Belly River

After a short backtrack to score some more showers at the Nordic Center, we headed south through Alberta toward Waterton National Park.  It was beautiful country: the mountains turned into foothills and rolling plains.  

It got HOT.  It was so hot we stopped at an A&W to get some root beer floats.  A&W advertises itself as "All American Food", but in this franchise we saw poutine, a very French Canadian dish, on the menu.  As we were on our way out of Canada, this was our last chance to try some.  It was... interesting.  Fries and gravy with some cheese curds from a plastic bag heated up in the microwave.  A guilty pleasure, and the not-quite perfect complement to the floats.  

Old men had congregated at the A&W and were gambling for coffees with some kind of coin game.  They appeared to be farmers wearing overalls and trucker caps.  They were having trouble turning up their hearing aids enough to hear the scores in the game. 

In Waterton we tried to find some buffalo in a pen but we were on a wild goose chase.  We didn't end up making it into the park because the guide at the entrance informed us that the campgrounds in the park were full.  She recommended one along the edge of the park.  We spent the night camping at belly river, just a few miles north from the  US border.  The next day we'd be exploring Glacier national park.