It was now four of us, including my mother, mama Hong, and the pooch in a fully loaded car that was headed to Glacier National Park for 16 hours of driving. We had only a few days at the park and decided to drive the Going to The Sun Road. We were overwhelmed by steep cliffs on one side of the car and wild flowers on the other. Although we were expecting gargantuan glacial scenery, we encountered elegant and sophisticated sights with glaciers, creeks, lakes, waterfalls, and wild flowers, whose colors would be hard to mimic on canvas. We took several short trails, including Virginia Falls. Sunil and I decided to be adventurous, stray from a trail, and go to the lakeshore. We climbed the top of a huge rock to photograph the beautiful water color. We tried to take selfie, but were rather unsuccessful in finding a good foothold without falling over. The last evening ended with dinner at the Many Glacier Hotel where we raised our glasses for great adventures to come in the following months.
After visiting the American Rocky Mountains and before arriving in the Canadian Rockies, we took a detour to a small town in Kaslo, British Columbia. The house we rented was hidden and we had to drive along a dirt and unpaved road for about a mile before arriving. We were greeted by a cute guesthouse next to the owners’ home and a big five-acre lawn. It was such an unexpected gem where we were able to take a little rest before our upcoming hectic schedule. The house overlooked impressive mountain ranges in the distance. During the morning, deer came to visit to eat apples from the trees in the yards. The owners’ puppy wasn’t afraid of Schatje (who was five times his size) and followed her around to play everywhere. The place was so peaceful, quiet and refreshing until Schatje spotted a deer in the yard and decided to give pursuit. It was dusk and she decided to disappear without leaving any trace for us to follow. The owners urgently contacted their neighbors to inform them but no one had seen her. We jumped into the car and drove around the area, desperately calling her name without any luck. When we returned, the owner’s wife screamed with joy “she is back at the house!” We ran back to our guest house and saw the pooch sitting in front of mama Hong, panting vigorously with guilt in her eyes. She was so out of breath that we could only imagine how far and how fast she must have sprinted to chase that deer until she gave up and somehow found her way back. She panted for another 20 minutes while we were exhaling our deep sigh of relief.
SooJin & Sunil 