(Complete!) From Calories in Calgary to Snacking in Seattle (trip & food report May 2019)

[Wordsworth]

It was cloudy and damp when we woke up this morning, which was a bit of a shame but you have to make the most of being on holiday in any case!

Breakfast was a Danish pastry we picked up at the supermarket the night before. Not a patch on a Disney danish but actually rather nice!

We decided to start the day by driving the Maligne Lake Road. Maligne Canyon is closest to Jasper and the lake is at the other end of the road; as it was dreary we decided to drive all the way out to the lake first, in the hole it might have dried up a bit by the time we got there.

On the way we did drive through some showers, but it did indeed clear up the closer we got to the lake and some blue sky started to peek through. We also got to see a couple of elk hanging out in the trees, near the river.

The lake itself was beautiful - still partially frozen but further on in the thaw than the lakes further south.

The stillness of the water made for some brilliant reflections.

I took a lot of pics but I will limit myself to two! We walked partway around the shoreline and just enjoyed the relative peace until it was shattered by the arrival of a coach trip LOL.

The elk were still hanging out in the trees as we drove back, seemingly unbothered by another busload of tourists literally reversing back up the road to get a glimpse of them! They knew just how to frustrate everyone though, staying just covered enough to make photos pointless.

On the way back down the road, we stopped at Medicine Lake. The grey clouds were still hanging over this area. We went for a short walk but part of the trail was blocked as there were a pair of eagles nesting - we could actually clearly see the white head of the female as she sat on their eggs in the nest, which was great.

This part of the road gave me a strong “Scotland” vibe with the scenery - must have been the grey skies! There was evidence of the huge wildfire of 2015 in the blackened trees on one bank, however.

Finally we parked up at Maligne Canyon for our final stop on this road. We started at the second bridge, before walking down to the third.

Then we made our way back up to the first bridge, saw some fossils (not as dramatic as I was expecting!) and decided it was time for a pit stop in the cafe.

Today’s diet so far has been heavily pastry-based! It was a nice cinnamon roll, which we shared; I had a peppermint tea while DH went for Earl Grey.

While we snacked we debated our next move and decided to head across to Patricia and Pyramid Lakes. The weather was still looking dicey but we decided to hope it would clear a little.

Last time we visited we stayed at Patricia Lake bungalows, which has a gorgeous outlook on the lake. Things weren’t looking so inviting this time though!

I didn’t envy the people out in the rented pedal boat.

We carried on to Pyramid Lake, and walked over the wooden bridge to the island in the middle. There, things started to look a bit more promising!

Blue sky!

As we walked onto the island, we could hear an animal repeatedly howling in the woods on the opposite shoreline - one of the signs confirmed this would be the local wolves. DH particularly thought this was cool.

There was a lovely wooden bench area on the island that was now directly in the sun, so we sat there for a while just enjoying the views (and the warmth).

When the breeze started to get up, we headed back to the car, and decided that since the skies were now blue we would stop again at a different point of Patricia Lake. This time we headed for the small beach area and it’s amazing how an hour can change the outlook!

Now that the weather had turned, DH decided we might drive back to Sunwapta Falls, which we’d driven past due to the rain the day before. He does love a waterfall! It was a bit of a drive but I was fine with this plan so, after a quick fuel stop in Jasper, we headed out.

The skies were blue and it was lovely and warm... until we reached the falls, where the skies were cloudy and rain threatened! Again, amazing how a matter of miles can change things - we’d seen that two days running now. As we’d driven all of this way, though, we were determined to see the falls!

Mercifully it stayed dry while we saw the upper Falls; we decided not to risk the further walk to the lower falls. We also decided we preferred the Athabasca falls to these ones.

We weren’t on the road back to Jasper long before the blue skies appeared and we thought we’d make the most of the trip with a stop at Horseshoe Lake, but then we missed the turnoff! For some reason, the lake isn’t signposted by name as you drive towards Jasper, only as you’re driving away. DH decided he wasn’t up for turning around again, so we carried on back to Alpine Village.

After a short rest we headed into Jasper for food. We hadn’t booked anything tonight as we didn’t fancy anything in particular. This is probably why we eventually ended up in Earl’s, which I understand is a Canadian chain.

They had a fancy cocktail menu in collaboration with someone I’m assuming is well known in Canada - on my continuing quest to try Canadian gin, I ordered the “Spanish gin and tonic” from this menu. Which took three attempts - when I repeated the drink’s name, the waiter asked me what it was and I had to show him it on the menu.

To be fair I could understand his confusion. The gin was Canadian (Eau Claire), the tonic British and I’m sure the only other ingredient (cucumber bitters) wasn’t Spanish either!

To start, we shared an order of rhino fries, which I assume is their take on poutine. Fries, gravy, mozzarella and spring onions.

Hard to think this would be anything other than delicious, and it was.

I wasn’t really feeling like eating anything in particular, and in the end I settled for pizza. Italia - Genoa salami, ham, chorizo, mozzarella, and chiffonade basil. Except I asked for it without ham, which I think was a sign of how much my heart wasn’t really in this choice. In any event it was nice enough - it’s hard to screw up pizza I think.

DH chose the chicken teriyaki bowl and enjoyed it.

We decided to skip dessert; I may have had an ulterior motive in that I’d spotted a sweet shop across the road and...

I ate this in bed when we got back to our accommodation! DH, meanwhile, ate his grizzly paw so fast I didn’t get a pic.