Day 3 - July 12, 2010 11:30 PM

July 12, 2010
11:30 PM

Happy 15th Birthday J!!!

In honour of J's birthday today he got to ride shotgun all day. Therefore, he had a ringside seat for the next excitement.

B was driving just before the foothills in Alberta when he all of a sudden exclaimed "OK they got me" and pulled over. An RCMP officer arrived at his driver's window and asked him why he was in such a hurry driving 141 KM/H in a 110 KM/H zone.
To his credit B did not try and make an excuse as he knew he was speeding. He received a $185.00 ticket. Before we left we warned all drivers that the family was not responsible for any speeding tickets. Looks like B will be flipping many burgers to pay this ticket off. Ironically, we have a picture of B waiting for the RCMP officer with the police lights flashing in the background just below the speed limit sign. Let's hope this is a lesson.

B continued driving, a little more conscious of his speed. We entered the foothills and the rain and very cloudy weather settled in. It was so cloudy that the closeness of the huge mountains seemed to come as quite a surprise to all in the car as we entered Jasper National Park. There were many exclamations of the beauty of the scenery as we continued the 1.5 hour drive to Jasper town site itself. There were many minutes of silence as all in the car took in the site of the mountains. Along the way we saw a mountain goat.

We found our pre-booked hotel, an older hotel but nice enough. We have adjoining rooms. Off for a late lunch at 3:30 or so, then off to get the lay of the land including a drive around several of the resorts and areas of the town.

We then stopped in at an info place and asked what would be best to do on a cloudy/rainy day. Several of the tours were not recommended for the day as it had snowed in the higher mountains. We decided upon the Miette hot springs tour an hour or so back the way we had come earlier that morning.

P took over the driving. The hot springs were up a windy mountain road and were incredibly beautiful. The pool was at the 4,000 foot elevation. Several snow covered mountain peaks were visible and interesting cloud formations almost at the same level as the pools. The site had 2 hot pools and 2 cold pools (freezing actually). The hot water was piped directly from the hot springs and treated with some chlorine to lessen the sulfur smell. The cold pools were piped in directly from mountain streams nearby. It was an interesting experience to jump first into the freezing water than go directly into the hot water. Everyone enjoyed themselves, although J was a little grossed out with sharing a hot pool with so many strangers.

At 7:30 or so we started the drive back with B driving. We made several stops along the road back including a bridge over a waterfall. During one of the stops, B and P climbed to the top of a smaller peak and took some great pictures. We saw a black bear along the road.
On the ride back although we were passing the same mountains as earlier in the day, the prospective was different as now we could see the real size of the mountains as they were not obscured by clouds.

In honour of J's birthday, we decided to name a particular peak after him.

Back at 9:00 or so, and out for a pizza supper.

Our hotel is directly across the street from the train station. I am amazed how many trains are making their way through Jasper. I guess there are a limited number of places where the trains can pass through the mountains. In the lobby of the hotel we overheard of an accident somewhere which had tied traffic up for a day and a storm in Calgary. Luckily we have managed to avoid all of that. The weather in Jasper has been very cool 8 degrees according to the outside temperature on the car. I am surprised by the relatively small size of Jasper. S mentioned that he thought it would be about the size of Brandon but that it was much smaller. He said there seemed to be more hotels than houses in Jasper.

Tomorrows plans are not firmed up. We will be up at a reasonable time to book tours etc. We will spend 1 more night here in Jasper before moving on to Lake Louise.