Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Hotel, Alberta

My introduction to Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada was the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge hotel for dinner. Not too shabby. Myself and a group of ladies, also travel writers, were taken out to the lodge’s Moose’s Nook restaurant on our first night in town.

Potato Gnocchi at the Jasper Park Lodge Restaurant in Alberta, Canada.

I immediately noticed the cute little dance floor (naturally), where older couples would later show off their moves. The rest of the room was very “fine dining lodge,” if I can coin the phrase, with warm brown colours and the tunes of a three-piece band. It was the perfect setting for four ladies (plus two gals from the hotel who joined us) to suss out whether we could spend the next four days travelling together.

After the first round of wine and appies (the butternut squash soup was oh-so creamy and smooth), we had bonded over Boston love stories, the necessity of sporadic Kraft dinner meals and the fact that I am now an award-winning Métis Red River Jig dancer.

By the time our entrées were finished- I took a break from my usual seafood choice and went with the flawlessly-cooked potato gnocchi with asparagus and spinach- we were ready to get serious: dessert.

When I stay at a Fairmont hotel, I expect exquisite meals, not only because they’re expensive, but because they really make an effort to use local or regional sustainable and organic ingredients (which always taste so much better, don’t they?). When it comes to dessert, the bar is set just as high.

My Classic Banana Foster didn’t let me down. Presented in a martini glass, caramelized bananas licked lips with house-made gelato. I think I smiled until the last morsel was swallowed…

View of the Jasper Park Lodge Lake from the Patio in Alberta, Canada.

What I Liked:

• The Jasper Park Lodge Hotel is set back from the town on its own lake. Views from the patio are gorgeous and peaceful.
• There is a gentleman piano player who is a kid magnet. I walked by on my way from the washroom and he had a little girl up on the bench playing kid’s songs like the Little Mermaid and even the A,B,Cs. He used the girl’s right hand as his left hand so she felt like she was playing. Her parents beamed beside them.
• As usual, the generation before me hit the dance floor in between courses and impressed me with their moves. I think it’s time to bring partner dancing back, not necessarily the flashy Dancing with the Stars style, but the culture of couples dancing with each other in the evening as part of a meal. Anyone on board with me?!

Tags: Alberta, canada, Fairmont, Jasper National Park, Jasper Park Lodge Hotel, Moose’s Nook restaurant