Jasper in January, Winter in the Canadian Rockies: Those who love it, love it a lot

photo from Tourism Jasper

Stephen A. Nelson

For The Edmonton Journal

JASPER - Those who love it, love it a lot.

And for those who love winter in the Great Outdoors – there's a lot to love at Jasper in January, Alberta's own unique answer to Quebec's Winter Carnival and Winnipeg's Festival du Voyageur.

The festival is a two-week showcase for everything that's great about the Rockies in Winter.

This is where the adventure of Great Outdoors meets the arts and culture of the Great Indoors – a party in the park that's become “Western Canada's premiere winter festival.” 

Read the Full Story in the Edmonton Journal

The Story on Canada.com

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Where to Stay in Vancouver: Fairmont Pacific Rim – A Room With A View

During my recent trip to Vancouver, I spent my first night at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. It’s the newest of the Fairmont hotels in the city: practically next door to that OTHER Fairmont, the Fairmont Waterfront – and just down the street from the OTHER OTHER Fairmont, the historic Hotel Vancouver.

I confess that I’m kind of partial to the chateau-style Hotel Vancouver – with it’s Ionic columns and Italian marble ceilings – because of its history as a great railway hotel (Canadian National Railway and Canadian Pacific Railway) that has hosted kings, queens and governors general.

But with a harbour view like this, one could get used to staying at the Pacific Rim. Heck, I’d even move to Vancouver if I could wake up to this every morning.

And I have to say that I got very good service from all the people I dealt with - starting with the curb-side check in, right through the the car service that took me to my next location. For a poor freelancer like me (more used to hostels than hotels), it was almost overwhelming - in a good way.

Hint for travellers: If you stay at a Fairmont hotel, join the President’s Club. It’s free and will get you free local phone calls and free high-speed Internet when you stay at any Fairmont Hotel. Otherwise, Internet is $13.95 a day.

http://www.fairmont.com/pacificrim

Kyoto, Japan: Temple of the Golden Pavilion

Temple of the Golden Pavilion 
(金閣寺), Kyoto, Japan

The Kinkaku-ji (Temple of the Golden Pavilion) is a Zen Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. It's also known informally as Rokuon-ji (鹿苑寺, Deer Garden Temple).

Photo taken during a trip to the Kansai District  - cultural centre of Japan.

Photo copyright Stephen A. Nelson

Edmonton First Impressions: More to Alberta's Capital City than Oilers, Eskimos and Folk Festivals

By Stephen A Nelson

The Brandon Sun

June 19, 2010

You never a get a second chance to make a first impression.

And, to be honest, our first impression of Edmonton was, um ... unimpressive.

“Grey sky, grey city, grey people,” said my friend Andrea — a traveller from

Switzerland who was visiting the city for the first time.

Still, Edmonton does have some great offerings for visitors.

Upcoming Story: Going to the ZooSiberian Tiger Burns Bright

Tyger, Tyger

Siberian Tiger Baikal at the Calgary Zoo. The 430 lbs. cat is a relatively new arrival at the zoo and is there to be part of the Species Survival Plan breeding programme.

Royal Alberta Museum: Not So Many Dinosaurs but Lots of Fossils in This Corner of Edmonton

Royal Alberta Museum

First things first: There aren't many dinosaurs at the Royal Alberta Museum. For dinosaurs, you have to go to the RAM's sister museum – the Royal Tyrell Museum – in Drumheller. Or at least across the lane to Alberta's Government House, where the provincial cabinet meets.

What you will find at the RAM are galleries and exhibitions that are classic and contemporary, eternal and engaging at the same time.

The RAM's contrast with the Art Gallery of Alberta couldn't be more obvious:

The revamped AGA is cool and ultra-modern in an urban renewal setting. The museum, on the other hand, seems like an historic manor house that is part of the landscape. When you enter into the main hall, you half-expect a huge fireplace and a warm fire.

Art Gallery of Alberta: Guggenheim of the Prairies

Art Gallery of Alberta

“It looks like the Guggenheim,” Andrea exclaimed when she first caught a glimpse of the remodelled Art Gallery of Alberta. “They copied it."

And certainly anyone who sees what they've done with the re-imagined repository of art would have to admit that the architect was at least inspired by the curved lines and open spaces of the Guggenheim. And that's not a bad thing.

But the people at the AGA will also tell you that the architecture was inspired by the city itself – a rigid grid of streets and avenues, superimposed on the flowing lines of the river and valley.

It's an interesting synthesis. And wherever you go in the gallery, you feel like you're inside some synthetic jewel looking out to see the different facets of the city.

