Jasper - Day 4

 The kids were excited for another day on the hill.  So was E.  J and AA decided to stay at the hotel to get some work done instead of hanging out in the day chalet all day.

Everyone was up and having breakfast by 8.  Lunches were made and everyone piled into E's truck to make the 30 mins drive up to the hill.  E dropped Lola, A and L off at the chalet then parked the truck and skied down to help get everyone ready.  L was doing another full day of snowboard school - she was the only kid again so had her own 1-on-1 lesson for the same price as a group.

L getting ready for her lessons

AA and J went to a coffee shop in town to let the hotel cleaning staff refresh the room.  An Americano and Latte were consumed while each worked. 

At 11, AA and J thought the rooms would be ready and went back to the hotel.  The cleaner was still in the room so they decided to drive around town and see some of the homes being rebuilt.  15 mins later, they returned to the room to find out that they needed another 15 mins to finish up.  So, they took a longer drive to the Jasper Park Lodge and wandered around there a little bit before finally being able to get back into the room.

The ski and snowboard bunnies and ski hare had a great day on the hill, making the most of the emptiness and getting in a lot of runs (12!).  L had another fun day of snowboarding lessons and is starting to get the hang of her edges to maintain control going down the hill.

Not very busy today

L learning how to use her edges

At 3:30, everyone was back at the room for a bit of a rest, a snack and showers.  A and L wanted to play some games with Lola and AA.  After a couple games of Sushi Go and Sequence, it was time for A to do some school work while L and Lola coloured and AA read his book.

At 5:30, everyone was getting hungry so J called the restaurant (Mad Grizzly) to see if we could get in before our 6:30 reservation.  "That would be better" they said, so we arrive d at 5:50, just in time for the end of happy hour.

Supper was delicious!  E had the paella, L had grilled cheese, Lola had duck, J had braised beef, A had steak and AA had thai chili ribs. 

Duck

Paela

A with her 10oz steak. It was finished.

Thai chili ribs

Braised beef

After supper, we went back to the Jasper sign, in front of the Town/Park office but were disappointed to see the lights were off.  AA traced the extension cord back to the office, unplugged it, reset the GFI outlet but it quickly tripped again when the cord was plugged in.  Instead, we took pictures in the illuminated arches.

Back at the hotel, we started packing up bags in advance of tomorrow's departure and enjoyed some GF cake that Lola bought, not realizing it had butter in it.  Luckily, the butter was only used in the icing so Lola could still have some (it was delicious).  Then we played a couple rounds of Phase 10 before the kids went to bed.  L was upset that she couldn't find her panda bear and everyone searched through the two rooms to no avail.  E went to the front office and asked if there was anything in the lost and found.  Lo and behold, there was the panda bear that was likely scooped up this morning with the sheets and bedding that were taken to the laundry.  L was very happy and should now be able to get a good night's sleep.

Tomorrow the hill crew are going to go for a couple hours of skiing and snowboarding the morning while AA, J and L stay back at the room and finish packing up for checkout at 11:30.  Hopefully the weather to drive back to Edmonton tomorrow will be better than the drive out.

AA

Jasper - Days 1 and 2

 The blog has barely cooled off from the last trip and we are away again!  This time, a winter ski/snowboard trip to Jasper with EJAL.  Our travel family left on Thursday to make the 16 hrs drive to Jasper while AA and Lola took a mid-day flight on Friday to Edmonton.  

Well, at least it was supposed to be a mid-day flight.  With the snow and high winds, the Winnipeg Airport was basically shutdown for ground operations for a couple hours.  Our plane was at the gate and everyone deplaned on time but the ground crew couldn't offload bags for about 3 hrs.  Therefore, our flight was delayed by 3.5 hrs.  

AA getting some last minute work done during the delay

Finally onboard

It wasn't the end of the world but made for the 4 hrs drive from the Edmonton Airport to the hotel in Jasper much later than originally planned.  It would have been an ok drive in the dark except once we landed in Edmonton, we quickly found out that they too were having some snowfall.

The beast

A quick stop to pick up supper for the drive

Better visibility than the majority of the drive

Made it!

Ultimately AA and Lola made it to Jasper.  AA's back was more tense than at the start of the drive and Lola's right hand was more tired after gripping the door handle for a good amount of the drive.  It was a relief for both when they arrived at the hotel being greeted by E and J (A and L were fast asleep).

Saturday morning was an early start, especially for AA and Lola.  After a quick breakfast in the hotel room and packing up some hill lunches, the crew made their way to the ski hill for the day.

Ready for the first 0.5 run of the day

A and L were both signed up for ski school (well, L was signed up for snowboard school) which started at 10am.  Once they were checked in for their full-day lessons, E, Lola and AA made their way up the mountain while J setup basecamp in the day chalet.

