Me and the Queen Hang Out in the Same Places

I am going on a mini holiday this weekend. Tomorrow morning we are leaving for Jasper National Park for a few days. Tomorrow night we are staying in Edmonton. Then we will be staying at this place while in Jasper, in a private cabin beside the lake. It's more than a little ostentatious but I suppose that is okay. I am pretty limited when it comes to hotel accomodations that will work for me and my necessary entourage. It seems the more money you are willing/able to pay for a place to stay, the more willing the establishment is to work with you to ensure your needs are met. It makes me feel a little depressed. To return to ostentatious: this is where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip have stayed a couple of time when visiting Alberta. The last time they stayed at the Fairmont Jasper was in May 2005 when they came to celebrate the centenaries of Alberta and Saskatchewan. I will have to dig out the pictures I took of the millisecond their car passed by me as I stood beside the road eagerly waiting to catch a glimpse when they were in Calgary, loyal subject of Her Majesty that I am. Maybe we will even have the same cabin they had.

The possibility of a trip came up last month but I was undecided if I wanted to go. We booked the cabin and my plan was if I didn't use it somebody else in my family could. But I really need to get out of the city. It's driving me insane. Jasper has been on my mind for some time. But if I was going to go there at all I wanted to do it before the crush of tourists and tourist season starts with the May long weekend. Although if last summer in Tofino is any indication, the tourists are all staying at home due to the recession. I am not entirely sure yet what I will do there. Sit on the terrace of the cabin and stare at the lake probably. I think there are some accessible trails in the area but I haven't really looked into it much yet. Maybe today I will do some research.

Mostly I just want to be somewhere that isn't a city. And yet tomorrow night I am staying right in the heart of downtown Edmonton. Go figure. And we are taking the long route to Jasper. Because of my collar bone, driving time needs to be limited. Doing it this way will allow 3 hours to get to Edmonton tomorrow and then 3 hours to Jasper on Saturday morning. The plan right now is to come home down the icefields parkway through Banff, which is about a 4 hour drive. Depending how well the getting there part of the trip goes, that is how we will come home. If it's a problem for me to travel longer without a break, then we will come back through Edmonton again. Hopefully this goes well. I am pessimistic as always. But Jasper truly is a beautiful place and worth all the planning and hassle of getting there.