April 11 - Jasper

We spent last night in Jasper... what an amazing place. Since we didn't have a show I was sure we didn't have a place to stay when we got to Jasper but held on to the idea that maybe we would meet someone that might give us a place to stay.

Approaching Jasper was amazing. I have been through the mountains before but never really appreciated them like I do now. They are huge and incredible! When we got to the Jasper National Park border we had to pay $20 to get in for the night. I was unaware of this fee and at first like “WTF? Why do we have to pay to get in” but as we drove towards Jasper it became more and more apparent why it might cost to visit. Within 5 minutes of being in the park we saw a herd of elk. Its hard to describe the reaction you have seeing something like that. Like you want to stop and make friends with the animals. Brando said “I just want to get out and hug them”. Its exactly the kind of reaction I'm talking about. We saw another herd about 10 minutes up the road. I'd pay $20 just for that!

We also saw a bunch of deer but ye ole moose still eludes me :( Not even today during our drive out of Jasper to Prince George... Where there are constant moose warnings did I see one. I just wanna see a moose.

Anyway, when we got to Jasper we did a short tour of the town... I mean its really, really a tiny town so the tour is very short and ended up at a pub called The Whistle Stop. It was nice to just sit down and share a pitcher without worrying about when we are playing, where is the promoter, who is watching the merch. Also, we could have a conversation without loud music drowning us out.... Don't get me wrong, we love loud music but a break from it is sometimes a nice change.

I love the idea of Jasper. It seems like a really laid back town where no one is in a great rush. There also seems like there should be a lot of interesting people there. I mean we have all heard the stories about how people have left to visit a place like Jasper and got a job there and never went home. I figured we might meet some people like that. First guy that sat at our table was not one of those people however he was an interesting dude. He was a train conductor and has been for the last 31 years but he was also D-R-U-N-K!! He offered for us to stay at his place but we were a little reluctant about that. Shortly after Jan met a guy our age at the bar named Jeff. He was really awesome and offered to have us stay at his place. OF COURSE!!! As the temperatures were dropping to -6 last night in Jasper we weren't really looking forward to sleeping in the van and we were a little worried about getting caught by the RCMP. I'm not sure if you are allowed to sleep in your van or not.. we obviously do anyway but we have no idea the laws on that. We went back to Jeff's place and hung out a little. We listened to some of his records on vinyl then we all crashed. Another nice and warm sleep on a bed. We are spoiled. I slept almost the whole night through and only woke up to Brando saying “stop fucking snoring!” and pushing Will around. I also watched him move to sleeping on the floor rather than the love seat he was on. I wanna add that I offered him my bed and I could have the love seat but he declined. I learned also in the morning that not only did he tell Will to shut the fuck up and throw pillows and blankets at him but he punched him a few times.... And the punches made Will stop snoring. Hahahaha

We woke up to fresh coffee brewing! Thanks a million Jeff. And again I will say, you meet the most amazing people on the road. We had a quick breakfast in a little Jasper cafe and wandered around a little bit before we hit the road again.

We took our time driving today... basically looking for Moose the whole time and arrived in Prince George at around 3pm and we've been here at the venue since. Its called Third on 3rd and its an anarchist center with a really cool venue attached to it. The first band is about to go on so I think I will post this and get inside.