A ready to slay the slopes

L excited to learn how to snowboard

Ready for the first full run of the day

It was fairly busy at the hill (parking lots were quite full) but the hill didn't feel too crowded.  The weather was perfect, not too warm that the snow was getting slushy but not so cold that you were uncomfortable.  In two hours, the ski/snowboard crew got in 4.5 runs (approx. 0.5 run is from the parking lot to the bottom of the hill).

At noon, the crew brought their lunch down to eat in the chalet with J.  AA joked that he was already done for the day as he was already getting tired.  He got a coffee (and Lola a London Fog) to boost their energy for the afternoon.

Lunch time

After leaving the chalet, AA had a fairly insignificant stumble when going to the lift that turned out to be worse than it looked - jarring his shoulder and straining some muscles when he braced himself from the fall.  That was the end of his snowboarding day(s).  Lola and E continued to snowboard and ski for the afternoon while AA and J hung out in the chalet.

At 2:30, Lola and E had taken enough reps on the hill and were ready to call it a day.  They came and joined J and AA in the chalet while waiting for the A and L to finish up their lessons at 3:30.  After school was out, the gang gathered up all their belongings and returned the gear that was rented for the day.  Lola and E rode up the chair and skied / snowboarded back to the parking lot to bring the trucks down to pick up the others.

A on the hill

Oh yeah, did I mention that AA and Lola got a rental truck?  It is obnoxiously large but A and L like it because of all the room in the backseat and the large display screen.  Lol.

Once back at the hotel, it was time to shower and rest a bit before going for supper at Evil Dave's Grill (L's request for her birthday which was that day).  It was a short walk to the restaurant (9 mins) but was long enough for L to say she didn't want to walk back to the hotel after.

Ready to walk to Evil Dave's

Cheers!

Supper was very good, everyone enjoyed their drinks and meals.  A convinced L (and their parents) to get some dessert for her birthday - chocolate cake with ice cream.  

Back at the hotel after supper

After a short walk back to the hotel, L really wanted to play a game together before going to bed.  It took a while for the one game of Hasty Baker to finish but eventually A won.  Then it was bed time - the adults could hardly wait for the kids to fall asleep so that they too could go to bed.

Playing Hasty Baker

AA 

Jasper - Day 3

Today was a rest day for everyone.  L was very hopeful that AA's arm had healed overnight.  Unfortunately, that was not the case.  It was a slower start for everyone but there wasn't really much planned for today other than going to see J's favourite stump at Pyramid Lake, looking out over Maligne Canyon to see the devastation from the wildfires a few years ago and wandering around the town.  And going to Jasper Park Brewing for lunch - E has been craving his favourite elk meatloaf.

The drive up to Pyramid Lake was not very long (only 10 mins) and showcased a lot of the fire-induced deforestation in the area.

Ready to start the day

The drive up to Pyramid Lake

Some of the devastation

It was a clear day at the lake where everyone could see across to the nearby mountains.  Looking back at previous years' photos, it hasn't been as clear.  The views were amazing.

After some selfie's and family photos, J found her stump.

J's stump

After walking back to the parking lot, we made a short drive across the Athabasca River to the Maligne Canyon lookout.  It was quite astonishing to see how many trees were wiped out from the fires and how barren the mountainsides look.

We made a short detour to the sixth bridge, near the canyon, to feel how cold the mountain water was and to watch how long snowballs would remain intact when placed/dropped in the water.  Did I say the water was cold?  It was cold.

The view from the Canyon Lookout

Sixth Bridge

Preparing to drop the snow into the water

It was another short drive back to town to Jasper Brewing.  The restaurant was not busy.  L was excited to order another root beer, learning the day before that she likes it.  A was happy to get a lemonade as she wasn't able to get one the day before.  AA got a beer flight which L helped to record his favourites.

Lunch was delicious.  The appetizer pretzels were very good.  E got his elk meatloaf.  L got ham and bean soup with garlic bread.  AA and J got beef dips.  A had a burger which vanished in record time ("I was hungry" she claimed... lol).  Lola had some beef pho (soup).

After lunch, the MB crew wandered around town, stopping in some shops, taking a picture with Jasper the Bear and buying some souvenirs (E and J bought some souvenir shoes).

Once we completed our loop around the Jasper shopping district, we went back to the hotel for a rest.  E and J had naps.  A and L watched some shows on their iPads.  AA multi-tasked by icing his shoulder and napping.  Lola watched curling.

After our rests, we ordered some pizza to pick up and bring back to the hotel and watched some deer on the hill-side out the patio window of the room.

Lola's GF and Dairy-free Pizza

Supper was good, everyone was happy to just be able to chill in the room.  Well, at least AA was happy with this.

After supper, L really wanted to play a game so she and AA played Sequence.  It was one of the longest Sequence games AA has ever played but eventually he won - L was a tough competitor.

We played one more collective game before calling it a night - Sushi Go.  Again, AA was the victor.

After the kids went to bed, the adults discussed the plan for the next day before going to bed early (before 10).  

AA