Jasper

Day 2

Jasper, Alberta to Edmonton, Alberta.

237 Miles.

Olivia:

Today was... different to say the least. More-so than any other day on our trips so far in my opinion. It all started off with my dad waking me up at 8, and me asking for 15 more minutes. Then being forced to find a coffee shop nearby, after realizing that there are no Starbucks in Jasper. So, we got coffee, money, and got on the road by 10. I fell asleep shortly after finding Starbucks in a later town for my dad. But not after the amazing scenery in Jasper National Park. If you haven't been there already, then do yourself a favor, and go there before you die. It's seriously breathtaking. The one word I found that was good enough to describe the whole thing, was "big". The forests are big, the lakes are big, the rivers are big, the animals are big, and above all. the mountains are enormous. Soooo we drove on. took pictures. and kept on driving. Dad did all of the driving today. because i'm still trying to adjust to this whole not working till 10, so i dont have to be nocturnal. and timezone change, and everything all together... i'm tired! the road today seemed to be a lot of straight, anddddd nothing. I do have to say, i think i'm a pretty great police watcher. anyways! Eventually, we got to the mall. We checked in to the hotel, which is in the mall. checked the car into valet (the driver was pretty adorable if i do say so myself) so dad said that if he wanted to he could go race it around for a little bit. an hour later, i ran into him, and he told us that he just got back from racing it. Such a good sense of humor :) we then ventured out into the mall. and my oh my what a mall it is! The first thing we were greeted with, was a full size spanish armada ship. (thank you APWH for letting me know this) we then wandered around, found food.. (2 huge food courts, and a restaurant 'street') then, as we were walking around.... we stumbled across a full NFL sized ice rink! as we walked around more, and then decided to head back to the room, we saw that a hockey game was going on on the rink. So we parked ourselves at the Starbucks, overhanging over the rink, and watched the whole thing. Afterwards, we finally headed back to the room.. and then went out to Bourbon street ( the restaurant street) and had some dinner. Now, we're back in the room, listening to the firetruck sirens race by, watching the sun set in one half of the sky, a storm in another part, the sun in another part, and day in another part... (pretty cool view) watching say yes to the dress, and thinking about ordering room service. Did i mention our room has a hot tub in it? needless to say. I think I love it here. Night!

Dad:

sleeping! :) zzzzzzzzzzzz

Day 1

Woodinville, Wa to Jasper, Alberta. 561 Miles.

Olivia:

Well, today was day one of the (unfortunately) 6 day long trip. Since I have a job now, we had to cut it short by a week. But on the bright side, I'm going to Spain next year with the money I save up! (If anyone feels like making donations. feel free?) Anyways! today was... long to say the least. We saw a few police officers, saw someone get pulled over, and realized that speed limits just don't really matter here. Being able to have my license and drive has given me a whole new perspective on these things (and how my dad drives...) Regardless, it was interesting comparing the reactions to police officers in the U.S. to reactions to the police officers here. In the U.S. everyone slows down to half of the speed limit... and just tries to go by all invisible like. Whereas up here in Canada, people just didn't even slow down, and continued to go 5 to 10 miles over the speed limit... if not 10 to 20. Another thing. why cant Canada just use MPH? Km/h is just sooo hard to figure out since dad cant see the little numbers on the dashboard, and no one follows the limits anyways.

Soooo some key parts of the day for me today:

Getting in free to Jasper National Park :)

Seeing someone get pulled over.

Finally getting to drive 80 Mph

Seeing some of the prettiest scenery, ever.

Finally getting out of the U.S.

Dads asleep right now, so he will fill ya'll in tomorrow. We're an hour ahead now so it's 11:06. on canada day. The fireworks are due to start in about 5 min. and it's still not dark yet. Only in Canada.. Eh?

Night!

Time flies, faster every year...

It's another summer, another road trip, and it starts ... tomorrow. This will be a quick one, because Olivia suddenly became old enough to drive and get a job and have a work schedule to adhere to. Sigh. Pretty soon, she'll be retiring and want to move in with me. This summer's road trip is probably headed north, to see some of Canada's natural wonders. Not sure we're headed north and west, or north and east, or north and north and north. But we have passports and a full tank of gas, and that's really all we need. I expect we'll go through the tunnel in the fraser river canyon that's on this mercedes video (AV-MercedesSLSRoll.wmv ), though I don't know if we'll go through the tunnel in quite the same way. We'll see. May depend on which of us is driving. Join us if you'd like...