August 27, 2025

Jasper, Province of Alberta, Canada

This trip started out a little more than six hours late, yet we arrived in Jasper this morning at 05:00 an hour and a half before our scheduled arrival. Being early isn’t necessarily are plus, you see the station staff don’t begin their work day until 06:30. We met our tour director Tyler in the lounge car at 06:15, as instructed. He told us it would be more like 07:00 before we could leave the train, because of the station staff timing issue.

We had to wait for the station staff because they had to unload our luggage from the baggage car. Obviously, 07:00 is way to early to go to the hotel. By 07:00 most people hadn’t managed to have breakfast. Although had we known we had until 07:00 we could have gone to the dinning car at 06:30 and had at least a little breakfast. There were coffee and saran wrapped packages containing what looked like lemon muffins.

We finally got off the train with our hand luggage and waited while Tyler and the driver loaded the luggage from the baggage car into the motor coach. The first impression is this is a nice little town. Nice welcoming sign. Then your eyes expand to the horizon and you see the majesty of the mountains surrounding the Town of Jasper. Until, finally, you begin to notice the trees on the hills side are all dead, or at least a whole lot of them.

It was then Tyler reminded us of the 2024 Jasper wildfire. The Jasper wildfire took place in July 2024 and forced a mass evacuation of 25,000 residents, workers, and visitors. The fire swept through the town destroying 358 of its 1,113 buildings. It took 47 days to get the fire under control by which time 80,860 acres of the Jasper National Park had burned. It would be another take another eight months before it was declared extinguished. It was one of the most expensive natural disasters in Canadian history.

Shortly after 07:00 we were on our way for a quick tour of the town of Jasper. The damage fro the fire really hitting home as we drove by burnt-out buildings, rows of temporary housing, and number of construction sites. On an up-beat note it appears the town is bouncing back.

It was decided to stop in town, near a Tim Horton’s to allow everyone the opportunity to get some breakfast. Needless to say, 40 people piling into a Tim Horton’s at 07:15 creates long lines. I stood in line, downloaded the Tim Horton’s app, and ordered breakfast while we were still four or five couples from the counter.

Mary found a place for us to sit, while I went and used the restroom. By the time I returned from the restroom our coffee and breakfast (egg, sausage and cheese on an English muffin) were ready. Note, the people behind us when we left the line were just finishing up placing their order when I picked up ours. Good job Enrico!

Back on the bus, we drove north out of the town of Jasper and went and visited the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge on Lac Beauvert. This is one of the grand hotels built during the railroad era to attract riders on the Canadian Transcontinental Railroad. These grand hotels offered comfort and luxury at the beginning of the 20th century. The Jasper Park Lodge was established in 1921. Yes, it was mostly destroyed in the 2024 fire, but has been restored and rebuilt as necessary. It is a very beautiful property only a few kilometers outside Jasper.

There is a possibility that we have a new bucket list item. Staying the in Canada’s grand railway hotels. Each of the grand hotels is a local and national landmark, and most are icons of Canadian history. Their architecture and beauty made them the grand hotels of the British Empire. Many of the hotels were built in the Château style which is a distinctly Canadian from of architecture. The use of towers and turrets, and other Scottish baronial and French château architectural elements is the signature style of the hotels. After the turn on the 20th century new construction of the grand hotels switched to the Italianate style.

Windsor Hotel, Montreal 1878

Banff Springs Hotel 1888 (Destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1926; Now a Fairmont)

Le Château Frontenac, Quebec 1893 (Now a Fairmont)

Palace Viger, Montreal 1898 (Now an office building)

Royal Alexandra Hotel, Winnipeg 1906 (demolished 1971)

The Empress Hotel, Victoria 1908 (Now a Fairmont)

Château Lake Louise, Lake Louise 1909 (Burnt in 1924 and replaced; Now a Fairmont)

Château Laurier, Ottawa 1912 (Now a Fairmont)

Fort Gary Hotel, Winnipeg 1913

Palliser Hotel, Calgary 1914 (Now a Fairmont)

Hotel Macdonald, Edmonton 1915 (Now a Fairmont)

Hotel Vancouver, 1888 & 1916 (demolished 1949)

Jasper Park Lodge, 1921 (Now a Fairmont)

Royal York Hotel, Toronto 1929 (Now a Fairmont)

Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal 1958 (Ok, not really part of the list but it is built over the train station; Mary and I stayed here once)

After leaving the grounds of the Jasper Lodge we drove along the Athabasca River and up into the Maligne Canyon to an overlook. The overlook itself was destroyed in the 2024 fire and had just, partially, reopened. From here you look out across the valley and begin to get a sense of the destruction caused by the fire. Sad on one hand, but see the forest healing itself is encouraging.