Well, at least you would on an clear day.

Roche Bonhomme: The Old Man of Jasper

Look Through Your Window...

The Stone Guardian of Jasper, as seen from my room with a view.

Goodbye, Norma Jean: Marilyn Monroe in Jasper National Park

The River of No Return

1953 B & W Photos by Ray O'Neil. 

Copyright Keith Allen Photography, Jasper, Alberta

In 1953, Marilyn Monroe was in Jasper to film River of No Return, co-starring Robert Mitchum.

While Marilyn was here, Jasper photographer Ray O'Neil managed to get a photo shoot with her. The result was a series of classic photos, some of which can now be obtained in Jasper's stores, especially Jasper Photography.

But River of No Return wasn't the only drama during Marilyn's stay: She was "asked to leave" Jasper's most exclusive hotel because she was wearing "inappropriate attire" for a lady: she was wearing shorts.

Marilyn then moved into one of the better hotels in town, but ended up leaving there also, after a row in the lobby. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) were called in to escort her from the hotel.

The Mounties arrived and made sure they got their woman.

Take a tour on the trail of Marilyn Monroe:

http://mrtaxi.wordpress.com/category/mr-taxi-and-tours/

More stories:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Stephen-A-Nelson-Writer-Editor-and-More/374226352256

Jasper Lutheran Church and Lutheran House

Rocky Mountain Gothic

This edifice began its life in 1924 as the home for the Roman Catholic congregation in Jasper - Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church.

It has a firm foundation of field stone and exterior walls of brick.

The upper part of the tower and the nave have exterior wooden shingles.

The presbytery (residence) was completed in 1927.

While many people have sung in this church, the most famous is Bing Crosby. Der Bingle fell in love with Jasper while he was here filming The Emperor's Waltz. He often worshipped and sang at this church when in Jasper and - through the church -made some sizable donations to the community .

In 1967, this edifice became Jasper Lutheran Church - home to the Lutheran congregation - largely through the efforts of Pastor John Ekstedt. Under his guidance, much of the interior was refurbished to make the church look and feel more Protestant and not so much Catholic.

The baptismal font, altar candle-holders and wooden cross were all made from local materials by members of the congregation.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the residence (manse) was used as a retreat centre in winter. In summer, it was home to Lutheran House - a group of young adults living together in Christian community.

In 2008, John Ekstedt returned  as pastor of the Jasper congregation. On his last Sunday (June 2010), the church got a new cross for its steeple - replacing the one that been there since the building first became Jasper Lutheran Church.

Good Medicine: Magical Lake in the Maligne Valley

 Summer visitors assume that Medicine is a normal mountain lake, but it isn't.

During the summer, glacier melt waters from Maligne Lake flood the lake, sometimes overflowing it. In fall and winter the lake disappears, becoming a mudflat with scattered pools of water connected by a stream. But there is no visible channel draining the lake – so where then does the water go?

The answer is, "out the bottom", like a bathtub without a plug. The Maligne River pours into the lake from the south and drains out through sinkholes in the bottom. The water then streams through a cave system formed in the slightly soluble limestone rock, surfacing again in the area of Maligne Canyon 16 kilometers downstream. This is one of the largest known sinking rivers in the Western Hemisphere and may be the largest inaccessible cave system anywhere in the world!

Summer melt water coming into the lake exceeds the capacity of the sinkholes to drain it. Decreased melt water in the late summer and fall means that the lake's sinkholes can drain the lake faster then the Maligne River can fill it. This creates the disappearing lake phenomena. 

Aboriginal peoples called the lake Medicine because of its seemingly magical powers, and the United Nations created the Rocky Mountain Parks World Heritage Site partly because of this unique drainage system.

Source: Parks Canada

Little White Church in the Rockies: Jasper Park Baptist Church and Bedford Inn Coffeehouse

This church in Jasper, Alberta was originally home to the "Union" church in Jasper - a congregation of Protestant Christians who weren't members of the Church of England in Canada (Anglican) congregation.

Famed author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes), laid the cornerstone in 1914, while he was visiting Jasper. The church was officially opened in the fall of 1915, but it took several years to complete.

In 1925, the Union Church in Jasper voted to join the newly formed United Church of Canada - a merger of the Presbyterian, Congregationalist and Methodist churches in Canada.

In 1939, the Jasper United Church was visited by another famed author, John Buchan (The 39 Steps). Of course, at the time he was known as  Governor General of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir, and was accompanied by Lady Tweedsmuir.

In the early 1940s, the place became known as "The Little White Church in the Rockies."

