Should We Stay or Should We Go

Jasper before the wild fire. Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels As we got closer to Jasper, I started thinking about the wildfires that had devastated the area in the summer of 2024. The last time we had visited the area was in 2022, and it had been a bustling outdoor lover’s paradise. I knew about the fire, of course. I had seen the pictures, heard the news reports, and read the stories. I knew that much of the town had been evacuated and that hundreds of homes and businesses had been destroyed. But somehow, I still wasn't prepared for what I was about to see. The 2024 Jasper wildfire began on July 22 after lightning strikes started several fires around the national park. Conditions were incredibly dry, and strong winds caused the fires to spread quickly. The separate fires eventually joined together, creating one enormous fire complex. More than 20,000 people were evacuated from Jasper and the surrounding park. Just two days later, on July 24, the fire reached the town itself,...

Our day started out in the rain. Not exactly what I was hoping for when we were about to spend the day driving through the Canadian Rockies. We were heading from Canmore to Jasper, taking the Icefields Parkway through some of the most spectacular scenery in the Rockies. I had been looking forward to this drive, but as we headed out in the rain, I was beginning to wonder if the mountains were going to cooperate. Driving through the Rockies in the rain can mean very little visibility. Instead of towering mountains and dramatic views, we ended up looking at a whole lot of grey.

Our Alberta adventure started with a pretty uneventful trip to the airport. Normally I fly in and out of Toronto Pearson International Airport, but for this trip we were flying out of the much smaller regional airport about an hour away. We got there in plenty of time, only to find out that our flight was delayed by about 40 minutes. Honestly, we didn’t really care. We were together, talking about the trip, catching up on each other’s news and having some dinner. We had five days ahead of us, so what was another 40 minutes? The flight itself was a good one. Free Wi-Fi - gotta love that! I was able to watch the whole Blue Jays game, and they won. Yay! It seemed like a pretty good way to start the trip. By the time we landed, it was 11:30 p.m. Alberta time - 1:30 a.m. for us Toronto girls. One of the ladies in our group had flown ahead of us, so she had already picked up the rental car and was waiting at the curb when we came out of the airport. We were all tired when we reached our ...

  Today I’m off to Alberta. I’m heading out with three friends for a quick little trip to celebrate our friend Michele’s 70th birthday. Four women, five days in the Rockies, and, undoubtedly, lots of laughs along the way. The road between Banff and Jasper is spectacular. Even though I’ve made the trip before, I never get tired of seeing the Canadian Rockies.  I’m usually up for doing some hiking and exploring off the beaten track. However, this time around it will be a little more laid back. I know we’ll be taking longer lunches, doing some shopping and enjoying some scenic drives. Hopefully, we’ll also get lucky and see some bears and moose along the way. Even though it will be a shorter trip, I’m looking forward to sharing one of the most beautiful places on Earth with good friends. I hope to find to to blog along the way, so stay tuned. I’m sure I’ll have some stories, photos and maybe a little Alberta adventure to share with you while we’re there. Alberta, here we c...

I recently read an article about something called the 12 good years , and I've been thinking about it ever since. I had never heard the term before. The basic idea is that once we reach 60, we may have about twelve years when we are still healthy and active enough to do many of the things we enjoy doing. Travel, walk, hike, explore, climb stairs, carry our luggage, and generally get out there and do things without our bodies getting in the way too much. Twelve years. Twelve years! From 60!  When I first read that, I thought, that’s not very long at all . And then, of course, I did the math.  I’m soon turning 65. At the time we retired at the end of 2019, I thought we had lots of time ahead of us. We had plans. We were going to travel, explore and finally have the freedom to do some of the things we'd talked about doing while we were still working. Then a few months later, COVID happened. Needless to say, those first couple of years of retirement didn't exactly go ac...