Road trip to Jasper, Canada

The following morning Steve and I arrived back at Vancouver.

We were off the ship pretty quick because we’d taken the walk off option which meant as soon as the ship was cleared we could get off. Canadian customs was just a walk through. They didn’t even look at our passports.

Next we walked to Avis to pick up our hire car. We had estimated our arrival as 9 o’clock but we thought we’d get there for the 8 o’clock opening time to get away quicker only to find that we couldn’t be served until he’d served all the 8 o’clock customers- we were the only ones there!! Steve tried very hard to hold it together.

We finally got the car, a Hyundai Santa Fe and we were on our merry way. Steve was driving (of course!) and he adjusted very quickly to driving on the right (as in not the left) side of the road and it was an easy exit to the highway.

We had a good 7 hours drive ahead so we drove for a couple of hours. I needed an urgent pit stop! so we pulled off into Hopetown.

With me taken care of we picked up a few groceries and tried to get a coffee. The coffee shop was packed because there was only one open so we opted to keep going. Most of Canada didn’t do Sunday trading.

On our way again on the highway we were competing with huge trucks, huge bus like RV’s and some crazy locals going way too fast! From the time we left Hopetown we were surrounded by beautiful scenery. The mountains were green and lush with all kinds of pine trees. Some mountains even had snow on top.

We made it to Kamloops and stopped again for lunch and gas. (ie fuel) There was a huge smoke haze from really bad fires that had been burning in British Columbia for the past week. 37,000 people had been evacuated so far! So unfortunately our views of the surrounding mountains weren’t too good.

We had an aim to get to Blues Creek but ended up driving through because there wasn’t much there and headed on to the next town Valemount. We didn’t have any accommodation booked yet so I started looking and then we lost signal. We were about 25kms outside of Valemount and the car started to have electrical issues, with warning lights coming on for most of the different systems, and then we lost the power steering. So we’re on the highway doing a 100kmph and the power steering goes!! So we pulled over and Steve knew we were in trouble. Luckily there was a driveway just back a bit so Steve reversed back to get off the crazy highway. Once he turned the car off it wouldn’t start again. Dead. We had no signal, and a broken down car in the middle of nowhere. 😩 There was a house up the driveway so Steve checked to see if anyone was home. There wasn’t. So our only option was to flag someone down. Almost straight away a couple pulled over. We asked if they would mind helping us out some how when they went through Valemount. Thankfully they were happy to help us out. Next thing we know a police woman arrived. The couple had flagged her down and she called a tow truck for us. In the meantime, Valerie arrived. She lived in the house behind and was used to this sort of activity in front of her house so she knew the police woman well. Valerie waited with us and was so lovely. She lived on her own on her huge property with all the animals she had rescued over the years and took me across the road to show me 3 of her 5 rescued horses. They were beautiful! We were feeding them and then the tow truck arrived.

After loading the car and us we were driven to the tow trucks property in Valemount.

After the car was off the tow truck we unloaded our luggage and Steve tried the car again, it started! So we loaded our luggage again, left the car running and Steve went off to pay the bill while I waited in the car. While he was gone the dashboard lights started flashing again and the car lost power again! So we called a taxi and unloaded the luggage again and went to the accommodation I’d booked when we had service again , the Alpine Inn.

We caught a taxi to Valemount. The driver was a very memorable character.

We arrived at the Alpine Inn and surprised the owner. He couldn’t understand how we’d managed to get a booking. I’d booked through booking.com and he had no record. I showed him my confirmation email after telling him we’d broken down so he gave us a ‘very nice room’. The room was nice for a motel room. We were just glad to be there. Steve then started sorting out a new car. After a while it was sorted. A car would be delivered to us the next day. So we went to the pub across the road and had dinner.

The car was coming from Edmonton (5 hours away – we were in the middle of nowhere) and we had an eta of 2pm. Steve organised a late checkout. The owner said ok but wanted $30. We had a bit to wait so we had breakfast at A & W (it’s like a Mcdonalds) and went for a walk into town for coffee. Valemount is a very small town so it did not take long. We didn’t have many options for lunch so we had a burger at A & W. 2pm came and went. The owner asked us to vacate the room at 2.30pm. So with our luggage we went across the road to…… A & W!!

After an hour or so Steve called Avis and they told him they were almost there and wanted to meet us at the Alpine Inn! So, back across the road with the luggage we went. Finally they arrived with a Hyundai Tucson and we were on our way again to Jasper!! Yay!!

It was 122kms to Jasper. We checked into the Mt Robson Inn and went to look for somewhere for dinner. We came across Montana’s. There was a difference of an hour once we crossed into Alberta. So we thought we’d arrived at 5pm but had actually arrived at 7pm. There was a line to get in so we thought we’d book for 7.30 and come back later. The guy looked at us like we were idiots! It was 7.30! Oops! We’d adjusted our clocks back instead of forward.

Anyway, they let us in and we had a beautiful meal of chicken wings and ribs. We had a great spot out the front with a view of the mountains.

We were having a great time and then looked at the time….. it was 11 o’clock and still light!! So weird!! It was time to go!!