We left the lookout and headed west and into British Columbia to the Mount Robson Provincial Park. At almost 13,000 feet Mount Robson is the most prominent mountain of the Rocky Mountain range. The south face of Mount Robson is visible from the visitor center just off the Yellowhead Highway (16). It was a little more than an hours drive from the lookout. Along the way the damage from the fire subsided and a fresh green forest took its place. The view of Mount Robson was amazing. You stand at the visitor center and you are standing at about 2,700 feet, you gaze up at Mount Robson, still capped in snow at the end of August, which towers another 10,000 feet above you. It is simply breathtaking.

After our visit here we drove back to Jasper. It is now getting on to lunch time and everyone was ready to get something to eat. The hotel is open to us until 16:00 so we have time to kill. We a place called Cassios Italian Resturant for lunch. Mary ordered a Caesar Salad, while I ordered the fettuccine Alfredo with chicken. First of all, like most Italians, we know this isn’t really a traditional Italian pasta dish. It was really devised for American Service men after World War II in Rome to appear to their languishing American taste buds. Yes, fettuccine is a traditional pasta. Adding butter and cheese is normal. But, it doesn’t’t look or taste much like this stuff.

Ok, it is served everywhere now. Hey, appeal to the taste buds of the people with money in their pocket. Fettuccine is an Italian pasta shape. It is a flat, ribbon-shaped pasta traditionally mad with flour and eggs. Fettuccine actually means small ribbons in Italian and is known for its excellent ability for holding rich homogeneous sauces. The pasta in this dish wasn’t fettuccine! It was too thick, more like pizzoccheri pasta, but made with flour and not buckwheat. And there wasn’t enough butter, or the butter wasn’t of high quality. But, hey it was lunch.

After lunch we did a little shopping in town. We reboarded the bus and headed to Athabasca Falls. Athabasca Falls is a popular tourist attraction of Jasper National Park. I is located just off f IcefieldParkwa about 30 km (18 m) south of town Jasper., It isn’t the tallest or most spectacular waterfall, but it is known for the immense volume and force of the water from the Athabasca River as it plunges 24 meters (79 feet) into a carved limestone canyon, which does create a dramatic spectacle.

Finally sufficient time has passed and we headed back to our hotel. We are staying at the Tonquin Inn at the north end of town. Nice hotel, used by a number of tour groups. They have a nice restaurant called Whiskey Jacks. We have been on the road for a week now and it was time to do a little laundry. While out shopping we noticed a big laundromat called Coin Clean Laundry. It even had a coffee bar. And given the touristy and nature loving backpackers, it has showers you could rent, ostensibly while you were doing your laundry. How does one get to or from the washer or dryer and dryer? Wrapped in a towel.

I grabbed our dirty clothes and emptied my small suitcase and walked the half-mile to the laundry. Washers were CA$6 and dryers were CA$1 for each 10 minutes. Fortunately, I am a prepared traveler and had brought detergent pods and dryer sheets. It took a couple of hours, but I managed to wash, dry, and fold our clothing before it had gone 18:00.

Back at the hotel we headed to Whiskey Jacks for dinner. I ordered the Vienna Style Schnitzel and Mary got a house salad with Chicken. For those not in the know, Vienna Style Schnitzel is a pork schnitzel with cranberry sauce. You should try it sometime it is really good, but the cranberry sauce needs to be at least at room temperature.

After dinner we were tired and looking forward to a shower and bed. And that was basically the rest of the night.

Buonanotte e Ciao,

Enrico e Maria