Fall time fun

Fall is my favourite season and I know I'm not alone in that. The beautiful colours, crisp air and the crunching sound beneath my feet is so stimulating. It makes me want to get outside, go for walks and do some exploring. So that's what I have been doing. 

On a really lovely warm afternoon last week R and I went for a walk in the river valley. Everything was so perfect and picturesque. We strolled through parks, over bridges and on both sides of the river. If every day was like that, I'd be a very happy girl. 

On an entirely different walk in a different River valley we did some more walking. We took more pictures and found some really lovely areas. 

On yet another day I took R to Prairie Gardens and Adventure Farm. It's not far from Edmonton and makes a really awesome Fall outing. 

We didn't go into the actual farm part though, just to the pumpkin patch. We took our time picking out the pumpkins we wanted based on size and shape and colour. I really like white pumpkins and had every intention of getting one until this big beautiful Cinderella pumpkin caught my eye. 

Next to the pumpkin patch is an area where you can build your own scarecrow. I didn't plan this part but I can honestly say it was so much fun! 

We named our little beauty Matilda and if she isn't the loveliest scarecrow you've ever seen then you're lying to yourself. 💋

So much sass in one lady!

R picked out his green pumpkin and we made a joint decision about the little orange one. 

They're both perfectly round and charming. 

When it came down to carving the pumpkins neither of us knew what we wanted. It took a bit of Internet research to help us make the decision. 

This is R's very smiley cyclops with sharp teeth. 

My lovely little Volkswagen camper van and my very bizarre looking frog monster.. thing...

I actually had a specific idea of what I wanted, it just didn't go quite that way. That's half the fun though, isn't it?!

And just as importantly we got a ridiculous amount of seeds from our pumpkins and they roasted up really well!

Using other pumpkins I also made more pie this year! 3 pies and 48 tarts to be specific!!! I used the same recipe as last year but they were even better this time!

Enjoy Fall while you can!

Jasper 2.2 - Canoe and Hike

As is always the case, the last day of any trip is never a full day. There is always driving or check-outs or waiting for planes. 

Today we had to get up early, unset our camp and make the most of our afternoon before driving home. 

Our number one plan for this trip to Jasper was canoeing. I told R that I wouldn't get back in the car to go home unless that happened, and I meant it!

We had looked up a few places that offer canoe rentals before we came so we could check prices and locations. Our first choice was Maligne Lake but since that didn't happen we settled for Pyramid Lake. 

To be clear, Pyramid Lake is by no means a 'settlement.' It is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful lakes in the park and I'm really pleased that this is where we ended up going. 

When we arrived the rental desk told us we would need to wait for someone to return a canoe so we could take it, but first-come-first-served so don't go far. 

It was only about 15 minutes before we were suiting up in our life jackets and getting in the water. 

$35 got us 1 hour in the canoe. 1 perfect blissful hour of paddling in the sunshine and appreciating the mountains towering above us. We had so much fun exploring the area from a different vantage point. 

I could have happily stayed out there for several more hours, though my fair skin would pay the consequences. 

When our time was up and the canoe returned we made the short drive to the next lake over. Patricia Lake is cold, like all the other mountain lakes, but it made for a nice swim anyways. 

Our friends were already at the lake so we joined them for some fun. Somebody brought blow-up boats and almost everyone took a turn in them. The boys took them out to float in the middle of the lake, I pulled the little ones around near the shore and then I took my turn to get pulled around by R. 

During my ride a bee was flying around and my natural instinct is to lose my cool. I just freak out. Anyway, it landed on me so I freaked out more and when R brushed it off me it fell into the little bit of water in the bottom and went under my foot where it proceeded to sting me. 

Let me just say, I haven't been stung in years but it still hurts like hell, just like I remember it. 

Partly because it really hurt and partly because I was flailing around anyways, I ended up falling out of the boat and into the freezing water. As it turns out, that water was also very shallow and I hit my knee on a big rock at the bottom. Not a great moment for me, but I'm sure it was amusing for other people to watch. 

After I scooped my dignity up out of the water and made it to the beach I had to get R to go find my Benadryl. I'm extremely paranoid that I might be allergic to stings, even though there is plenty of evidence to the contrary. 

Anyway, I wasn't in much of a swimming mood anymore so we dried off, said good-bye to everyone and headed in the direction of the weekends final adventure. 

Just like canoeing was a must do, hiking was necessary as well. 

