Today was for relaxation, as the activity from the last two days has finally caught up to us. We slept in and had french toast for breakfast with the last of our bread. Katie went off to have a shower and discovered that the shower block is a 15-minute walk (one way) away. They were however warm, clean and free, so the walk was worth it. We lounged around the campsite drinking coffee and reading our books until after lunch.
We packed up camp and drove into Jasper, which is only about 10 minutes away. We hadn't done any laundry since we left Vancouver, and the pile had snowballed recently with dirty clothes from our two hikes. We parked in the centre of town and found a quaint little laundromat/stationery store run by a friendly lady. The stationery section sold mainly high-quality art supplies. Katie reckons that the lady was a really arty person who wanted to run an art store, and the laundromat was there to make some extra money and bring people inside.
We started up a couple of machines and then headed out to do some shopping. We found a small supermarket where we stocked up on some essentials (like tomato sauce and strawberries). We were approached by a Parks Canada guy, who invited us to come to a watch a presentation about the Mountain Pine Beetle, which is destroying the forests around Jasper (special feature blog post coming sometime soon).
The presentation was actually more of a variety show, run by two Parks Canada interpreters. They jumped around in bug costumes, dressed up as crows, and pretended to be pine trees telling the sad story of their short life expectancy. It was entertaining but way too loud. It did tell the saga of the pine beetle quite well though, and highlighted the fact that it's not just an evil bug, but more the result of climate change combined with decades of fire suppression.
Back at the laundromat waiting for the drier to finish, we sat down at a desk and made use of their free Wi-Fi. I edited some photos from the last few days, and Katie researched the Calgary Stampede. After going to the Burgess Shale fossil beds, we decided that we really had to go and see the Tyrell Museum in Drumheller. Drumheller is a little past Calgary, and because the Stampede is on now, we figured we should make a trip out of it. We found a campground in Drumheller that would let us check in late, and booked tickets to the Stampede!
Now we're back at Wapiti Campground, writing blog posts, drinking beer, and watching the chipmunks (we learned the difference between them and squirrels) scamper around the edges of our site. Smokies for dinner again tonight!
