Waterton

Waterton
Many people do not know what Waterton Park is. I know when we told people we were going there, they often looked at us blankly. Waterton is the Canadian sister of Glacier national Park and lies immediately north of the Canada/US border from Glacier. In 1932, the two parks were joined as the first international park and it is called a “peace park” as a symbol of peace between the US and Canada. While our relationship with Canada has always seemed peaceful, I was reminded that this wasn’t always the case by an interpretive ranger at The U Bar Ranch who explained that much of the early settlement in the Western provinces was motivated by the fear that the US would claim those lands as our own. The Canadian government in the early 1900’s encouraged settlers to claim the prairie and cattle lands for Canadian settlement in order to ensure that the US would not move its own settlers in. ironically, at Cave and basin National park, I learned, further, that many of these settlers were immigrants that in WWI were locked up at Cave and Basin, an internment center for “enemy aliens”. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who had come out to the prairies enticed by promises of land ownership ended up in prison.
In any case, peace is always a good thing to shoot for (maybe someday Guatanamo Bay will be a peace park with Cuba? Stranger things have happened).
Okay, so this is what you see as you come up to Glacier across the relatively flat plains of southern Alberta: huge green fields, cattle, and the rising peaks of the mountains, melted glaciers in their crevasses, lots of lakes, few towns, little traffic. Upon arriving in Waterton, our elevation is still relatively low, and like in Banff, the town is in the valley below the mountains. So, most hiking is up. We started our first hike, however, doing the town circle. Waterton is not very large, but it’s perimeter makes for a nice walk, most of which is along the lake shore. Today, it is incredibly windy.We have this great picture of Asha with the wind blowing her hair from the back. But, once we move away from the lake the wind dies down. Asha HATES this picture, but she let me put it on here, so you all can get some good laughs.
Waterton is filled with deer. I mean there are literally deers interfering with everyday operations. People are shooing deer away from their doors, cars must wait for the deer to cross the road and we saw deer sleeping on the front door mats of people’s homes. The first deer is exciting, because they let you walk right by them. The tenth, not so much. The deer are obviously habituated to people. I’m not sure what the Canadian park service’s response is to this. One response we noted was the signs all over the town warning visitors that deer will and have attacked people’s dogs, so keep them close. No warnings about attacks on people. But these guys are big and intimidating.
For dinner, our bed and breakfast lady, heather, recommended three places: the pizza place, the trappers grill and the Italian place (bel something). We decided to go for the Italian place which in a different incarnation had been recommended on some internet sites. We were disappointed but neither were we wowed. They had no Italian wines by the glass (strange) so I could have a Cab or a Merlot (California) or a mixed drink. I had a “sloe gin” which I ended up really liking. We started with bruschetta, a traditional tomato version. The tomatoes were chopped very small with pieces of basil, balsamic vinegar and LOTS of garlic. The garlic was a little overbearing but I was assured the tomatoes were local and they did taste fresh, clean and tangy. The bread upon which the tomatoes sat sucked, however. It was soggy and tasteless. For our mains, we had lasagna and osso bucco made with lamb with a Milanese risotto. The lasagna looked and felt horrible to me (Asha ordered that). I couldn’t even get my fork through the layers, the bottom noodles were so hard. The beef sauce was tasty and Asha said she liked the cheese. There was an enormous layer of ricotta in it. That’s what she mostly ate. I had a nice presentation of my meal with two purple carrots, three green beans and a very tasty piece fo corn on the cob (strange, but must have been locally available). The restaurant emphasizes on the menu that it tries to use local ingredients (but it seems that these days everyone does. I did not see any corn fields in Alberta, I must say).
The osso bucca I would give mixed reviews. The lamb itself was moist and nicely cooked, but the sauce tasted like beef bouillon with this rather off after taste. The risotto was tasty, creamy and al dente so points for that as well. And I loved the veggies, even if they weren’t local. The place was expensive but the waitress was friendly and engaging without hovering and the place was packed. They were turning people away without reservations.
For our big Waterton hike, we are packing lunch and heading for the US border. This should be about a 10 mile round trip hike (more or less).