Tag: Jasper

Seeking Out Sources Of Delight

Day 4 – July 26th, 2020

We slept in a little bit and decided to forgo the whole ‘breakfast out’ experience, as we had enough snacks to get us going until we needed lunch on our journey from Jasper to Canmore.

The first stop along the route was at Athabasca falls.

The tumultuous water came crashing down, being pounded against the canyon walls below, spraying us with mist and bathing the viewpoints in a coolness only rushing mountain waters like that can bring.

We had beautiful weather and the time passed quickly with the many interesting views to be taken in along the way.

We paused at anything we deemed necessary and after driving past some icy aqua shades of water that ran through a ‘field’ of flat rocks and clay, we turned around to go explore there awhile… because I really wanted to, even though there were no easy pull offs 🤪🙈 Mountains are cool (Hah, get it? ‘cool’🤪) but it’s the water bits with the innumerable shades of blue, that never fail to make my heart pitter patter.

The water was as refreshing as one would imagine, ice cream headache style numbness taking over in seconds, since it was actual run off from the nearby Columbian Icefields 😅
I’m glad I got to dip my toes in it though… even if rocks aren’t as gentle on my aged feet as they once seemed 😜

We may or may not have ended up with two small/medium rocks in the truck cab as natures souvenirs… if one can’t find shells, one can always find rocks and sticks 😉👌🏻

We stopped for lunch at the Glacier Discovery Centre.
It was wonderfully sunny out, so we enjoyed a tasty (and surprisingly affordable) poutine out on the patio, looking out to the Athabasca Glacier.

Enjoying the sunshine but also getting that refreshing breeze off the nearby ice.

Not far from there, we had to get a little splash of gas at the Saskatchewan River Crossing pit stop, the only gas station between Jasper and Banff.

Driving over the North Sask. River bridge, brought with it slightly different coloring and surroundings than the usual Saskatchewan river sidelines we get to see 😉

The wildflowers/weeds that dot the ditches and hills make for such nice little sprinklings of color and this lake was a gorgeous backdrop.

A color I don’t think I could ever tire of seeing.

‘Blue color is everlastingly appointed by the deity to be a source of delight’ – John Ruskin

When we reached Banff area, we were going to attempt to see Lake Louise but that turned out to be a sight we shall have to save for next time.
People and vehicles wreathed all around, parking lots were filled, traffic control directing everyone everywhere and no semi easy way was available to spot the landmark lake.
It was disappointing but we didn’t lack seeing beauty on the drive up till that point, so we continued on, pausing awhile in Banff itself.

We sat by the Bow Falls awhile, enjoying the sunshine and planning out what we wanted to do before heading to our place of rest in Canmore. I wanted at least one souvenir sweater or shirt as I never actually buy those type of things and one was actually immediately found 👍🏻

Mike had gotten us a room at the ‘Creek Side Villa’ and the modern rustic interior immediately charmed us.

We used our room as a menu searching location before heading out for dinner at ‘Blake’.

I wasn’t really impressed with my meal (which aside from pretty much being fancy bacon, was also missing the sauce) or the service, so it felt like a bit of a let down and after making mention of it to our server, she casually said she’d let the management know and just handed us our bill 😏

We drove to a little parking lot to look at an advertised ‘Quarry Lake’ and immediately left it… as it was the least attractive/most people packed little body of water we’d yet to see 😜
There were many elk grazing all around the area though, being thoroughly adjusted to the presence of humans and not at all perturbed by the many people ‘taking pictures of the deers’ as one man behind us stated 🤪

I was feeling pretty sore and we were tired of being on the go, so we decided to relax at the hotel the rest of the evening.
Enjoying our room, AC and a king size bed to watch movies in until we got sleepy 😋👍🏻

Gaining – Both Weight & Elevation

Day 2 – July 24th, 2020

It was a fresh morning with some light sprinklings of rain as we left our Airbnb room and headed off to find breakfast.

We decided to take up our old habit of sharing one order of food, not even for the sake of prices but more so we can eat more flavours per day 🙈
Stopping one place, eating, moving on to the next and so on 😉👌🏻

‘Toast Culture’ had many good reviews and an appealing Instagram page so we were looking forward to it.
Though the service was good and the food fine, it wasn’t that burst of flavour we’d hoped for.
Having to generously salt and pepper the food and paying $17.00 for the one dish that was mainly a bowl of potatoes.
It was fine and we FELT good after eating the fresher style of meal apposed to some fried platter but it just didn’t impress us as hoped I suppose.

