Wednesday, July 2

This is catch-up day; no tourist activities today . With the trip odometer reading 3550, it was time to get the car serviced, do the laundry, and get caught up with this blog while I have an internet connection; who knows where the next will be? So let me take this opportunity to introduce you to Jasper with a picture that I took from atop Whistler's Mountain. You can see the silty Athabasca River flowing through the middle of the picture, changing course here from northwest to northeast. The skinny blue river at the bottom is the Miette, coming down from the continental divide at Yellowhead Pass to the west. This confluence determined Jasper's triangular shape, helped along by the CPR tracks and route 16. The three very blue lakes on the right are all fed by underground sources springing from Maligne Lake, and the Jasper Lodge is located on the bottom one, Lake Beauvert. Jasper is a lovely town, with friendly people and ample services. Including a car-wash, where we got most of the gunk off the camper! We learned from last night's waitress that in order to live here you must work here, and that the Jasper National Park owns all the land; she owns her house, but leases the land on which it stands .










In case you are wondering how I am managing this blog out of a camper, I'll give a run-down on my equipment. I take most of the pictures with a Nikon D-60 SLR with two zoom lenses, 18-55 and 55-200 mm. I also have a little Canon Elph that I carry around in my purse and use occasionally. I have a San-Disk card reader to transfer the pictures to a Dell Latitude laptop, and I edit them with Picasa, which reduces the size of the ones that I choose for the blog so that the files are not too large. I have an inverter that converts the 12-volt DC power generated by the solar panel on the roof to 110 AC, which the computer likes. I have a variety of ways of getting to the internet: today we are cruising around town to find a parking place with a free wireless connection; we have also stayed at campgrounds that provide wireless internet; and most interesting of all, I can use my T-mobile Blackberry as a modem whenever I can get a cell-phone signal, which is by no means everywhere. And I also have a Canon mobile printer tucked under the back seat, with which I was able to print a few pictures from Caroline and J-P's wedding for them to take with them on their honeymoon!