I've never had two layover days in a row. I kind of like the idea. Truth is we were supposed to be doing an out and back to Maligne Lake one of those days. The weather forecast is for 90% chance of rain one day and 80% the other. Voluntarily riding 60 miles in an all day down pour just isn't scoring high with the group. Even Jacinto isn't riding. Depending on how bored he gets today, he might ride tomorrow.

I spent considerable time picking out our lodging here. I wanted to be close to town (which cut out the cute little cabins down by the river), nice accommodations, not too expensive. That is tough criteria in a tourist town like Jasper. My last trip here we camped up the hill. My legs weren't happy about that last push to the campground. We also had a day off there and I never left camp all day! A day off is a day off!

We are at the Bear Hill Lodge in a forest cabin. Not all of their lodging choices include breakfast. If you get a fridge/microwave then you don't get breakfast. I wanted the little more deluxe cabin with a sitting area and fireplace, but that didn't include breakfast. We are in a smaller cabin, still with a fireplace, and it includes breakfast.

We ate dinner last night at the Best Western next door. It was excellent, I had salmon pistachio, I would have had an entire second plate. This was a case of quality over quantity. Touring cyclists are into quantity! The Best Western also has a buffet breakfast for $12.50 - breakfast at our place is valued at $11. Jim expressed hope for mountains of bacon, otherwise he would be over at the Best Western tomorrow. I'm afraid he was disappointed. We had fresh blueberries and raspberries to go with granola and yogurt. All sorts of muffins baked on site. Ham (but not bacon), cheese, hard boiled eggs. Fresh fruit salad. But not bacon. Jim is going next door tomorrow. I am very happy here.

Time changed back to mountain time as we crossed the line between British Columbia and Alberta. We were leisurely sitting in the breakfast room - after hours . . . oops. The lady was very nice. But I felt guilty anyway.

Today my thoughts are to do the CG browsing I couldn't do last night and possibly to get a massage. Or should I get a pedicure? A nap sounds fine. I've been informed I'm in charge of the laundry because Jacinto and Oren are going to go out on the town.

The weather has been very rainy here for the past week. While the USA is roasting, we are wet and cold. What irony. Weather is a major topic of conversation. Jacinto thinks we are all quite silly, all of this talk about weather doesn't change the weather, just go with it. That's his opinion. Still. The forecast is looking slightly better for key days along the way. 30% chance of rain is better than 80%. It was definitely a disappointment to get the the Mt Robson Park sign with the famous mountain goat and not get a good photo because of cloud cover. But at least we weren't taking the photo in the rain and we didn't get wet at all yesterday.

So - the day is my oyster. So is tomorrow! What a life.