Well, Jasper Alberta's pretty much gone, sounds like. Certainly it'll never be the same again.
My best memory of Jasper was from 1967. My father was a prospector, amateur geologist and rockhound and we'd gone up the North Thompson and over to Jasper to meet my dad's best friend who also happened to be my uncle, married to my mother's older sister. During that visit we all piled into the car with the dog and went into Jasper to cruise the shops.
My aunt and uncle decided they'd rather wait by the car and babysit the pooch, so away we wandered. About an hour later we returned to the car and got in. Aunt Mary was sweaty, red-faced and a bit huffy over something. Uncle Ken was looking a bit amused. He had two expressions, amused and bemused.
Eventually the story came out. Aunt Mary decided to get in the car. Upon opening the door the dog made a bolt for freedom and went looking for Mom, running through four lanes of tourist traffic, barking frantically. He stopped for a rest by a traffic cop, but seeing Aunt Mary in furious pursuit he took off and ran into the railyard, where he ran under three moving trains and stopped for a pee under a stopped train. When it started moving, he ran back toward the car.
Uncle Ken had been watching this three-ring circus and wishing for some peanuts. Aunt Mary was hysterically running into shop after shop screaming for my parents. The dog came up to the car, Ken opened the door, the dog got in and curled up in the back seat for a nap. Looked like a good idea to Ken, so he nodded off as well. Finally Aunt Mary dragged herself back to the car, finding Ken and the dog both snoozing happily. I might not have made a comment to the effect of, "Gee, wondered where you went off to" but Ken did. This gave Mary a chance to vent a little, thus saving my parents from being the targets of her formidable temper.
It all ended well but things were a mite exciting there for a while. And we missed the whole thing.
O.H.
My best memory of Jasper was from 1967. My father was a prospector, amateur geologist and rockhound and we'd gone up the North Thompson and over to Jasper to meet my dad's best friend who also happened to be my uncle, married to my mother's older sister. During that visit we all piled into the car with the dog and went into Jasper to cruise the shops.
My aunt and uncle decided they'd rather wait by the car and babysit the pooch, so away we wandered. About an hour later we returned to the car and got in. Aunt Mary was sweaty, red-faced and a bit huffy over something. Uncle Ken was looking a bit amused. He had two expressions, amused and bemused.
Eventually the story came out. Aunt Mary decided to get in the car. Upon opening the door the dog made a bolt for freedom and went looking for Mom, running through four lanes of tourist traffic, barking frantically. He stopped for a rest by a traffic cop, but seeing Aunt Mary in furious pursuit he took off and ran into the railyard, where he ran under three moving trains and stopped for a pee under a stopped train. When it started moving, he ran back toward the car. Uncle Ken had been watching this three-ring circus and wishing for some peanuts. Aunt Mary was hysterically running into shop after shop screaming for my parents. The dog came up to the car, Ken opened the door, the dog got in and curled up in the back seat for a nap. Looked like a good idea to Ken, so he nodded off as well. Finally Aunt Mary dragged herself back to the car, finding Ken and the dog both snoozing happily. I might not have made a comment to the effect of, "Gee, wondered where you went off to" but Ken did.
This gave Mary a chance to vent a little, thus saving my parents from being the targets of her formidable temper.It all ended well but things were a mite exciting there for a while. And we missed the whole thing.
O.H.
