Day 10: Icefields Parkway-- Banff to Jasper

Great Views and a Tourist Trap to End All Tourist Traps


Banff to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway


 This morning we happily left the touristy town of Banff behind and headed on towards Jasper, via the Icefields Parkway.  Bob took all the driving duties today, and Lisa managed GoPro.

 This video provides some driving highlights of the entire route.
(NOTE: You'll notice the music changing in the background. We began our day soft with Nanci Griffith, moved on to Nora Jones, Suzanne Vega, and then finished the trip rocking out with The Dollyrots and The Kinks.)
Halfway down the road we encountered the biggest tourist trap we ever had the bad judgement to fall into: The Columbia Glacier Discovery Center and Skywalk. While there was some kitchy fun here, it was largely an expensive time-waster.

 Bob & I both expected that an attraction called "Glacier Skywalk" would be, you know, a skywalk over the glacier.  WRONG! It was a skywalk over a dirty stream, about 800 ft down, from which you could see the glacier. (You could also see the glacier from the parking lot, from the road, and from any spot along about a 15 mile stretch-- FREE.)  We ended up spending 10 minutes at the skywalk (which had such dirty glass you could barely see through the bottom anyway).

 Here are some skywalk pics:
The "Glacier Skywalk"



The "Glacier Skywalk" Annotated
Bob & Lisa Stand on the (dirty) "Glacier Skywalk"

Selfie at the Skywalk
View of the Athabasca Glacier from the "Glacier Skywalk"

Ok-- so this view really is stunning, but we got these pics (in 10 minutes, as noted above) then waited ANOTHER half hour to get on the bus back to the parking lot.  What we learned too late, was that we could have skipped that bus altogether and parked in the shoulder pull-off right next to the restricted Skywalk lot, done the Skywalk thing, then headed directly back to our car instead of taking a tourist bus twice (and waiting a half hour for it).

 Even better would have been to skip that "Glacier Skywalk" entirely.  We would be a bit richer, and would still have gotten views like these.  This pic was taken from the parking lot:
View of the Athabasca Glacier from the Free Parking Lot

 Oh well, lesson learned.  This probably won't be the first tourist trap that gets us on our Great Alaska Adventure.

 Back on the road and out of the tourist throng, we pulled over at Mushroom Creek for a snack and some more great views of the glacier.

 Here is another picture of Bob touching water:
Bob Touching Mushroom Creek (Bob touching water #2 if you're counting)

 And this is Bob's attempt at art cinema: Mushroom Creek


We continued on the Icefields Parkway into Jasper-- and all hype aside, it really was a beautiful drive. We took tons of pictures and video (see the video at the beginning of this post for some highlights), and it was hard to narrow it down. Here are a few representative favorites:
Icefields Parkway

Icefields Parkway (with Glacier and RVs)

Driving the Icefields Parkway

Still driving the Icefields Parkway

When we finally reached Jasper we were happy to find that we finally booked a nice hotel, right downtown, with a covered parking garage.  We happily checked-in, and settled in for our three night stay.

For Toni-- This is a view of our room (which has lovely dark hardwood floors), and a view out our window:
Our Room in Jasper-- Bob rests on the bed & Lisa takes a poorly-lit picture

View from our hotel room in Jasper

The one thing this room does not have is a kitchen, so we'll be doing the restaurant thing this trip. Tonight we treated ourselves to our very first fancy gourmet meal at Syrahs of Jasper.

 The food tasted as good as it looked, and the service was great too.  I never thought we would do food pictures, but special for this blog:
Lisa's Appetizer: Portobello Mushroom Carpaccio

Bob's Main: Strip Steak with Mac & Cheese


Lisa's Main: Gardner's Pie (lentils with mushrooms, tomato & sweet potato)
Bob's meatball appetizer was good too, just not as photogenic.  Jasper is already way ahead of Banff!

Tomorrow, we'll wake up late and then take a motorcycle side-car tour of the area in the afternoon.  Just as exciting and dangerous as mountain climbing, but this time Lisa won't have any trouble keeping pace.

Tune in then for the details...

--Lisa




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