I've stayed at the hotel shown in your photo Ida (Prince of Wales). It's an incredibly beautiful area but much of it was affected by the wildfires a few years ago. I remember they had a special team of fire fighters working to save the hotel. The fires got really close... the Visitor's Center just down the road burned. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/prince-of-wales-calgary-firefighters-1.4290763 ETA: I just read that 30 per cent of Waterton Lakes National Park was severely damaged, 70 per cent of the forested area was lost in the fires. We were only there one night while passing through. We did get up to Red Rock Canyon. We were there in late August 2016. We were traveling from Calgary down into Montana where we crossed the "Going to the Sun Road" (Glacier National Park) and eventually came back up into British Columbia. The whole area is spectacular. I can't recommend the "Going to the Sun Road" enough - breathtaking scenery I can't even describe. We were traveling with my elderly inlaws so we didn't do any hiking. My FIL has Parkinson's Disease so is a bit mobility limited, so it was more of a driving-around-looking-at-the-scenery trip. I think I still have some photos on my phone. Waterton Lakes National Park is on the Canadian side, and borders Glacier National Park on the American side. Between the two there would be an incredible selection of trails and things to see, so many waterfalls, wildlife (we saw buffalo and elk), etc.

We all had a wonderful time. Thanks for all the tips! We visited Kent, Columbus, and Sandusky in Ohio, Presque Isle in PA, and Niagara Falls and Corning in NY. Zoombezi Bay (Columbus) and Cedar Point (Sandusky) water parks were huge hits with the kids. Everyone liked Jolly Donut, and we also found a great pizza restaurant, Brick Oven Pizza, with standard pies for the kids and grownup pies for the adults. We stayed at Cedar Point's budget hotel but agreed that if we go again, we would like to stay at either the camping resort or the Hotel Breakers. The beach at Cedar Point is pretty nice too. In Kent we toured the shooting site. There is a series of explanation plaques of what happened in chronological order. However, the plaques are not in geographical order and there is no walking path. Get a good map before you go and be prepared to zoom all over a common and around a building. The campus has not changed that much since the shootings so it really drives home how shocking the shootings were. Next time, we'll do Presque Isle differently. We camped as the most COVID- and kid-friendly lodging option. Lampe Campground is extremely clean and quiet but has no shade or wind protection. Our tent almost collapsed on us! Luckily, the Watkins Glen KOA made up for the Presque Isle tent disaster. Two pools, a bouncy pillow, mini golf, and lots of kids to play with. We visited the Corning Museum of Glass, which was AMAZING. If you go, be sure to book yourself in for a make-your-own-glass-project workshop!

Elmer, I am one of those people who love snowy and cold weather. I used to love going outside after a snowstorm to shovel snow off my sidewalks. With my back I can't do that now unfortunately. I also love being near the water in the winter. I like watching the ice breakers or listening to freighters as they plow through the ice. Love the sound of the ice breaking up. Some of the most beautiful winter scenery is at Point Pelee as the ice from Lake Erie is pushed up along the shoreline. Summers can be horrendous with the humidity but we get used to it. My cousin who moved here 2 years ago from Toronto can't stand the humidity. Along with living near the water there comes the yearly migration of fish flies or shad flies. Stinky creatures who live to die. I love having 4 seasons and sometimes we can experience them all in one week.

We did stay in the park on the west side for 3 nights and it was incredibly convenient to access the trails nearby or drive a few miles early enough to get a parking spot for the others. Then we moved outside the park to Whitefish and stayed a couple of nights, then to Kalispell. A lot of moving around but we did it for convenience as we only had a little over a week that trip. The second time we went concentrated on the eas5 side. We used park lodging near Two Medicine (beds were terrible but the lodge was beautiful). I have heard they updated the rooms since 2017 and they needed it. Then we moved to a small motor lodge outside St Mary near the East entrance and it was surprisingly nice and convenient. I cannot recall the name at the moment. Then we spent 3 nights at Many Glacier Lodge which was very nice. There were several trails accessible frim the lodge. They had regular transportation over to the campground side which was also the trailhead for many nice hiking trails. Good luck with your planning. With several family members, i dont blame you a bit for staying in a VRBO if convenient to an entrance. It allows for laundry, some meal and snack prep and for everyone to spread out a little. And wifi! We didnt have bear spray but we did use Bear Bells. On almost every trail we saw a park ranger or two and they were advising hikers if they had seen bears. We never saw any except on a boat ride late one evening.