Just Another JET Blog

OK, better unload some more Jasper stories while I’m still in Canada… because very soon it will be all about Japan!

Umm… lets see.  On the way back Matt and I sat beside a very strange man… with very strange theories.  He believed that American forces were responsible for alien abductions.  His theory is that since anyone in charge of a government wouldn’t want to tell other people that he was abducted (since that would make them look crazy), the American could abduct people from the Kremlin without anyone hearing about it.  The Yanks would abduct the guy, LSD him, question him, and probe him…. then drop him right back off….    all while wearing alien suits.   He had another theory that all the world’s garbage should be loaded up on a rocket and then driven into the atmosphere, where it would burn up.  I asked him, “wouldn’t that still leave all the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the same as when we burn garbage here on the planet?” and he responded that these gases wouldn’t be a problem.  Also, he assured me that sometime in the future he was going to  convince people to burn garbage this way, and when I hear about it on the news I’m suppose to remember that it was his idea.  I promised him I’d never forget it!

A dude we went white-water rafting with (his name was Chris), told Matt and I  a story about how his dad used to run beer into Canada from the States (because its cheaper in the states).  One time, this guy and his friends loaded up the trunk with kegs of beer, but couldn’t fit in one last keg… so they put it under the hood of the car.  It was only a short drive to the border, so they saw no problem with it.  They got to the border and found a huge line-up of cars…. so they waited and waited and eventually it was their turn.  Amazingly, the border guard waved them through!   They drove about a kilometer from the border and then suddenly the keg under the hood exploded!  There was beer EVERYWHERE!

Oh, during the night on the train-ride to Jasper I couldn’t sleep, so I moved to the observation deck to try and get a little shut-eye…  I actually managed to somewhat drift off when suddenly I hear a thousand explosions above me!  It was hailing golf-ball sized hail on the glass above my head!  I found out later from some of the crew that another train had its windshield broken from the same storm… only their hail was baseball sized!

Hmm… oh.  If ever you go to Jasper, find out where industry night is!  Matt and I found out that all the people who work in Jasper have specific nights of the week that they go to certain bars.  Our shuttle driver was from sourthern Manitoba and told us the secret location for Sunday nights and we showed up (after doing a pub crawl!).  Turns out that Jasper really likes their transvestites…. which is fine, you know, to each their own, but one of them stared me down!

Also, I think we were in Jasper for about half and hour before someone recognized me.  Matt and I were walking from the lodge to our room and this guy yells at us (from behind!) “you guys from Winkler!?”.  Turns out he was from Portage, and played for PCI, and recognized me from back when he used to play against me in Basketball and Volleyball.  Small country.  It would’ve been weird, but he did recommend that we check out Jasper Brewery, which was awesome!  They brew their own beer there… including an amazing pilsner called “B-hill” (i think…).  Also, they make a fantastic stout (although the name of it escapes me).  There was also a raspberry ale, a cream ale, a blonde ale and the most flowery tasting Indian Pale Ale I’ve ever had.  They have this great deal where you can try all 6 in 6 ounce glasses!  Definately a highlight of the Jasper trip!  The only thing better was when we went White Water Rafting.

Alright, that about wraps up all the stories I can think of right now!