We were up at 7am yesterday morning getting our things ready for the day when we heard our buzzer ring. It was Donna, our host and driver for the day. We weren’t expecting her until 8am. Just as well, we were on the road heading West along 137^th Ave, first to get some breakfast at Tim’s up over here by Happy Harbor comics. It’s hard to drink Tim’s coffee on the road, especially if your not used to handling the cup as I often do. I should have specified double cup as I often do with Tim’s coffee. Then; on the road to Jasper. The drive was great even though it got a little hazy as we got to the Alex Henday overpass construction going on. We took a 73 photos with my little digital camera that afternoon. Our first stop was at Edson, which is 199K West of Edmonton. We got there about 10am. Mostly to stop for a pee break and to stretch our legs at Tim’s. Edson is a pretty little town. We Didn’t take any photos in Edson because we were trying to make time. Donna was driving a 2009 rental Honda. Same model as her own 2008 model. We pulled into Hinton which is 287k from Edmonton. about noon and I took a few photos:

We were looking for a Wendy’s but at the last minute before we were about to pull of Hinton we found at the last minute an A&W and gassed up. Fuel is 97.4 something. Hinton’s a nice town nestled in the mountains on the way to the Rockies but by the time we took the photo above it was becoming increasingly cloudy but warm. Our destination was Miette hot springs on the road to Jasper. The switchback stretch of road wasn’t sitting to well with Anne but we stopped here and there to take a couple of photos. This one is of Anne and her sister Donna at an observation point.

This one is of Anne and me soaking in the view of the mountains. With the somewhat overcast conditions the views we got didn’t do the photos justice but in some ways I think the overcast conditions actually helped a bit to accentuate the mountains. While in Miette hot tubs I never saw so many RV’s in my life. We Didn’t think on a Sunday early afternoon that there would be a lot of people but wow, the place was packed. Ticket prices to get in were $6.05 adults and swimsuit rentals were $1.90. I brought my own swimsuit with me and towel.

The rest of the photos I’m going to try and put on Blogger because they host batch pictures better then Geeklog and more over the next few days since I don’t think we’re going to be going out on any more outings like this for the rest of the year.

We Didn’t spend a lot of time in the hot tub at Miette as we needed to get into Jasper Provincial park itself and that long switchback road towards the Yellowhead highway was going to take a bit of time. Finally we got onto the highway as it was about 2:30pm. There is a campsite called “Pocahontas” right beside the highway.

We got to the Jasper Provincial park toll booth and we had to pay $21 per car. Of course every time there’s a rest area or a town the speed limit drops. I think we were in Jasper by 3pm. The scenery was awesome. I liked all the blue green lakes and river systems and how the highway went between Talbot and the other one, which name I cant recall

We wanted to take the Jasper tram up to the top of mount Robson but they wanted $28 an adult ticket for a 20 minute ride. Yikes. But we parked the car right on Connaught drive, which is the main drag of this small town of about 4,500. It’s a tourist spot that gets tens of thousands of tourists every year. Most of the “action” in jasper takes place between Miette Ave and Connaught /Hazel and Patricia street area. There are a lot of boutiques and gift shops. Lots of restaurants as well. I liked my stay in Jasper and we had fun walking around. We talked how we’d like to come back and do it right by staying over night in a Hotel and do the tram thing next year. There’s lots to do in Jasper, like white water rafter boat tours tram mountain rides, shopping, restaurants and cafés are plentiful.

We had supper at the Soft Rock Café and sat outside. Donna took this photo of Anne and I enjoying a beer waiting for our meal. The last thing we did before leaving Jasper was to buy an ice-cream cone. I bought a one scope strawberry waffle cone and Anne bought something similar. Donna was waiting out front for us as we were ready to leave and at 5pm we got caught in a brief thunder shower which didn’t last long.

We got back into Edmonton at 9pm and were at the Westin Hotel valet parking ramp getting our gear sorted saying our good bys. We had a great day in the mountains even though I would have liked to have stayed longer. The drive back was loaded with conversation making it easier to return home. Anne thought she lost her purse as she was causing a seen looking through our bags right on the corner of Jasper Ave there. We sorted that out feeling a bit better and headed across the street to the LRT and underground to Churchill station and boarded the train to Clairview feeling good about the day. If you haven’t been to Jasper Albert yet, you owe it too yourself to go. I’m looking forward to going back next year.

So today it’s back to the old grind into the office. After a day like yesterday I wish I had the day off like my wife does. But I have books to buy. But now that I’ve caught the travel bug, I want to do more traveling. On the way back Donna was talking about her upcoming Caribbean 10 day cruise she’s going with a family friend. They fly to Toronto then to Miami and then take the Jewel of the Sea for 10 days. She said for Anne and I to take a cruise like that would cost us about $5K including air fair (less taxes) and Anne wants to go on a cruise in her lifetime. Me too.

Tonight gang, it’s into the office and put in my 4 hours. Ugh. But after that it’s off to Monday night Raw. So there is some light at the end of the day.

But nothing could compare with Yesterday. I’ll always remember Sunday July 5^th 2009 and I’ve got some great photos as well.

Anyway gang, that’s about all for now.