With two sons – Jordan and Tyler – both living and working in Lake Louise, Alberta, we made another trip west with plans for a roadtrip  to see Jasper.  Doug and I were joined by extended family – my parents Ola and Camille and my sister Rebecca, her husband Mike and adorable little rascal, Jasper.  (Yes we went to Jasper with Jasper).

It was a busy trip and I was still recovering from surgery with a raspy whisper of a voice but everyone put up with me.  In Lake Louise, we had beautiful rooms with amazing views of Lake Louise thanks to Jordan’s help with the reservations.  The first night we had a gourmet meal at the Fairview which is the restaurant where Jordan works.  Then, at the urging of both Jordan and Tyler, we took a rather strenuous trip up the mountain to the Tea House, a couple of hour hike uphill with me struggling for breath, a 3 year old who did very well but had to be carried at times (and was actually sound asleep by about half the way down), two 70 year olds and everyone else in between who didn’t struggle as much… but I think we were all sore the next day.

Our second meal at the Fairmont, Lake Louise was the fondu restaurant which is always amazing.

Then we were off on our road trip to Jasper with a car and van.  Little Jasper had the TV in the mini-van going with Cars 2 on repeat.  We made some stops along the way to see Lake Peyto and the Columbia Icefields, finally arriving at our cabins in Jasper in the late afternoon.

The accommodations at Jasper House Bungalows were a little different than at the Fairmont Lake Louise (to put it mildly) and our reunion with Jordan and Tyler, sharing our little cabin, was cozy but it was all good… and it went by fast.  We did manage to film a scene for the next Clifton short film with them but I wish we’d had more time.  We had some exciting Elk sightings, of most interest was a bull elk who was anxiously sniffing and spreading urine around and calling for a mate, as it is rutting season.  This large Elk was right outside our cabin window at one point and made his way to the beach on the property.  Got lots of great pictures and some video which I put together for a Vimeo weekend challenge (included below).

The other highlight of the trip was my mother’s 70th birthday on September 22nd.  Rebecca booked a lovely restaurant on Patricia Lake where a couple of more Elk came by the lake for a visit during our meal.

On our way home, we stayed in Calgary for a night at the Fairmont Palliser along with Jordan.

Here is the 25 second video with some of the Elk footage for the Vimeo Weekend Challenge: