Swimming with a Frost Warning

Jasper National Park. The kids were getting a little stir crazy, and wanted to get out of here, after sitting around doing nothing for several days. Since we have a park pass, Jasper's pretty cheap (except for gas) so off we went. Caleb and Ethan preferred to stay home and clean house and play a few hours of video games, so we took Palmer and down along with us.

We dawdled along through the park, and were amazed at the wildlife. Well, more amazed at the tourists... standing not 3 feet away from a huge Wapiti with a rack about 6 feet across. Just out there with their cameras without a thought to the fact that if they moved wrong, they'd be just a decoration hanging from that rack. Reminds me of the japanese tourist I saw a couple years ago taking pictures standing between a Grizzly mom and her cubs.

We stopped for some Ice cream (well for the 6 kids we had along) and walked around a bit in the Jasper Townsite. It was nice and warm, about 19, and felt good to be out there in the Sun. Then we drove out to Pyramid Lake.

I don't recall ever going to the day use area where the beach is before. It was pretty nice, and since it was a cool day, with a pretty good chance of showers, we were really the only people there. Those of you who know us will know that we do not plan ahead very well, so we had no jackets or changes of clothes along with us. It didn't clue in with me that the beach was not a good place to go without swimsuits, or towels, or changes of clothes. I seem to worry a lot less about those things these days, and since we weren't originally planning on the beach, well there we were. You can tell from the pictures that the water was too enticing.

Kennedy was quite thrilled "Dad! It's warmer than Cold Lake" So we had some wet kids for the trip back home. Abram was in there with his shoes, and socks, and having a great time. Until he and Liam sort of trotted into the water, and the drag slowed his feet down, and he went face first into the water. I snapped a picture just prior to the big splash that you can see here. He was pretty unhappy till we got his clothes off, and snuggled for a minute, then he was fine.

We drove around to the other side of the lake to walk over the bridge to the island, and after we got out and were walking down to the bridge I looked at Dagmar. She was hugging herself, and shivering and goosebumpy. It had dropped to 12 degrees, and the kids were all wet, and all the tourists around us were wearing long pants and jackets, and looking at our wet ragamuffin family in shorts and sun dresses and t-shirts. I decided not to get the girls a case of hypothermia, and took them back to the truck, while the warm blooded hearty Harrison boys made the trek across to take photos.

It was neat to walk over the bridge. It's been a couple decades since I was there, so it was vaguely familiar and the boys had a blast running around and watching squirrels and posing for the camera.

It was pretty fun, and just a taste of what we will be doing very soon, when the house is sold.... Soon and very soon..... Tanya is just ranting at the moment that Edson has a frost warning. Not Inuvik, not Ft. McPherson, not Red Deer, not Jasper, but Edson... I want out! ;-)