More of Edmonton...Jasper!!!

M&A, our wonderful and gracious hosts took us for a mini road trip to Jasper!
Norm, Matt and Amanda have been to Banff and we all wanted to go to Jasper! I haven't been since 1973, when I went with my parents and brother...and was really looking forward to seeing it with adult eyes. Our drive started out with a hail storm and as we headed on Hwy 16, the sun was shining. Unlike Toronto, which has had record rainfall. Our Bradley told me it was worse than Hurricane Hazel. Their basement was flooded. I hope all our friends and relatives in West Toronto and Mississauga are safe and have minimal damage to deal with.

If there is a heaven, it would be just like Jasper Park Lodge when we arrived. The weather was perfect and every view of the Rockies was spectacular! It was like watching a fireworks display with constant ooooohhh's and aaahhhhh's. We strolled towards Cavell Terrace one of the dining rooms on Lake Beauvert...and a surreal view of the mountains. As we were walking a couple of elk joined us. They seemed undisturbed by the human presence. We dined on delicious Alberta prime rib and steak! What a perfect evening with very special company! Thank you M&A!

The next day our mission was to find the trail called 'Edge of the World' which was recommended by our waiter, a sweet engineering graduate from Burlington, Ontario. Little did we know, that there was not a marked  trail. As we entered the Jasper area, Matthew enquired about the trail and the park attendant became flustered and asked who had told us about it. She said there were no identifiable landmarks or signage. Her reaction made Matthew more determined to find this trail. We were on a mission!!! Matt knew the coordinates that he found on a blog and instructions to 'go to the gate  of  marmot basin, a closed ski resort and turn around and look for the the metal barrier (most of the road had these metal barriers) and look for a small unmarked trail on the left of the gate as you are entering the park and on the right as you are exiting....not much to go on... as we attempted to follow those vague directions, Amanda noticed a trail. My Matthew and Amanda are very adventurous and along with Norm, they dove into that unknown...all I could remember were the warning signs of 'Bear Presence- Caution'!!! My heart was pounding louder than the clapping I was doing to deter a potential bear attack on the 4 of us...we were supposed to go in for 15 minutes before we would come upon this great view....after 15 minutes, I asked my friends to turn around...i was such a wimp...but we thought we were close....about 10 more minutes, we were close...to an opening to a septic tank area...which did not smell like fresh mountain air...oh the disappointment.

We ended up exiting the maintenance road we had previously avoided and made the most of our walk  back to the Mini...by jumping, running backwards and talking about a fruitless hike...and as we were doing so, we came across another nondescript entrance to a trail...my heart pounded again!!! My 3 compadres were more determined than ever and all i could think of was a gigantic grizzly showing us how large he was..Amanda, our animal expert told us that if that happened, the plan was to lay down and play dead side by side...o.k...we kept walking and and walking and this time it felt like we could see a clearing...there it was the 'Edge of the World'!!! it was spectacular and totally open to unlimited expanse of trees and mountains and a view of the city of Jasper in the distance...now what was going through my mind were news stories of photographers or photo subjects falling off the edge of the cliff....unlike me, M,A&N were totally in the moment and enjoying the spectacular view. We did it! our mission was accomplished! I lead the way out clapping all the way to the road! Hooray!! Matthew told me this morning, that someone who had seen a few bears in that same area we were exploring....

We then went for a civilized tour of the Athabasca Falls. What a pleasure to enjoy those views, safe with many tourists and fences.

Our drive home was a dotted with various animal spotting where everyone got out of the car for some wonderful photos!

Today, we went to Edmonton Mall...I survived Simons!!! I actually tried on 11 items and nothing was good enough to break my deal with myself....I have learned so much about what and why I purchase things.

We are cocooning tonight with a thunderstorm warning!