Since we weren’t really filled from that experience, I looked up cafes/bakeries nearby… the desire for a ‘coffee like’ drink ( since hot coffee lost its appeal over a month ago #pregnantproblems) was strong, I think due to the slightly chilly morning.

‘Chocorrant’ was found a moment away and we readily ordered their lemon meringue and crème brûlée croissants and a hazelnut coffee.

The croissants were delicious 🙌🏻🤤

Just like croissants we’d have eaten in Europe but with the added enjoyment of flavourful fillings, of two of our favourite things.
They made up for the breakfast bowl 😉

We could then begin our 4.5 hr drive to Jasper.
I succumbed to sleeping the first 2 hours away, pretty quickly.
Mike listened to another ‘Father Gilbert’ and said he actually didn’t mind it… he’s not usually big on audio books/radio dramas but having nothing to do but drive or talk to a sleeping wife, must have set the right tone 🤪

We paused for a bathroom/refreshment break at Starbucks in Hinton and that’s also when I pulled out ‘the butt pillow’ 😂
I borrowed it from my sister, (not as gross as it could unintentionally sound 🙈) who’d used it during their road trip from The States to Canada back when they moved.
It’s a gel type pillow that is meant to raise the sitting position for short people, so that the back of the user actually sits in the right spot on the vehicle seats.
It definitely helps 👌🏻

Compressions socks were also fought back on… not the easiest thing at any point in life but for sure not with a baby belly, in a vehicle, when the small person is up in your ribs. Mike may have been roped into sock putting on/removing during future wears 😜

Mountains finally began edging nearer but we didn’t see a single animal besides some fenced in Bison way back at the beginning of Alberta 😜

Personal size fruit cups that mumsie had sent with us were eaten…

I only had my little gold spoons from home to bring with and those, along with my silk pillowcase, made for a rather posh looking road trip moment I thought 😉😋

We detoured a couple minutes off our main route, stopping at Annette Lake, as I’d read it was a good one to do a little walking at if one desired and that was an accurate description.

With beautiful blue and turquoise waters, sunshine’s and mountains in the foreground, it made for a lovely ‘first stop’ and we wondered down the paved path alongside it for a little stretch.

 

We got to our hotel in Jasper not long after, ‘HI Jasper’.

A newly built hostel style complex and it was done so very nicely.
Clean simple lines, lots of windows, a nice dining/shared kitchen area if you needed and our room, though a little sterile, was clean and spacious 👍🏻

We rested there awhile, stretching our vehicle contorted bodies while searching for where we wanted to try going for supper.

We went to The Raven.

First that is 😜

The prices seemed high, which we pretty much expected but none of the meals really jumped out at us either.
By that point it felt awkward to leave as we’d already been served our waters, so we ordered what sounded like a very tasty Brie and baguette appetizer. Brie, rhubarb date chutney, candied pecans, garlic butter spread baguette and pickled grapes. It was very little but VERY flavour filled and tasty, if not actually filling 😜

We walked around town a little more, trying to decide if we should share another meal elsewhere, get snacks and head to the campsite where we’d be meeting friends for the evening or if we needed more food at all.
Turns out we did need more and it was found at ‘Alba’ 🤓

Mich got his ‘once a trip’ calamari order and I wanted gnocchi but decided to try the duck pasta instead, since I can neither cook nor easily order duck easily at home.

Both meals were very enjoyable 👌🏻
Mikes being crispy little strips with a zesty lemon garlic sauce instead of chewy rings and my pasta having a savoury, brown gravy type sauce.

We did not share meals that time and our stomachs protested due to that fact but not in an all together displeasing way 😜

Before leaving town we found a pop machine to fill up a reusable plastic bag boughten from a dollar store at home.
It worked perfectly as an ice pack, as was my intention but I wasn’t sure it would work as hoped 🤪

Standing, laying and walking don’t cause too much pain but sitting has proven to result in much upper back/rib pain for over the last month, so I’d been concerned about the icing options.

Leaving Jasper we headed to find the Lucerne Campground to meet up with our friends and family. We drove too far due to lack of cell reception for our google maps but by doing so we got to see the picturesque ‘Moose Lake’ ☺️

By the time we got to the campground, it wasn’t long until the sun starting retreating and we spent our evening around the campfire and under stretched out tarps, due to light smatterings of rain.
Suffering from smoke inhalation and enjoying the conversation until heading back to our hostel after midnight.

Which is probably one of the latest nights I’ve had during this whole pregnancy 🙈

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