Warren's favorite summer memories

Other than our first summer after moving to Farmington (when we tilled the ground over and over and over again, dug trenches for sprinkler pipe, got pneumonia, installed sprinklers, planted tree and flower gardens, started a new job, pulled weeds over and over and over and over ...), a favorite summer memory is from the summer before my senior year of high school.

Back then, ward scout groups were able to travel as far away from home as they could afford to (and they didn't have any limitations on fund raising). Each year, our Explorer Post would work all year raising money, then go somewhere like California, or Mexico, or Canada.

My favorite trip was to Waterton, Alberta, Canada. We drove together in our advisor's truck and camper, and my best friend's brand new Ford Mustang. (Since only the adults were allowed to drive, my friend Billy couldn't even drive his own car on the trip.)

Waterton is a small resort town just across the US/Canadian border from Glacier National Park (the Canadian side of the international park is called Waterton National Park).

On the way up from Rose Park, we drove through Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, the Tetons, and Glacier National Park. We took the "Highway-to-the-Sun" road through Glacier. This is the highest elevated road in the continental U.S. You have steep drop-offs and great scenery on one or both sides of the road (when you aren't in the middle of a cloud). Because of snow, the road is only open for a few months each summer.

On the outskirts of Waterton, we noticed a horse riding operation. So we stopped and made arrangements for later in the week. When we arrived at Waterton, we were surprised to see deer on several lawns and an obviously LDS Church meeting house. We made contact with local members and found out they were having a Young Men/Young Women/Mutual/whatever party that week.

We camped at a small lake above Waterton. Early in the week, we went on an guided all-day horse back trip to a hidden lake by a glacier. We first took a boat across the river while the horses swam along side. After several hours on the trail, it went behind a waterfall to get to the very small lake. We spent some time sliding down the glacier (a welcome relief after several hours in the saddle), had lunch and started back. We found wild raspberries, etc. along the trail to snack on.

Later in the week, we came back and rented the horses for a few hours to just race each other around the countryside.

At the Church party (a hay ride) we met some nice Canadian Young Women and invited them to go to the movies with us the next night (or did they invite us?). (Our advisors and several fathers were with us as chaperones.) While walking to the movies (there is/was a small movie theater in Waterton), we noticed a crowd gathering about a block away from us. As we got closer, we saw a mother bear and two cubs up a tree (or utility pole) about twenty feet off the ground.

Later in the week, we took some great hikes, and some scenic boat rides across the U.S./Canadian border.

I enjoyed the trip so much that I have returned to Waterton twice, once on a family trip, and once while on an audit trip for the Church's Welfare Department.