Waterton - Day 1

Our first day was a very long driving day, as we drove the 700km from Regina to Pincher Creek, AB, a small town in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and a short ways north of Waterton Lakes National Park.  We got out of Regina around 8:30am and then immediately stopped in Moose Jaw, as we realized a short time ago that we had never taken the kids to see the giant moose.

After that stop, it was on to Maple Creek, where we stopped for a picnic lunch at a small park.  Maple Creek is just slightly off the Trans Canada and we had never stopped there before, instead choosing to drive by and stop at the border tourist stop for lunch.  However, Sandra had discovered that there was a giant toy store in Maple Creek, so after lunch we headed over to it.  I'm not certain giant really describes it.  Every time I thought we got to the end of the store, there was another room full of different types of toys and games, and we kept losing each other in the store. The upstairs was filled with a ton of puzzles, which Sandra loved and she struggled to decide which puzzles to buy or not buy, eventually settling on a Rider puzzle and a cute six pack of puzzles representing cereal boxes, packaged exactly like the camping cereal boxes of our youth.

Once we were done shopping, the rest of the day was just driving, and I was exhausted when we finally arrived in Pincher Creek.  After a short nap and supper, we watched the end of the Rider game and then settled in for the night.  Tomorrow we head into the park and the mountains.