The Great Little Canadian Roadtrip

Despite vowing that we would never hire an RV and go off camping with the kids, last week we hired an RV and went off camping with the kids! It was all quite short notice as friends of ours who had hired the RV originally bought one instead, so we took the hiring off their hands. After a very successful 'test run' camp at nearby Elkwater for a night we decided to take the plunge and head south to the US border, taking in some really fabulous sights along the way. We ended up having a brilliant week and we are so glad we did it.

We didn't travel for more than a few hours at a time and our first stop was near Lethbridge, camping next to the Oldman River. The campsite there was really good as it had an outdoor pool & great facilities. After a leisurely start the next day (kids sleeping in 'til 9am!) we made our way down to Waterton via Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump(!) & Fort Macleod. Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump is a World Heritage Site and is the place where Indians used to kill herds of buffalo by causing a stampede and sending the buffalo over a cliff...very efficient! Fort Macleod is the first post set up by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on the southern frontier and there is a replica Fort there.

Waterton is absolutely stunning; a beautiful turquoise lake set in the Rocky Mountains and it is on the border with Montana. The first night there we camped in the mountains - it was very basic but very beautiful. We made a camp fire and were joined by all sorts of wildlife around the picnic table! The beavers & chipmonks were most interested in our pile of fire wood and a stunning deer emerged from the bushes right next to us and was not bothered in the slightest by the Tingey Tribe!
We were all much relieved it wasn't a Grizzly bear; desperate as we were to see one, that would have been a little too close for comfort! The next day we moved down to Waterton Town Campsite which was much more civilised! We had an amazing 3 hour boat trip on the lake which took us over the US border and we stopped off briefly in Montana. So incredibly beautiful!

After leaving Waterton we headed home via the town of Pincher Creek and
also took in Ludbreck Falls. Just as we were giving up hope of seeing a Grizzly bear we saw 2 from the road as we were driving out of Waterton National Park. Just amazing - we think it was a Mother & Baby Cub. Leigh said 'Kerry quick! Get out and take a photo'! So I did! (Leigh would have taken it himself of course, but he was driving!). Sadly the bears look more like sheep in my photo! We stopped off for one last camp next to the Oldman River, and here we are now, back in sunny Ralston. But what a great week! We both had visions of the kids getting up a 6 every morning, jumping up and down on the beds in the RV; it couldn't have more been different - in fact Leigh & I were awake most mornings before the kids!