What happens in Alberta....

Here I lie in a cold sleeping bag that smells, oddly enough, like old bagels. It's 11:30 here in Grande Cache, Alberta, Canada, and the sun is still up more than enough to see by.
We arrived at the campground late, and with no way to contact the owners, set up tents without paying, checking in, anything. We'll try and work out payment in the morning!
Until about 2:00 this afternoon we rode through Banff National Park, twisting from valley floors to switch backs that barely scratched the base of the indescribable mountains that surrounded us. From the gaurdrails you could glimpse the road we had just ridden, hundreds of feet below us at the roots of mountains still brushed thick with snow. Words fail to describe the majesty of Banff's mountains.
Crossing into Jasper we were surrounded by lakes and rivers, turned a light blue by the glacial melt and nearby sulfur deposits. We rode on and were greeted by Ed, a fellow BMW rider from Chicago on an R1200 GS Adventure. He's headed to Alaska too. Leaving for gas we found that even Canadians are often found to exceed the recommended kph by more than double. We were passing everything in sight, thrilled with the long curves that accompanied the rocky peaks. I found myself almost growing tired of seeing more breathtaking views, because it seemed that around each turn I would have to, yet again, stop, take out my camera, attach a few filters, then pack everything back up only to arrive five minutes later at another stop I had to make! It was painful deciding where to stop and where to pass by!

Around Jasper, (the town, not the National Park as mentioned above), we found Ed again, and joined him for dinner at a "family restaurant". Here we discovered the fine culinary tastes of Canada in the form of gravy over french fries. Let's call it.....interesting. We decided to ride on with Ed, and with me in the lead again we zoomed across 93 North to 40, aka "Scenic Road to Alaska" (it's what the sign said), and finally made it to where I now am pleasantly surprised to find Wi/Fi at the campground we haven't paid for yet, in a tent I haven't put up the rain fly on, with hopes of seeing some stars tonight. If it ever gets dark that is!

Along 40 we saw numerous moose, and the mountain goats above (as well as the big crow) were shot in Banff. Everything was shot with a Nikkor 14 mm, meaning that I was extremely close to those animals. I guess they're just used to people!
I've barely won the race against low battery life! Good night everyone! Tomorrow we head for British Columbia!

Zack