 In 1965, this building was sold and became home to the Jasper Park Baptist Church congregation. 

For many summers (1968 to the mid-1980s) the church basement was home to to the Bedford Inn Coffeehouse. The coffeehouse, styled like a 17th Century English inn, was named after Bedford, England - the home of another famous author, John Bunyan (The Pilgrim's Progress).

The Travelling Treasures of Tutankhamun: It's Worth the Trip to Toronto to Catch the King

 “He gave his life for tourism.”
That's how comedian Steve Martin once characterized the life an death of Tutankhamun (King Tut for all you Saturday Night Live fans) — the Boy King who reigned in Egypt for only 10 years, yet became the most famous pharaoh of the ages...
 

By Stephen A. Nelson

The Brandon Sun

December 11, 2009

Coming Soon: Real Wild Ride with Jasper Motorcycle Tours

Keep that motor running! Head out on the highway!

It takes more than going down to your local video store and renting Easy Rider to become a rebel. And it takes more than riding on a bus to truly experience the Canadian Rockies.

To be a real rebel, you have to get on the road, off the beaten track, and take the road less travelled. And to experience the Rockies, sometimes you have to have to do that on a motorcycle – preferably a Harley Davidson.

But, of course, not everyone has a bike. And not everyone who has a one can bring it to Jasper. So for we Rebels Without A Cycle, there is Jasper Motorcycle Tours.

I could have rented a bike and leather gear and hit the open road looking like James Dean in Rebel Without A Cause or Marlon Brando in The Wild One. OK, maybe more like Dennis Hopper in Flashback!

But since I don't have my licence, I was most fortunate to get Candace for my guide; I sat in the sidecar, feeling like Robin next to her BatGirl.

Coming Soon: This Is Paradise Spirit Island at Maligne Lake

When explorer Mary Schäffer (a.k.a. Mary Schäffer Warren) first reached the end of Maligne Lake, she was awestruck and almost at a loss for words.

When she found the words, she could hardly contain herself:
“There burst upon us... the finest view any of us had ever beheld in the Rockies. Those miles and miles of lake, the unnamed peaks rising above us, one following the other, each more beautiful than the last... We could have looked ahead and aloft and said, 'This is Paradise.' ”

Schäffer – sometimes known as “Jasper's first tourist” – had explored just about everything between Banff and Jasper. She had seen many magnificent mountains, gazed at glorious glaciers and looked at lots of lakes.

But this, it seemed, was beyond compare.

Highway To Heaven: Travelling Alberta's Icefields Parkway

Running parallel to the Continental Divide, and traversing some of the most the rugged country in Canada, the route between Jasper and Banff is “one of the jewels of Western Canada” and was rated by National Geographic as one of the “10 Greatest Drives in the World.”
Here, young-Earth Creationists and hard-core evolutionary geologists can both find “a sense of presence” living in the river valleys between the great mountain ranges...

By Stephen A. Nelson

The Brandon Sun

October 10, 2009

 

Words that Change the World: Dead Sea Scrolls at the ROM

In a multicultural, multi-faith, pluralistic society — one set of sacred writings claim a special and unique place in our consciousness and imaginations; even in the imaginations of atheists and iconoclasts.
This is especially evident with the recent Dead Sea Scrolls exhibits at the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto.

By Stephen A. Nelson
The Brandon Sun
October 24, 2009

You Take the High Road: Discovering Bonnie Banff from a Brewster Bus

By Stephen A. Nelson
The Brandon Sun
August 15, 2009

Almost Heaven: Maligne Lake, Jasper National Park, Alberta

Discovered by explorer Mary Schäffer, celebrated by Group of Seven painter Lawren Harris, explored by local guide Curly Phillips, and made famous by local photographer Harry Rowed, Maligne Lake has been called the most beautiful place in the Canadian Rockies.

It is stunningly beautiful. But the whole area would be better off if there weren't so many people -- or at least if we were committed to minimising the impact we are having on the environment and the endangered wildlife... and I don't mean American tourists.

A Taste of Heaven: Angel Glacier in Jasper National Park

 Mount Edith Cavell (rhymes with travel) is just south of the town of Jasper and is one of the mountains that define Jasper.

The mountain went by many unofficial names until 1916, when it was named for Edith Cavell. She was an English nurse executed by the Germans during World War I for having helped Allied solders escape from occupied Belgium.

The rapidly receding Angel Glacier is one of the best known in the park, and was once part of a massive glacial system that carved out the valleys of Jasper.

If you don't believe in global warming, just take a look at what's happened to this glacier in 25 years.