Saturday. Which will be really, really funny because I have not trained at all. Luckily, I am doing it as a team and only doing the running portion, but still. Yikes! Oh well. Life experience. You gotta love them.
And the weekend following this is my family reunion! So my family will be coming up and I will see my siblings and my cousins and aunts and uncles and it should be a lot of fun. My brother is moving up here for the remainder of the summer working at Pearls Café (if he nails the interview) for the remainder of the summer. It will be cool to get to spend more time with my brother as he lives in Salt Lake City for school and I hardly see him during the year.
