Vegreville and Jasper
We left Saskatoon to head to Vegreville for one night. I could probably write an entire post about Vegreville, just because I think the Vegreville Pysanka (Ukranian-style Easter Egg) is so fascinating.
The Spinning Vegreville Pysanka - YouTube
In Vegreville, there is a 31ft (9m) long and is three storey high aluminum egg that spins in the wind like a weather vane.
You can read all about it here, but to give you a few highlights:
it’s 31ft (9m) long and is three storeys high
it is the second largest pysanka in the world (it was the largest in the world when it was built)
both Carleton University and the University of Utah were involved in the fabrication (seriously, read the Wikipedia article)and Robert McDermott “…wrote an algorithm to cast a periodic B-spline curve that was used to define and manufacture the egg. It was the first physical structure designed entirely with computer-aided geometric modeling software.”
And… it moves from the wind, like a weather vane!
And, as luck would have it, while we were there, the Edmonton Oilers were playing the Florida Panthers in game 4 of the Stanley Cup final. The Oilers were down 3-0 at this point, so this was a big deal, especially given the fact that we were in Alberta. Our neighbour at the campground was a lovely older man from Newfoundland, who told us “…if you see the fire, stop on by.” We were intrigued, given that there were no fire pits at this campground, but, it turns out that he brings his own:
Yes, this is a fabulous combination of lawn mower and wheelbarrow. To top it off, the Oilers won that game. We listened to the game, as we enjoyed our spicy negronis by the fire, as his daughter and her boyfriend were streaming the game on their phone.
The next morning we drove to Jasper. We did stop in Edson to see the Eddie Squirrel, which has a fascinating history involving 400 ceramic squirrels. (and they had a bonus plane on a stick that you can see in the background)
In Jasper, we had a lovely site at the Wabasso Campground.
Right behind our site, after a short trek through the woods, we were right on the lovely Athabasca River. I was there for one afternoon evening during which we went for a wander along the river, and it was stunning. (On our last night we may, or may not, have decided it was a good idea to plunge in the river, and wow, it might have been chilly!)
Then I had to head to Toronto to facilitate a workshop for a client where I woke up to this dystopian Bladerunner-esque scene from the Airbnb window:
Fast forward to being back in Jasper and both of us taking Thursday and Friday off from work, we bought tickets to the Jasper Whistlers Mountain Skytram.
The gear house at the Gondola in Jasper - YouTube
Given the tourist density, we bought tickets for early in the morning (which we highly recommend). Once at the top, there is a short 2km (somewhat vertical) hike you can do to the summit (elevation 2,463m). It was a lovely, snowy hike.
The next day we went to the Athabasca Falls.
We also did the six bridges walk in Maligne Canyon, which is the deepest canyon in the Rockies. In the photos I took of the deepest part (50m) it’s hard to see the water, so I will post this one instead:
And we also went to Maligne Lake. The amazing colour of the water comes from the “rock flour” from the glacier.
I was happy to discover that there was a museum in Jasper. Aside from a most excellent collection of taxidermied animals, they currently have an unbelievable temporary exhibit of works by Lawren Harris and J.E.H. MacDonald (two members of the Group of Seven). It was a delight to see so many of their works.
Places we enjoyed in Jasper included: Wicked Cup (coffee place with a lovely outdoor patio and fire pit), Coin Clean Laundry, which had the Snow Dome Coffee Bar inside of it, and the Andromeda Coffee Bar upstairs, and Mad Grizzly where we had a lovely breakfast.
Next up, a stop at an ice field on our way to Banff!