Jasper

We ate a big breakfast in Banff because there are such limited services on the Columbia Icefield Parkway.  We have said we need to try poutine while we are in Canada.  We had the breakfast poutine.  We decided that this was not really poutine and we would have to try it again.  We were on the road by 10:30.  

The route between Banff and Jasper, without stops takes about 3 1/2 hours.  Gayle had researched the route and made a list of those things that we would like to see and would have the energy to enjoy.  Our first stop was Herbert Lake.

We had both read that Peyto (pea-toe) Lake was a must see.  It was an amazing turquoise color.

Mistaya Canyon was too much of a hike for Gayle's back.  I headed down a steep hill to find the canyon.  Every woman my age that I passed I asked if the hike was worth it.  They all agreed it was.

Tangle Falls was right beside the road.  You can't see too many waterfalls.

So we stopped to see Sunwapta Falls.

And Athabasca Falls.

We didn't stop to see the Columbia Icefields because if all goes well with the weather we are taking a helicopter ride over them tomorrow.  We made it to Jasper six hours after we left Banff.  We were very excited to arrive at our hotel.  We were tired and hungry and we had booked a room in the Fairmont Jasper.  We had seen the Fairmont Banff Springs and we were expecting something similar.  It isn't similar.  It reminds me a bit of the Kellerman Resort in the Catskills from the movie Dirty Dancing.  There is no air conditioning and Jasper is having a heat wave.  The buildings are spread over 700 acres.  Our room is nothing special.  We are quite a ways from the main lodge.  We called for help to get to dinner and we were picked up in a golf cart. We sat outside with a lovely view of Lake Beauvort and had a delicious dinner. 

We got a golf cart ride home and watched the movie Everything, Everywhere, All at Once.  I had seen it before but it is the kind of movie you have to watch a second time, a third time and in every universe.