Snow in September

So we've left the Rockies behind, which is a bit sad because they were just fantastic. We had a bit more rain for our drive up the Icefields Parkway, but that was okay because it also meant it was snowing when we passed through some of the higher parts of the roadway. We experienced our first real snowfall on the Friday afternoon when we drove up to Morain Lake, which is near Lake Louise. It's supposedly set in the Valley of the Ten Peaks, but we only saw about 2 of them because of all the clouds, so will have to go back sometime to see the rest of them. Karen was deliriously happy to see snow falling and managed to forget her usual apprehension of bears leaping out of the forest and attacking us. Even though we'd been to the snow in New Zealand we'd never actually been anywhere it was actually snowing at the time.

It's very pretty to watch, less pretty to stand around in as it it turns out snow's just like a heavier kind of rain, and it gets all over your glasses. But it's still pretty. So we took a very long time to traverse the Parkway, as we kept stopping at lots of lookouts and snowy places. We never took one of the bus tours onto the Coumbia Icefields - it was just too cloudy to see anything much, but we walked up to the toe of the glacier instead which was just as good. Jasper was a great little town, would love to spend a bit more time there. It's not as crowded as Banff so it's much more relaxing to stroll around. Spotted some wildlife on the way up too, two black bears in the forest and a group of elk.



On our day in Jasper we drove out to Maligne Lake where we went on a cruise down to Spirit Island. That's the picture of it above - it's one of the classic images of Canada. When you first see it from the boat it's nothing spectaular, but viewed from the right angle onshore it has to be the most picturesque place I've ever seen. Afterwards we stopped by Maligne Canyon, a 50m deep limestone canyon, very impressive. We then drove up to Mount Edith Cavell, a mountain I've always been particularly fond of and so was very glad to get the chance to see. It was great, we could drive quite close to the summit and visit a glacial lake. Even Tracy forgot her growing impatience with the constant visits to lakes and mountains when she found a chipmunk she could chase around trying to photograph.



Drove from Jasper to Edmonton yesterday, visited the West Edmonton Mall which a bit less exciting than we thought. The waterpark and ice rink and everything are impressive, but I think they cheat a little bit by repeating many of the stores, jusst to pad it out a bit. Tracy was very disappointed as it was a key highlight of the trip for her and she didn't buy anything at all. At Edmonton Airport at the moment, just about to fly off to Toronto and see Niagara Falls tomorrow. Can't upload any more photos yet, can't find a computer which will let me. There's plenty to see of the Rockies though trust me, went a bit nuts there, so been having a break yesterday and today so I don't cramp up.

Better go, boarding soon.