Favourite shot of the day... A Coyote... appeared out of nowhere and took off just as quick...Last night was the first night we slept right through and when the alarm went off at 6:30am this morning, both of us were dead to the world.
After breakfast our day started with a trip by bus to Maligne Canyon and Lakes. The canyon has been carved out of limestone over a period of thousands or millions or billions or trillions of years (who really knows, our tour guide spoke as if he actually witnessed it all begin, but he only looked 35-40 years old so I guess he can’t have been there at all back then, and that means his figures could be out by a few squillion years or so...) The river in the canyon below was totally frozen over and I had hoped we would be walking on it, but unfortunately it had started to thaw in parts and was not stable enough for us to do so at this time of year. However we did see the frozen waterfalls and they looked amazing, it really looked as if a “moment” had just been “frozen” in time. (excuse the pun) 
We also visited the lake systems that fed the canyon river and these were partially frozen or completely covered in snow and made for awesome scenery and beautiful photos. We then booked a tour on the Jasper Tramway. This is an eight minute ride in a cable car to the top of Whistlers Mountain and enables you to get a view of the whole valley around Jasper National Park and the ranges that surround. The day was perfect with visibility to 75 miles (for those with good eyesight... I used binoculars..!!) On the way to the Tramway our guide took us to a place called Fort Pointe and while we wandered about taking photos, a coyote suddenly appeared and trotted across the bridge nearby. I was quick enough to get a couple of great photos before he disappeared from view. From the top of Whistlers Mountain the view was unbelievable and the snow was 8-10 feet deep in places. 
The weather has been amazing with cloudless skies and sunshine all day. I am actually sunburned..!! For lunch today, Heather and I went to “Smittys Restaurant” in the Jasper Township. With a name like “Smittys” we just couldn’t resist. The food was great, reasonably priced and had a lovely friendly atmosphere, unlike the situation we faced tonight when we had dinner in one of the restaurants here at the Jasper Resort. It cost us our “Stimulus Package” just for one course each and a cup of tea. The food was awful and the service poor. We have discovered that sometimes 5 stars means 5 reasons to avoid. Unfortunately we were too far out of town to be able to go anywhere else, but fortunately it is only one of 2-3 times that we actually have to find our own meal, the rest are all included. (apart from lunches) None-the-less, today was truly a wonderful day and so worth all the effort. We should sleep well tonight...(famous last words..) Tomorrow we are off to the Athabascar Glacier and on to Banff. Boy... life is tough when you’re on tour...!! 
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