January 13-17, 2023 | Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (JPL)
So begins the first of many of our travel posts and our journey of visiting all the Fairmont’s (20 in total) across Canada. For my birthday weekend, we visited the Fairmont in Japser Park Lodge .
Strangely enough it was 50 years ago when I first visited Jasper Park Lodge (JPL) with my parents. It was the first place I rode a horse and we were fortunate went horseback riding through the mountains. I was on cloud 9. What is interesting however, is this place has not changed hardly at all since I was 5 years old, meaning there is not much more development. It is has the exact same charm, is well kept and has been been upgraded but everything else looks the same as when I was a child.
About Jasper
Mat and I arrived at (JPL) Friday night just before 7:00pm. We were both famished and once checked in we discovered a beautiful restaurant on the lower level of the hotel called Orso (only open on the weekends).
Walking along the hallway in the lower level, you will discover all the history of the hotel as there are pictures of when it was built, who stayed there and other interesting facts about JPL. This hotel is one of the few places in the world where you can attend a very high-end restaurant in your Canadian red check flannel jacket and jeans and not feel judged or out of place…and the food, OMG it was absolutely exquisite. The three course meal was delectable and I highly doubt I will ever experience the taste of the warm lobster salad that I totally loved anywhere else. Each of the courses had just the right amount of food to give you the taste of these amazing delicious dishes but not too much so that you feel uncomfortable and stuffed.
Part of the experience of (JPL) is the food on site. It is unique, utterly flavorful and so yummy! One thing to note JPL has an option when you book to buy food coupons and I strongly recommend you purchase at the time of your booking. You can purchase them for $120 and it gives you $150 credit to any food on the premises. We purchased one for every day we were there and it was the perfect amount for two because when we checked out we were just about even. However they would have refunded us if we didn’t spend all the credit, By purchasing ahead of time it allows you to totally enjoy the experience at the hotel without worrying how much the food costs. So if you are on a budget or money conscious, the food coupons are the way to go.
After dinner we made the trek to our cabin on the lake. We stayed in ‘Estate Cabins’ and honestly for the price it is so worth it to stay in the cabins. As we passed through the Emerald Lounge there were all kinds of people laughing, playing cards and listening to a great musician playing the guitar and singing as the crowd was enjoying his music while people were sharing appetizers. The musician smiled at Mat and I as we walked past him and we were enjoying his music.
“The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and all the memories we’ve made along the way.” – Unknown
Once in our cabin, the first thing I noticed in the bathroom as I unpacked my my toiletries to get ready to go for a swim in the outdoor pool and hot tub before bed was this perfect stamped toilet paper roll. I thought that was so cool. Mat mentioned that they probably used the faucet to create this, in disbelief, I googled it and sure enough, the faucet was used to stamp the toilet paper roll. Who would have guessed?
So the first thing I did when we got home was stamp the toilet paper roll. Mat walked into our bathroom and laughed as he remembered our discussion from the weekend. Not only does it give us the high-end feel in our bathroom, it reminds me of our beautiful weekend together every time I stamp the toilet paper roll. I have attached the video below as it happens to be the the video I found when I googled it in our cabin at JPL. So here you go – now you can have the same feeling we did.
On Saturday it was my birthday and my day started with Mat going to the bakery on site and picking up fresh warm chocolate croissants, coffee and tea for breakfast in bed, “Mmmmmm, delish!” We spent a romantic morning together in the cabin and a stroll through the lodge where the Christmas decorations were still up and the feel and beauty of the lodge itself was breathtaking. Then in the early afternoon ventured out to the town where we visited some shops, had poutine on the food strip. Jasper in January was running a contest for the best poutine and every restaurant was participating, competing their version for the best poutine.
During our little jaunt in downtown Jasper we visited ‘Jasper the Bear’, sat on park benches donated by individuals and did some shopping.
There is this quaint little shop in Jasper which carried this doormat. We got such a kick out of it that we purchased one for Mat as you can see for obvious reasons. At home, I smile every time as I walk on the ‘Hi, I’m Mat” and think about our wonderful time together in Jasper was. I have attached the link to the site to purchase custom entrance mats below.
As we were walking down main street people were running past us with their luggage as the whistle to the train was to signal boarding the train has started. Jasper is one of the stations where you can catch the train to go across county through the mountains on the rail system. I can only imagine how beautiful the views must be.
In the afternoon we went for a drive to Marmot Basin Ski Hill. The totally unique thing about this ski hill is that everyone that goes there for the pure love of skiing. Just driving through the parking lot there were tons of people having barbecues on the tailgates of their trucks sitting in lawn chairs and sharing a good time with other people that came there to ski. You can ski right off the parking lot and there is nothing pretentious about the lodge or the ski hill. What a great time with the ‘Party in the Parking Lot’ atmosphere. It is so prevalent that I found this amazing little website that has “Everything you need to rock your tailgate this winter.” How cool is that!
Dinner was in the Emerald Lounge at the Lodge, where I was surprised with a birthday treat. I blew out the candle and made a totally unique wish for this year. After this amazing dinner came the highlight of our adventure which was a trip to the Jasper Planetarium what an experience that was.
Not only did we get to see the dancing sky with beautiful northern lights, but we got to hold a piece of rock from the moon, an piece of an asteroid that hit in Russia and a piece of an asteroid that hit in Whitecourt, AB. The planetarium experience was second to none. The experience in the dome was so real that projection looked exactly like the same as the real night sky when we were viewing the stars with our naked eyes. It was absolutely incredible! There were three telescopes that we got to view the stars and for the first time I got to see Mars and Jupiter. It also included a show about the native legend of the stars, which you must see. Finally we got to see a video capture of the sky on a huge screen where they can manipulate the telescope and project what it is seeing in the sky on the video screen. This planetarium experience was the high light of our trip. I can’t say enough about this experience. It is a must see in Jasper. More to come on the planetarium experience in another post as there was just to much to talk about in this one.
For Christmas this year, I got a beautiful pair of figure skates and I couldn’t wait to go skating on Lake Edith. So Sunday was our day skating. What a enjoyable experience that was. There is nothing more special than skating in the mountains. Well lets face it, anything you do in the mountains is special….lol. Skating in Jasper made me realize I am not a sports person but I am a person who likes to experience life and I want to be active and have a healthy lifestyle but not necessarily playing sports.
From the moment we arrived in Jasper we felt a connection with the people and nature. It is funny that 50 years ago I loved the connection with nature and the experience of being in the mountains just as I loved it today! How blessed I feel to have shared my birthday with the most important person in my life, Mat. We created wonderful new memories together is this beautiful, tranquil place. The last day in our room I was on the internet and this quote came up in my feed it read…
Jasper is the place where I got the idea for this blog and begin writing. This begins our Fairmont stories.
