Wednesday, Thursday - September 28, 29, 2011

We stayed in Jasper on Wednesday and went up to Jasper Park Lodge. Brenda's mother wanted us to look for a a place she stayed at when she was younger at Lake Edith. We found the lake but not the cottage. Had lunch on one of the park benches and went for a walk along the lake. We then went over to Jasper Park Lodge and its golf course. Played 18 while Brenda rode in the cart. We both got a chill and caught a cold as the wind was brisk especially around 5.


Lake Edith









4th Hole - Par 3










Enough said about the temperature










On Thursday we left in the morning to drive down the Columbia Parkway to Field. I will let the pictures show you what we saw. In Field we went to a great barbeque restaurant - The Fire Pit. So many pictures but this is a pretty good selection. If you see some blank spaces below, click on it to see the picture I attached.




Brenda, feeling sick





Athabasca River flowing out of Jasper, going to Fort McMurray




Some adventurers setting off to run the river rapids

























































The Columbia Icefields


















































Lake Louise

Tuesday - September 27, 2011

Went to West Edmonton Mall this morning where we walked around and Brenda bought an outfit. Lots of stores and it seems to be bigger than most of the malls in Toronto. WE then started to drive to Jasper which was about 350 km away along a pretty straight road with not too much scenery until we reached the foothills. Stayed at Chateau Jasper which was recommended by Jill and Alex. Very nice place and reasonably priced. Went to diner at Evil Dave's - a place that produces spicy but delicious food. great meat loaf.




The mountains in the distance

























Golden Eagle

Monday - September 26, 2011

We got up at 4:15 to say good bye to Alex who leaves for work at around 4:45. Then we went back to bed and got up again at 6:15 to say good bye to Jill who leaves for work at around 6:45. Buses take both of them to the respective sites.

We left around 10 after a phone call that I had at 8. Yesterday, on our way back from picking up the firewood, we noticed smoke coming from across the forest. Well, it was a forest fire and they closed the main highway to and from Fort McMurray - Highway 63. So we travelled down Highway 881, which was a longer route back to Edmonton, but more scenic. In fact it was the way I originally intended to travel back to Edmonton. There certainly was a lot less truck traffic on 881.

We arrived in Edmonton around 4 stayed at the St Albert Hotel on the northwest side of Edmonton. Went to dinner at a very good Italian restaurant.

Sunday - September 25, 2011

There was a trade show over at the recreation centre so we all went over there for a couple of hours. It was very similar to the One of a Kind Craft show in Toronto but obviously smaller. Lots of interesting dealers. It was well attended by the town. One thing you notice about Fort McMurray is that it is a young town - lots of young families. We then went out and got a truck losd of firewood for Alex and Jill, so they could have lots of fires out in the fire pit over the winter.

Had dinner at the Keg and then went back to the house to look at slides taken in China.

All in all a good visit and it was good to see that Jill and Alex had a very nice house.

Saturday - September 24, 2011

Had breakfast and then looked at the video's that Jill and Alex had taken on their trip to China. Very interesting, but I got a little seasick from the camera movement. I never got seasick on our boat trip no matter what the weather but sitting in a room watching a video!!! Anyways, I laid down for a while to calm myself while everyone else went shopping.

After they went shopping, we went and bought some spareribs and salad for dinner. Then we sat by the fire pit and watched the fire.

Friday - September 23, 2011

Alex and Jill in front of their house








Went for a walk with Jill and Alex this morning along the hiking trails close to their house. The trails are about 21 km long if you follow them all the way. Fortunately, it there were other trails that shortened the walk but there were pretty good hills. After that we went to a sandwich shop for lunch where we picked up some very delicious sandwiches made with the shop's own secret formula bread.

Went over to the new recreation building. Amazing place - 50 metre pool, lots of exercise machines, indoor running track etc.

We then picked up Brenda at 2 at the airport. She came in on the Toronto via Calgary. Alex cooked steak dinners that night and closed the night off by sitting around the firepit in their backyard for a couple of hours. This was really special, as the nights are very cool and with a great fire going it was just perfect.





















Great restaurant for sandwiches














Athabasca River Valley