Part 1: Glacier National Park and waking up Heather Mountain Lodge

It was unfortunate that we didn’t get to really see Glacier National Park (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glacier_National_Park_%28Canada%29). It reminded me of when Kevin and I pick guests up from the airport out here in Victoria late at night (guests always seem to arrive at night…) and drive them home the scenic route, saying “imagine if you will, the mountains on the other side of the water”. Anyway, Glacier National Park (and we’re talking about the one in Canada, in British Columbia to be exact) extends from just outside of Revelstoke to Golden and contains Rogers Pass (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Pass_%28British_Columbia%29). We didn’t see Rogers Pass either. It was dark. My understanding is that it’s high.

So, yes. Our trip to Heather Mountain Lodge took place in the slowly darkening sky, but there seemed to be a lot of traffic on the single lane highway (except for passing sections) and a lot of trucks. I was sure glad I wasn’t driving. We were quite worried we had missed our stop since we were waiting for the sign after the park sign (as the woman on the phone told us). However, we knew we were ok when we saw the time change sign – entering Mountain Standard Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_Time_Zone) – ah, Wikipedia, where would I be without you (note that I didn’t just look at Wikipedia – it’s just that often times the Wikipedia entries were much more interesting, comprehensive, and nicer to look at than other, more “official” websites). We knew that Heather Mountain Lodge is on Mountain time, so we became even more vigilant, and soon, there was the sign on the left side of the road. After a sharp turn off the highway, we arrived at our final stop for the evening at Heather Mountain Lodge (http://www.heathermountainlodge.com/)

We pulled up in pitch blackness, but soon saw the main lodge building, next to a motel structure. And sure enough, taped to the front door, was an envelope with Kevin’s name on it and the number of our room. Kevin picked up the key, and we unloaded the car (it was pretty dark – I wondered what critters were hanging out in the trees next to the car) and we headed down the “hallway” to our room.

The room was nothing special, but it was large and clean and comfy.

And there was wifi – phew! We cracked open a bottle of wine we had picked up in Revelstoke, and sat back to relax after a long day on the road. Then, sleep.

The next morning we woke up feeling pretty good, but wondering what scenery would await us in daylight.

Knowing checkout was at 11:00, we headed down to the lodge building to see about breakfast (the woman on the phone had mentioned that the lodge had a restaurant, which was also one of the reasons we decided to stay there). It was a pretty cool looking building. It’s not an old building by any means, having been built in 1996, but it had the look of a ski or mountain lodge, and the breakfast was good – and they made lattes! Yay! Check out their website ((http://www.heathermountainlodge.com/) to see some nice pictures of the inside of the lodge with their huge stone fireplace.

Here is the scenery from the restaurant:

With a pond and a little garden in the back

And here is the lodge building:

With the motel section off to the side:

So, after a nice hearty breakfast, we settled out bill and got our stuff back into the car, and headed off. Destination: Brooks, Alberta.