Weekend in Jasper

Just got back from a weekend in Jasper, which is a national park close to four hours away from Sherwood Park. Left on Friday around midday, and it was just getting dark by the time we arrived. Upon arrival to the park the prescence of the wilderness animals immediately became apparent, as a furry coyote ran across the road and a few deer hurridly ran inbetween the sideline trees, most likely trying to get away from the aforementioned coyote. There is a lot of wildlife out there including mountain goats/sheep, black bears, grizzly bears, elk, moose and also grey wolves.

Stayed in a place called The Whistler's Inn which was a really old building. I suspected it might be haunted but apparently not in the room we stayed in. On the Saturday I went up to the Marmot Basin which is basically the big snow hill where I intended to do some snowboarding. Unfortunately while trying to find the right sized snow boots, I accidentally put the ski ones on (who knew you need different boots for each) so ended up skiing instead since I didn't want to try finding another pair.

Once up on the slopes it quickly became apparent how long it had been since I last skiied. My only past experience was on a couple of school trips many years ago, where during one trip I almost broke my leg on the beginner's slope. Basically I was a retarded skiier. I couldn't work out how to turn or more importantly stop, and the slopes weren't very beginner friendly so I ended up going most of the way down on my ass. I finally got the hang of the basics, but that didn't stop me from having a lot of hard crashes.

It was nice to get out of the city for awhile and into the countryside. The mountains out there are really huge and tower over the whole area, and apart from the small town the area is very isolated and uninhabited. It was a really nice place and wasn't that cold out there either which was nice. Now I'm back its time to get back to work I guess. Although I must say it was nice to get a chance to recharge a bit over the weekend.