Super Day!!!

June 29 – An exciting day!  We had to be ready to go at 8 this morning.  Everyone was to carpool to go up to Jasper Provincial Park this morning.  It took us about an hour to get there to the tram station.  Not everyone in the group wanted to go and Bill was one of them.  We shamed him into going as he’s not big on dangling from a wire in a glass cage!  He gave in and Mike and Barb (our new best friends) road with us up the mountain.  Richard and Vickie checked in and got our tickets.  We had to go on 2 different trams.  We were on the first one for our group.  The attendants seem to all be from England or Australia.  They are all young people who have completed their educations but are not ready to settle into a hum-drum job so they can get into Canada for less money for their Visa.

Once we go to the top it was awesome!  Now we were able to see directly across to the peaks of the of the mountains that we could only see from the bottom.  What a different and great view.  I could have stood out on the rocks for a long time.  It was very cold and lots of snow still on the mountain.  Almost everyone made a snowball and threw it, so it was like a playground!  Being part mountain goat, I climbed where no one else would go.  Someday I’ll be too old and cripple to climb but as long as I can still do it I will love every minute. 

Standing on the edge of the highest rocks is a feeling I cannot explain.  For those few minutes you are not the little ant scurrying around at the bottom, you are on top of the world and looking down at those little ants for a while.  I can see why those young people love their jobs as there is no view like it!

I think almost everyone ended up getting a hot beverage once we came back into the building.  Bill and I wanted a specific t-shirt about the “experience” but they didn’t have our sizes but he enjoyed a hot chocolate and I had a mocha coffee.  It sure helped warm us back up in a hurry for the ride back down.  I think now Bill won’t be as hesitant.  He’s not a risk taker (other than marrying me) and I am and he worries about that.  I’ve very careful and deliberate but now that I have a continual ankle issue I am even more careful.

So once back on the ground we caravanned to Jasper where Richard and Vicki had made a reservation for a pizza lunch.   I requested a white pizza since I don’t do well with the red sauce.  They had no clue but basically make me a tiny pizza with cheese and pepperoni and it was delicious!  Then everyone kind of went their own way to all of the gift shops and the farmer’s market.  We did the same.  We looked a lot but didn’t buy anything but magnets and decals.  Well, that’s what Bill bought!  I didn’t buy anything. 

It started getting a bit drizzly and the 4 of us drove into Hinton so see where the Walmart was and our friends were checking out places to have a tire repaired on their car.  Barb and I went to Walmart but I didn’t have my list and the grocery section is tiny so I only got a few things I knew I needed and I will go back tomorrow with my list and then to Safeway for whatever they don’t have there.  There are a few non-food items on the list as well.

Once the rain started it really didn’t let up much.  I had taken venison cube steaks out for dinner and they had thawed so I put half of them in a marinade while we did other things.  They were very tender and I had planned to pick up a vegetable at Walmart but we managed with leftover green beans and a can of corn. 

There was supposed to be a gathering at the outdoor pavilion but no one ever really told us what was going on.  Bill went over about 7 (in the rain) and I told him I was not going out in the cold rain.