Nearing Jasper

It took me a while but it did eventually dawn on me WHY the "scenic" route from Edmonton through Jasper to Banff takes so much longer than driving down through Calgary and across.... it doesn't look like that much further drawn on the map. But the map doesn't show the topography. And my prairie girl mind didn't readily jump on that either - it's waaaaaay further because, aside from the extra distance as the crow flies, the road goes up and down. Alot. And that makes for alot of extra miles on the journey. A pretty journey though ;)