Our favourite vacation spot is Waterton Lakes International Peace Park - Alberta's best kept secret!!! "Where the Mountains Meet the Prairies", Waterton Lakes International Peace Park  is located in the far SouthWest corner of Alberta, bordering on B.C. and Montana...... Waterton shares International Park status with Montana's Glacier National Park.  Waterton's beauty is undefinable!  The very first time we drove into the Park, we felt we had come home.  Not a small feeling for two Prairie born and raised Saskatchewanites!!!

Another of our favourite spots would have to be Saskatchewan's best kept secret...
The Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park, sharing her borders with Alberta - an oasis in the middle of the arid prairie.  With Cypress Hills' Lodgepole Pine forest, and high altitude (the highest point East of the Rocky Mountains), you feel you are in the mountains, without the high peaks...

Once upon a time, I said I would NEVER go camping... As the old saying goes, "Never say never, 'cos never is a long, long time!!"

 In 1998, Hubby bought a small 1978 18-ft. Wilderness Cabin Trailer to go camping with the kids in (me not included).  A friend coerced me into trying it "just one weekend" in Cypress, which I did (albeit, grudgingly!!)  I didn't like sleeping on the fold-down davenport, in such cramped quarters, but I did survive the couple days I was there!!  (I really enjoyed the campfire and the fresh air.)  Encouraged, Hubby suggested we take the trailer to Waterton Lakes in 1999, for our summer vacation.  It was a long two weeks, crowded into the trailer, but it was the longest we were able to stay and enjoy our favourite vacation spot!!  The sleeping arrangements did take a toll on my bones, though, and I insisted I wasn't about to do that again unless I had a real bed to sleep on!!

We bought a 5th. Wheel Trailer in Fall, 2000 (so now I get to sleep in a real bed!!!) and took our "maiden voyage" the 2001 May Victoria Day long weekend to Sask. Landing Provincial Park...  We didn't have the best weather in the world, but we managed to stay warm and dry (and played lots of card games with the kids!!)  We spent two weeks at Waterton Lakes and another week in Cypress Hills Provincial Park for our 2001 Summer Vacation -- the longest we've ever spent away from home!  We also spent a couple weekends at the Sask. Landing Provincial Park (only 1/2 hour North of Swift Current)...  Summer, 2001 was very hot and dry, with South West Saskatchewan and most of Alberta experiencing serious drought conditions -- someone told us we would NEVER use our air conditioner in the trailer!  Guess what?  They were wrong!  We used it almost every single day (and most nights) of our summer camping!!  

The whole Park experience fits right in with our favourite activity...  Birding  and along with it, hiking!!  We have also enjoyed our time "away from it all".  I am even learning how to relax and do nothing!!  Nothing is more enjoyable than being in Waterton Lakes National Park, sitting outside your trailer, with a cup of fresh perked coffee in your hand at 6:00 A.M. watching the mountain across from you, and breathing in that fresh, clean mountain air, or sitting in Cypress Hills Prov. Park, near a Lodgepole Pine Tree, watching the little Red Squirrels, Black-capped Chickadees, Dark-eyed Juncos, and Red-breasted Nuthatches all vying for the peanuts we've left out for them!!

A-campin' we'll go... (Oops!  did I actually say that??  Hehehehe!!!)