A Summer in Jasper

This year after finishing my Bachelor's degree, I made the choice to leave my hometown move out to Jasper, Alberta for the summer with my best friend Melanie.

Neither of us had ever lived away from home, and were both very nervous to do so, but we gathered our bravery and went for it. We spent about four months living in staff accommodation at Patricia Lake, where we'd spend our mornings-early afternoons housekeeping, and the rest of our days hiking, running, swimming and exploring. Even though we moved there in a work setting, in a lot of ways it was like an extended holiday.

Both Mel and I had spent short amounts of time on the Alberta side of the Canadian Rockies before and absolutely fell in love. It was a lovely discovery to learn that my love for the mountains never subsided even when I woke up to them everyday from April to August.

Travelling out to Jasper really put into perspective how big our country is too. We're from a decently western part of Ontario, and yet it would still take about 13 hours to get out of the province and into Manitoba. I had the pleasure of journeying across Canada with my mom and sister, and seeing how the landscape changes from mid-east to western Canada (though a lot of this drive was flat and prairie). We escaped great lake living to find ourselves discovering new (cold) lakes to swim in everyday, and got to know lots of animals we don't have at home such as elk and grizzlies.

One of my favourite parts of my adventure is white water rafting the Athabasca river, but ultimately I miss my mountain and lake the most. To live in Jasper and own property, you must be a local. So this reserves a lot of the people who spend their time there to only be there temporarily. I am so very lucky to have gotten to know and love Jasper as long as I did.