We found our National Park in this centenary year for the US Parks Service when we drove south to Waterton Lakes in Alberta & Glacier National Park in Montana. They are of course one huge area of the Rocky Mountains & together they form the world's first International Peace Park & world Heritage site. A small detour on the way took us to Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump where the native Blackfoot tribe used to herd the bison over a rock face to their deaths. This was actually named for a native who decided to watch from below & was killed by the weight of dead animals! There is a very interesting interpretive centre that tells the sorry story of the near extinction of these huge animals & the subsequent demise of the natives who relied on them for so much. Approaching Waterton we turned off the road & drove through a fenced bison paddock where there is a herd grazing & you can see them up close (from the car) & we were happy that these proud animals are growing in numbers again. The town of Waterton is small but scenically located on the lake overlooked by mountains & the very fancy looking Prince of Wales Hotel - no we didn't stay there but did enjoy their breakfast one morning. Skipping stones, seeing wildlife in the town & on the roads & a couple of lovely dinners made our stay here a pleasure. The highlight of this area for us all was the day we ventured across the border into USA to go to Glacier National Park & drive along the beautifully named "Going To The Sun Road". This is an engineering masterpiece & was surprisingly good quality considering how much snow is here during winter. The scenery at every turn is spectacular so we took several hours with lots of stops to cross the peaks & ended up at Apgar on the shore of Lake McDonald. James had an spontaneous swim in the freezing water of the river which was so clear you could see far down to the beautiful rocks. Took a detour to see Red Rock Canyon & of course I loved the rocks & the wild flowers but had an amazing bonus on the way out when a black bear calmly walked across the road right in front of us. What wonderful wildlife we've seen so far!