The driver was kind enough to detour for a coffee first thing this morning. A GOOD cup of coffee. That and a pack of raisins from my purse made breakfast. As we headed out of Jasper we could see elk relaxing at the side of the road. It was still dark so I didn’t take photos.
When we went through Jasper National Park it was still dark, so couldn’t see the mountains as we left. The early morning is a dangerous time for moose and deer on the road, but we didn’t see any. Did see one coyote make a dash for it.
The halfway point of the trip is a stop in Edson at the Tim Horton’s there. Employees are scarce all over Alberta and Edson is no different. When we drove in on the Friday night, it took 20 minutes to get a cup of tea because the workers are all about 12 years old. We were lucky this morning. No lineup. The 12 year old was speedy.
Beautiful clear cold dry day. Unlike the trip in, no fog or snow or dust storm.
Joan Galat had told me a week ago when she saw that I was going to be staying at the Nisku Inn that she had to “rescue me”. We made plans to meet for an early dinner or late lunch. When I got to the Inn, I at first thought she was nuts. The Inn looks great. Pool, exercise room, restaurants. I looked forward to having a swim, as yesterday I didn’t have time. Except the pool was closed. No problem. I’ll go to the gym. With this torn meniscus I like to do some exercise every day or every other day but I have to be careful what I do. An elliptical trainer is perfect, as is swimming. Well, in the gym, there was a treadmill (no good for knee) a bike (ditto) an elliptical trainer (yes!) except it was broken. So much for the gym. I had about two hours to wait until Joan rescued me so I checked email and played wordscraper in the internet room. Didn’t pay for it but found out today when I wanted to go back that only airline employees get it free. Joan finally rescued me and we went out for lunch/dinner. What a delightful woman Joan is. Beautiful books. She writes about science and astronomy and all sorts of things that I could never write about. Our lunch started at about 2 and by 5:30 the waitress was giving us dirty looks. We continued our conversation in the car. Joan and I discovered that we are sisters in suffering. She is the only person I’ve ever found who cannot eat raw broccoli just like me. She has the same bizarrely violent reaction to it.
I went to bed really early because I was being picked up first thing in the morning.
