Jasper

We had great day today, and we're all a little tired (though the kids don't seem to want to sleep).

Judah was telling me that his favorite part of our adventure today was the ice cream. Really, his favorite part was all of the 'gesploring', a.k.a. exploring. Today we went to Jasper National Park and did just what Judah said: exploring.

He was a real trooper. I couldn't believe that he made it all the way down the Maligne Canyon and back again with some energy left at the end. It helped that we paused halfway (3/4) back up the hill for a snack off to the side in the sunshine and flowers.

Aslynn told me, "What I liked about the day was when we got to see that half door, and the other part was when we got to see that beautiful place, that fancy place where we got to sit and have some snacks." It was supposed to be a 60% chance of showers. It was the perfect temperature (18 degrees celsius in the shade). Maligne Canyon was everything we remembered it to be. Quirky, breathtaking, fathomless, indescribably beautiful, impossibly fantastic - and for the first time we went to the source of this wonder of the Canadian Rockies. We drove further after our kids were already exhausted and motored up to Medicine Lake (named by the aboriginal peolpe for the 'magical' way it would disappear so rapidly without having a visible creek or river leading out of it).

Micah just ran on and on when I asked him to talk about the day. "Where do I start? First we woke up and watched some TV at the hotel. Then we had breakfast and went to Jasper National Park. Then we drove down the road and saw some baby mountain goats on the side of a mountain. Then we drove some more to Maligne Canyon and saw a really fast moving waterfall. Then we walked some more and saw a little creek. And then we walked some more. And then we saw where lakes had drained and went into the rivers and the river was going really fast and we saw three places where the water came out of and then we went back up and had a snack of granola bars. Then we stopped and got in the van and went to Medicine Lake and mistaked it for Maligne Lake. Then we took some pictures and drove further and saw a family of mountain goats, and then we went to Maligne Lake and looked at a restaurant. Then we went to Jasper and had lunch. Then we walked a little bit and had ice cream, walked around the town for a little bit, and we tried to drive to the sand dunes but it didn't work, and then we went back to the hotel and we watched some TV again."

Aslynn's "half door" in Maligne Canyon

When we asked them all what they wanted to do tomorrow, they were unanimous: go swimming at the hot springs. Or at least the pool at the hotel. But we are going to go swimming. Somehow.

"I think he has all his molars - let's check...
Aslynn, do you have all of yours?"

Their van-itudes were often bordering on insane with Judah randomly saying and singing the stupidest things and Aslynn giggling uncontrollably at almost anything that made a noise. And Micah - I can't believe he didn't get hungry before he did - his whole restaurant comment came right as he began getting a little case of the munchies which made him a little cranky. Understandably so. That was at 2:33 pm. We had breakfast around 10 am (that's when it came to our table) when Micah ate most of 'The Hungry Man' breakfast. 3 eggs, 3 slices of bacon, 2 sausages, cubed hashbrowns, and 2 pancakes. So we ate lupper (that's lunch and supper together) when the food came to our table around 3:45 pm. We ate at the L&W Restaurant where I remember eating once as a kid. And after some ice cream which Judah especially enjoyed, we went for a walk.

We all had a good time. And Daddy took a lot of pictures.