Elk Island National Park

Today's Route Map.  We went to get some music stuff at Long & McQuade Whyte Avenue (formerly Gordon Price Music) and the downtown store.  We then headed to West Edmonton Mall to buy food at T&T.  Next stop was Elk Island where we saw a couple of elk, a lot of beaver lodges, a baby bison and finally, a herd of bison at the Bison Loop as we were preparing to leave the park.  There were lots of signs of heavy oil production around Lloydminster.  Interestingly, there are very few pumping wells now and it looks like the storage tanks have been upgraded. A final stop at Lloydminster for gas and we finally arrived home at about 9:10 PM.

Suncor Edmonton Refinery

Lone bison calf grazing

Elk crossing the road

Lloydminster

Marshall

Jasper Skytram Opened for the Season Today

We were up at the Jasper Skytram early today, but they're credit card payment system wasn't working, so we didn't get up to the top of Whistler Mountain until the third flight up.  It was the first time for our little guy and second time for our older son.  A great view and the weather held up quite well.  We went to Maligne Canyon for a walk before heading out of the park.  On the way out, we saw a small herd of bighorn sheep which galloped along at 20 km/h with our car for a few hundred metres!  Route map for today.

Mount Robson Park

We have not been to Mount Robson Park the past two years and decided to head out there today after a visit to Pyramid Mountain.  A little cloudy, but the weather was fair.  A snowstorm is on the way tonight.  The skytram also opens on April 25th, so hopefully, the weather won't affect its opening tomorrow.  We walked through thick snow and fallen trees to finally arrive at Overlander Falls.  I last saw these falls in 1998 on the way back to Saskatoon from Vancouver.

Pyramid Mountain

Can you see the rainbow in the cloud?

Mt Terry Fox

Overlander Falls

Route Map

Avoiding the 6 hour detour

We found out that the Icefields Parkway was closed today until 8 PM.  We were on our way to Saskatchewan Crossing planning on taking the 6 hour detour we took 2 years ago (when the same closure was in effect for avalanche control), but I thought we could wait it out by going to the Roger's Pass and then coming back to Alberta in time for the opening of the Icefields Parkway in the evening.  As it turned out, when we arrived back at Lake Louise from Revelstoke at 5 PM, it appeared that the Icefields Parkway was already reopened.  It was and we arrived at Jasper at about 8:15 PM.  We saw a 'rainbow' cloud about 25 km south of Jasper and some elk just south of the town.

Can you see the rainbow cloud?

Revelstoke

Revelstoke Dam

Columbia Ice Field

Just south of Jasper town

Route map (click for link)

Radium Hot Springs

I am very glad I discovered Radium Hot Springs 3 years ago.  The path down to Sinclair Falls was closed today, but it was still a great trip.  We've never seen a bighorn sheep so close!  We also saw white tailed deer and mule deer in Kootenay National Park today (route map).

We also saw this interesting display (just one of 14 stations) which were so appropriate for our Easter Break!  The Stations of the Cross depict the Passion of Christ.  This is just behind the Kootenay National Park visitor centre.  We didn't notice it the previous two years when we visited Radium Hot Springs.

We didn't drive down to Invermere this year, but we viewed the Columbia River Wetlands from the top of the campsite beside the visitor centre.

On the way back to Banff we stopped by a footbridge over the Simpson River.

The regular hot pool was closed for maintenance (started today until May 3rd).  We got to use the other pool with the water set at 38°C.

Lunar Eclipse

This is the only picture that turned out for me (shortly before 1 AM Saskatchewan Time).

I was watching the live feed from Slooh as well.  The weather actually cooperated!

After the moon fully entered the Earth's shadow, I either lost it, or it clouded over again.  It was overcast all evening, so I'm glad I was able to observe and capture the beginning of the eclipse.

Here is my video:

My water colour paintings from April 10

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to paint with water colours.  It was something completely different for me.  A nice change of pace indeed.

4-4-14 Orchestra Tour Day

Today, the two kid's orchestras of the Saskatoon Suzuki Strings played at St Peter School and Dundonald School.  The program for the concert can be heard here.  Each orchestra played their program four times (twice at each school).  This is our fourth year in the program.  You get what you put into it, and violin is a challenging instrument.  However, it is a more social instrument than piano (which I like the most).  These opportunities to perform are great for kids.

St Peter School Large Gym

Here's a science question for you.  This is a photo of a street that runs east-west.  Which is the north side and which is the south side?