Waterton Food Festival

The town of Waterton did something kind of cool this year.  They hosted the 1st ever Annual Waterton Food festival!!   

That meant that for 3 or 4 days, participating restaurants offered discounted prices on many of their dishes, entertainment was amped up, and celebration was in the air!!  (Okay, maybe it just meant that I had one more excuse to drive out there.  To EAT!)

I waited until I had dropped off Nate for school (that would give me three solid hours alone) and I headed out.   It was the PERFECT afternoon in the mountains.  

 Hot. Windless. And brimming with life!

So many wildflowers are starting to bloom, but oddly enough, what stole my attention today was all of the dandelions.   The landscape was covered in yellow and white and though I know these noxious weeds aren't really native to Waterton, I think they fit in quite beautifully here.

I can't stand the things at home in my own front yard, but find them really quite lovely in Waterton;)

I didn't drive out here though for the flowers (or the weeds;) so I quickly reminded myself that this day was all about the food.   They were offering a little photo contest on Instagram where they encouraged you to snap a photo and then give it the hashtag #mywatertonEATS.   I desperately wanted to win, so I stopped in at my favorite little treat and got to work,photographing those delicious sweet potato fries in all of my favorite Waterton spots!  

First we took a drive (them and I;) up to the Prince of Whales hotel.    

I'll admit I felt a little bit awkward staging my food and photographing it.   This picture represents the time a group of tourists were standing nearby and I didn't want to look totally weird so I just held them up sort of in front of me and did my best to make it look as though I wasn't photographing my lunch.  haha.

I took it a little more seriously up at Cameron Lake though as there was virtually nobody around.  

I love Cameron Lake in the off season.   My favorite thing to do is sit on the dock and watch the clouds as they slowly move across the sky.  I'll admit, I get a bit nervous up here alone though as I always wonder what I would do if a bear were to show up.   

But alas, here I sat, photographing my fries and watching the sky.

For the record, after I finished photographing my fries (and then finally eating them;) I stood up and got ready to leave when what do you think I saw?    A BEAR - right there at the visitor centre, smack dab in between me and my van!   It watched me for a bit and started to walk towards the dock, which had me questioning what I would do if he actually ventured out toward me?    

Would I jump in the water?   

Go into the fetal position?

Stop drop and roll?

Punch it in the nose?

Luckily, I didn't have to resort to any of those as I noticed that behind the bear a small group of people had arrived and were preparing to come my way.   I called out to them to let them know a bear was in front of them.   That yelling was enough to cause the bear to lumber away from the dock (and my remaining fries) and explore the bushes, thus giving me the opportunity to skuttle on back to my vehicle (though I tried to look calm and cool as a cucumber;)!

The ride back down from Cameron Lake was just as eventful.  I followed lots of Bighorn Sheep for a good stretch of the time and even came across this very light colored cub.   It was all by itself, though I wasn't about to take any chances.  I stayed stayed in my van with the windows rolled down just enough to snap some pictures.

I didn't want to risk an encounter with a mamma bear!

I got down from the mountain in good time and whipped back into town so I could be home before the kids.  I love being able to have little adventures like this every now and then.   (Though I always find a long delayed To-Do list waiting for me when I get back:)

Thanks Waterton.   The 1st annual Food Festival was a real slice!!