We found a few trails online but they were all too far in the wrong direction, we didn't want to make our drive home any longer than necessary. 

In the end we decided on Maligne Canyon. I've been there twice before, once with R in the winter and once with my family last summer but this time was different than both of those. In the winter we only made it 5 minutes down the trail before we had to turn around because it was pure ice and in the summer I had a 4 year old with me so we did one of the shorter loops. 

I'm not sure how long the longest loop is but I know that it would take several hours. We didn't really plan anything, just to go until we didn't want to anymore. I was secretly taking R as far as possible before he quit though. He said he nearly died, but in all fairness it was scorching hot outside. 

We guesstimate that we were out for around 2 hours and probably went around 8km. 

Some points had us way high up looking into a deep narrow canyon and other areas are low enough that we could put our hands and hats in the water to cool off. 

The canyon is such a beautiful place to hike, I highly recommend it to anyone. The trail has challenging parts, but it also has a clear path the whole way and hand rails for a good amount so it is pretty friendly to any level. 

Having survived the whole round trip we made our way to the car, air conditioning and eventually home. 

Jasper 2.1 - Lake life

There is something about sleeping in a tent that I just love. The hard ground doesn't bother me at all and I have the best strategy to stay warm. Sleep naked. No one believes me when I tell them it's the best way to go but your own body heat will keep you warmer than clothes. I promise. 

Beyond that, the crisp air in the morning and the dew that has settled on ever surface, the sounds of nature and the lingering smell of camp fire. I can't get enough. 

The group got together again in the morning to make breakfast in one site. Oatmeal, coffee, sausage, eggs, bacon.. All the good stuff. 

Having finished eating and cleaning the dishes we set off for our first lake of the day. 

Lake Annette is a small freshwater body near Jasper Park Lodge, not far from the town of Jasper. As we would soon discover, the water is absolutely freezing even on a beautiful hot day. 

Most of the adults went in the water to some degree. A bit of swimming, some floating on inflatable boats and a lot of standing around while our bodies adjusted to the temperature, inch by frigid inch. In the end R and I both dunked ourselves and lived to tell the tale. 

The little ones splashed around in the shallows for a bit but mostly spent their time on the shore making sand castles. 

When we had enough of the icy lake and the scorching sun we took our leave from the group again and headed for another lake. 

From Lake Annette to Maligne lake is only approximately 45km, but it takes quite a while to get there. Narrow winding roads keep the speed limit fairly low. And as lovely as the scenery is there was nothing I could do to keep my eyes open. I have vague memories of doing the horrible vehicle-sleeping head bob, but after a while even that faded out and I was dead to the world. I guess it took all my energy to reheat my body after getting out of the lake. 

As it would turn out, the reason my head stopped bobbing was because R was holding my face with one hand and driving with the other. 

Seemingly 100 years later we finally made it to our destination. We got ourselves all ready and walked down to the water in search of the canoe rentals. They weren't hard to find. 

We probably should have expected it going in, but it was absolutely crazy in the boathouse. Packed wall-to-wall with families of tourists wanting to explore the lake and capture the perfect photos. 

It took us about 1 minute to decide that we weren't willing to wait in the madness and then we left. I was a bit disappointed considering that was the whole reason we came and we both really wanted to canoe. 

Aiming to make the best of the situation we decided to explore the area. Maligne Lake is a really beautiful place, the little sister of Lake Louise in Banff National Park. Both have stunning views and hoards of tourists. 

On the first trail we took a deer walked right out in front of us and couldn't have cared less that we were there. She went about her business of frolicking and munching and very kindly stuck around for some pictures. 

We explored a little ways around the lake but didn't go terribly far because our friends would be wanting supper before to long and we still needed to drive at least an hour to get back to the camp. 

It turns out that the drive is really lovely, I stayed awake for the whole way back. We got to see where a large forest fire had recently been put out and it was a pretty bizarre sight, not something you come across everyday. 

Back at the camp, fire-grilled kabobs in hand and ready to relax for the evening. The fire masters got a big blaze going to sit around and chat and when everyone finished eating we played games too. 

We have one afternoon left before returning home and we will make the very most of it!

Three years and counting

You forgot to remind me again this year and we passed by the blogiversary without a whisper!!

Naughty readers! 

(2012)

It has actually been 3 years (!!!) and 29 days that I've been sharing my life with all of you. September 1, 2012 is when it all began.

