Again, the Waterton Wildflower Festival was a huge success with hundreds of participants who not only learned a lot about the abundance of wildflowers in Waterton but also enjoyed the festival atmosphere.
For three years I am working on a virtual tour of Waterton Lakes National Park. Most of the panoramas shown are so called Giga-Panoramas and contain up to 500 single photos.
Waterton Lakes National Park is known for its great opportunities to see wildlife. It is almost guaranteed that any tourist get to see deer, elk, bear or bighorn sheep. Now and then this happens even if you are in your hotel bed. Have fun watching what's happening in front of our patio door.
Today I had a very special invitation. Some very nice ladies from Waterton had invited me to their Christmas cookie baking. Christmas like, it snowed that morning, and when I arrived at Barb’s house, there was a fox with a beautiful thick fur standing on the driveway and looking at me. It is not unusual to see foxes in the town site of Waterton and after I had pulled out my stuff from the car, he was gone. Barb’s husband also escaped at the sight of so many women in his house talking and laughing loudly.
We had a week vacation. And we used it among other things to acquire a used vehicle. We are now proud owners of a Jeep Wrangler. Now we finally have a truck, which allows us to approach remote areas on gravel roads without bad conscience and clenched teeth. On the other hand, we are also better equipped for the winter conditions in Waterton. Our first trip was in the Kananaskis Country. Also known as K-Country, the recreational area is located southeast of the Banff National Park, west of Calgary and is still an insider tip in the Canadian Rockies.
After a visit at the German Consulate in Calgary we strolled through the town. All of a sudden a TV team from Global News asked us to stay for a shot they were preparing. It was about a young lady, a fire eater from Calgary, Carisa Hendrix, who achieved a world record a few days ago in Italy. She now showed her skills in the snowy pedestrian zone of Calgary and ignited a cigarette with fire in her mouth.
Before you can see the actual video you unfortunately have to watch an advertisement.
We are moving. Our destination is a hotel in Waterton Lakes National Park in southern Alberta. We presented there our resumes in September. Early in February we received an email in which both of us was offered a position. Now it's coming soon.
A few days ago it started to snow at night. It was beautiful; looking out the window of our warm motorhome and watching the snowflakes fall through the glow of the street light of the campground. The next morning we woke up by the scraping sound of snow shovels around us. I jumped out of bed and I could borrow one of the two shovels of our neighbor. We dug out 20 centimeters of wet, heavy snow and created a large open empty space around the motorhome because it was predicted to snow more. At this point little did we know what would still lie ahead.
Our first trip to the U.S.A. took us from Aldergrove, BC, across the border to Lynden and we continued on to Bellingham, located in the Pacific North West, towards Chuckanut Drive. We were curious whether the U.S. would be any different from Canada. But at first glance nothing changed at all; the environment from Bellingham to Lynden was just as rural as on the Canadian side. The 2386 meter high volcano Mount Baker is the highest and most prominent mountain in the area. It looks down from the southeast on the flat land on both sides of the border. The border connects British Columbia with the U.S. state of Washington.