Jasper - August 16

August 16 - We spent the day touring Jasper. The fires in British Columbia have sent smoke drifting this way so there is a haze everywhere and it is difficult to see the mountains. We drove out to maligne canyon. Gorgeous narrow, deep canyon with a river and waterfalls. 

River in the gorge

Rainbow in the mist from the Waterfall

We saw bighorn sheep on the road and stopped to get a picture with them. Fun. There are many lakes in this area. they have the most beautiful Turquoise color.

Mother and her kid.

Up close to Sheep.

We stopped at a gift shop out at Medicine Lake. I looked up at the clock and realized that Alberta was an hour later than our clocks were set for. We hadn't realized when we crossed the border that we needed to move watches ahead. Yikes. we had been an hour behind for 2 days! we also were suppose to be at the Visitor Center in Jasper at 4 in the hopes that my friend Gail would have made it to Jasper so that we could meet up with her. It has been difficult communicating because of lavk of cell phones and difficulty finding internet. ( Thus the lack of blog updates too) It was now actually 3:30 not 2:30 as we thought and we hurried back to town.

As in the old days we had been leaving notes for Gail at both the Visitor Center and at whatever campground we were going into at night so she could find us. When i checked back at the Visitor Center my note was Gone! Hooray she is here. We drove out to the Campground and were so happy to finally see her.

We spent that night at Whistlers CG and after dinner a small herd of Elk munched and strolled their way right past our camp sites. What a great way for Gail to start her trip with us.

One of many Elk we saw.

Salmon dinner  at the campground.

The next day  (Aug 17) we got a leisurely start and drove out to exploe and walk around some lakes.  We athen drove out to the Jasper lake Lodge. VERY posh. We had thought to get a cup of coffee there but as it was way past lunch time we decided to order lunch. What a mistake. Garry and I both ordered a bowl of soup. When served the waitress put a very shallow bowl in front of us - Garry had 2 noodles, a couple of bites of chicken, a speck of onion and some spices. I was given a shallow bowl with 1 totrilla chip, a couple pieces of corn and 2 bites of chicken. WHAT???????????????????????? I said to the waitress that I thought we were getting soup. She then poured the broth into Garry's bowl and the Chowder liquid into mine. What an odd way to present it especially as it didn't consisit of much when all was said and done. Good soup but we each only had about 10 spoonfuls and the bill came to $ 25.00. Welcome to the Fairmont Jasper Lodge.

Interestingly enough during all of this my friend Gail ( she did a lot of business traveling with IBM) has quietly asked about internet access. She comes back to the table with applications for us to join The Presidents Club at the Fairmont. No cost and we can get WIFI at any of the Fairmonts. So while we can't afford to eat here we can get WIFI free. WoHoo.  We hadn't brought our computer along so we will go on line another day.

We drove out to our campsite at Pocohontas. We grilled out using Gail's small grill, played cards until 11:00 and crashed.