(2013)

I thought this would only last as long as my trip to Europe. I would share the adventure of a lifetime, come home and then go back to life as it was pre-blog. 

Clearly that didn't happen. I fell so in love with this space and I just wanted to keep sharing, even if no one was reading. To this day I don't know how many people actual read what I write, but I don't mind at all. It's just as much for me as it is for you. 

(2014)

I've shared some of my highest moments with you and written out drafts of my lowest. Maybe one day I'll post those too. 

We've experienced 13 countries together, celebrated many holidays, tried new food and found some hobbies. I say we because all of you, the blog readers, are sharing my experiences. I hope to have so many more. 

(2015)

As life continues to change and evolve my space will change with me. I hope you don't mind. 

Stick around while I find out where life is taking me and what will happen. 

Happy 3 years!! 

Jasper - Version 2.0; Summertime

R and I finally ticked off a few more things from our to-do list this weekend! 

1. Camping 

2. Visiting Jasper in the Summer

3. Canoeing 

For our first day we left home at a time that we thought we make for good timing and we could avoid long weekend traffic. We were wrong. So so wrong. We waited in traffic to get through the Jasper park gate for about 45-60 minutes and then we waited another 30-45 for construction.

Beyond that we had a ways to drive into the park and also had to find the campground because neither of us knew where it was. 

To make the long drive a bit better we got our first glimpse of the wildlife! 3 huge Elk in the water at the side of the road. And about a million tourists snapping pictures and getting too close, but that's how it always is there. 

We wouldn't have been able to drive through the area very easily so we stopped and took a few pictures as well. Once we decide we should try to get going one of the elk walked right up to the car, paid it no mind and walked right in front to cross the road. He was close enough to rub the front end of the car. 

When we finally did arrive the rest of the group we were joining was off doing something so we took the time to get our tent set up. 

Since we don't have a tent of our own we borrowed one from R's dad. Very convenient. Unfortunately when R checked the tent over he didn't look in the bag to check for pegs. Therefore, we didn't have pegs. 

I wasn't super concerned but I also didn't want a freak gust of wind to take anything away. 

R's brilliant fix for our predicament was putting large rocks inside the tent in all the corners. I'll admit, I was skeptical at first, but it worked perfectly!!! And bonus points for not having to struggle putting pegs into hard ground!

By the time our tent was up and the beds were unrolled and set our friends still hadn't returned. 

The first thing I noticed when we got to our campsite was that we could here the rushing river clearly and so I assumed it was very close. We decided to explore that theory further.

A few campsites and a walking path later we found ourselves on the banks on the Athabasca River. Rough, cold water rushed passed us but all I could think of was how beautiful everything is. Jasper National Park is truly one of my favorite places, I never get enough of its unending beauty, vast landscapes and towering peaks. 

A bit further down the path that runs parallel to the bank is a large "beach" area. Of course you couldn't swim there and it's mostly rocks instead of sand, but it's the same idea! 

A spot of crazy weird luck hit me as I looked down into the small sandy area and found a piece of seaglass!!! Or riverglass as it would seem.. You know how much I like that, it made my day!

Back at the camp we found that our group had returned and everyone was ready for food! 

Each couple brought enough food to feed everyone supper for 1 night. Our first evening we had pizza sandwiches made on the fire. It sounds a bit bizarre but they were delicious. They also made a dessert. Banana, chocolate chips and mini marshmallows wrapped in foil and put over the fire. Everything was really good. 

Having finished supper R and I headed out. We knew we wanted to see Athabasca Falls while we were here because we've never been. 

As it turns out, along the way is a beautiful little lake as clear as glass and perfectly reflective, natures mirror. 

Looking at the water and seeing the clouds is pretty spectacular. Lake and sky and fish and dock, all in the same lovely snap. 

We thought after supper would be a good time to visit the falls because the cool air and Mosquitoes should hopefully keep tourists to a minimum. 

We weren't far off. There were still plenty of people checking out the falls but not nearly as many as I would imagine to be there during the day. 

The falls are massive and beautiful but they show there strength too, even the rocks yield to the power. 

We had a really great time exploring the area and trying to outrun the Mosquitoes in the treed areas before heading back to our camp for the night. 

Lastly, before lighting the fire for the night the whole group took a walk down to the river again. A few of us took our shoes off and got our feet wet. The water was absolutely freezing but also so invigorating. I feel confident saying I would jump in if the current wouldn't take me away in a second. 

Many more mountain adventures are on the way!