My last post was the best day of any sabbatical. Today might be the oddest. We checked out of the hotel at the Lake Louise Inn this morning. We had a great room with bunk beds in the kids room, a loft for adults (and some kids by morning of course), living room and kitchen. We packed and loaded up the car to make our way to Jasper via the Icefields Parkway.

The Icefield Parkway is one of the most scenic mountain drives in the world. It's extremely remote with only one gas station between Lake Louise and Jasper and virtually no cell service. Unfortunately for us, it was a very cloudy and rainy day so the views weren't quite as spectacular as they could have been. We downloaded the GuideAlong app which provides a narration of highlights and history along the road. Highly recommend! It was awesome and really made the drive entertaining.

Keely had mapped out several pullouts she wanted to stop at including a few hikes. It was only drizzling at the first lake view so we hopped out and took in the sights. At the second stop on Keelys list, the clouds were so low we couldn't see the mountain we were supposed to view. By the third stop, an hour hike to a lake, it was snowing so hard we couldn't see! We skipped that stop and decided to try to hike it on the way back after our time in Jasper.

We did stop in the pouring rain at Mistaya Canyon to do a quick hike which was totally worth it! Whitaker fell asleep in the backpack within 3 minutes of leaving the parking lot but everyone else enjoyed the brief hike to the canyon. The river has cut a narrow but very deep canyon in the rocks and the kids loved how smooth and curvy the canyon was - especially the perfect circles carved by the pooling water. After we crossed the Columbia Icefield, the weather greatly improved and the sun came out for our hike to Sunwapta Falls and made for a great last hike of the day.

In additional to the hikes and lookouts, we saw a bit of wildlife as well. While looking out over the Saskatchewan River Valley, a black bear crossed right in front of our car. Everyone was able to see the bear this time which was a big hit. We also saw a group of big horn sheep rams along the side of the road and a few deer. Everyone was pretty hungry by the time we pulled into Jasper so we stopped at Jasper Pizza Place for some pizza and to watch the hockey game. The Edmonton Oilers are in the Stanley Cup finals and being so close to Edmonton, we've seen lots of folks wearing Oilers gear including the front desk at our last hotel. Liam is rooting for Florida though since they are from the United States!

The kids thought snow in June (especially when it's so warm at home) was the weirdest thing they'd ever seen but then we checked into the hotel. The lobby was dark because they have been without power for 48 hours! Our options were to stay in the hotel or move to the hotel across the street for one night in a room with just one king bed for the six of us (the power company claims they'll restore power tomorrow by noon). We opted to rough it in the hotel. The front desk gave us flashlights and sent us on our way. The good news is the water works so we can brush our teeth and use the bathroom. The bad news is there's no hot water so we'll have to go across the street to shower. What a strange day indeed.

- Kevin