Thursday June 9, 2022

 Today we had 2 activities planned.  We got up at 7:00 to a gorgeous morning!

We packed and loaded up the car, then drove into town to … McDonalds.  Yes, we were craving Egg McMuffins!  Hopped in the car and drove about 45 minutes west to Lake Louise.  We bypassed the hordes going to the lakes (Moraine and Louise) and headed to the ski hill.  Gondola Ride at 10:00 today!  Beautiful ride up the hill, good weather, not full sun but the mountains were fully visible.

 

We walked down to the wildlife interpretive centre, and saw this guy on the way back.

We had taken the enclosed gondola up, so we took the chair down.  It had warmed up from toque and glove weather to just toque weather.  We shared soup and a salad in the cafeteria, then got out in the nick of time, as several busses had just arrived.  The gondola parking lot is also the Park and Ride to the lakes, so it was getting very busy.

Time to make our way across the valley to the Chateau Lake Louise for High Tea!

Again, we were lucky enough to avoid the mad crush for a parking spot; we were able to park in the hotel parkade - pricey but well worth it.

We had a couple of hours to explore the grounds, the shops and the lake.

Then it was time for our very exotic tea.  There were the usual scones and fancy pastries, but also wild boar paté, trout caviar, and broiled lamb, all on teeny tiny little toasts.  It was beautiful, beautifully tasting, and filling.  Not to mention the 2 pots of tea we each had.  We waddled out.

My turn to drive, an hour and a half to the Columbia Icefield.  It was windy and cold (10°C), as usual.  We have been there many times before and it always saddens me to see how far the glacier has receded.

Brad took over the driving for the next hour and a half to Jasper.  We saw a couple of elk along the way, and the ground squirrel at the gondola, but that was all the wildlife for today.

I always love returning to Jasper, having lived and worked there for a summer long (long!) ago.  That summer I canoed on Lac Beauvert at Jasper Park Lodge, visited friends in the staff housing at JPL, went on a trail ride at JPL, but I never thought I would stay at JPL – but that is exactly where we are!  I got a Dirty Dancing vibe from our cabin as soon as I saw it.

The grounds are so peaceful, extensive, beautiful – we are right on the lake, and I can’t wait to hike around it tomorrow.  We had picked up pizza and wine for dinner in town on the way here.  When we checked in the young man said he heard it was someone’s birthday, and we told him that unfortunately the birthday girl wasn’t here.  When we got to the room, this was waiting for us.

It was a delicious red velvet cake - even the little sign was edible.

I have been typing like mad since dinner and haven’t even begun to go through my pictures yet.  More work to be done tomorrow!

Wednesday June 8, 2022

Banff

We woke up at 7:00 but thank goodness we were able to go back to sleep until 9:00.  We enjoyed a leisurely morning and a snack (we brought our own dried fruit and nuts).  At about noon we wandered out to find breakfast/lunch and explore the grounds.

The view from our room.

We are staying in the Gatehouse, which is just across the road from the main hotel.  This building used to be employee quarters, but when the Olympics came in 1988, they built new condos for the employees and turned this building into suites, which increased the hotel capacity by 1/3.  In our wanderings we met an employee who explained all of this to us.  Everyone here is so friendly and eager to help.

Our room is on the bottom floor, the three windows on the far right.

After walking through the main hotel and clearing up a couple of things at the front desk we went to the café for lunch.  This is where they grow their herbs and greens.

We then walked into town about 2 kms to get our rental car.  Along the way Brad started talking to a woman (because he thought she was me when she came up behind him, but I had stopped to read something), and it turns out she is a nurse who is from the Calgary area, but is in town for training.  She is part-time so is going to pick up shifts out here as well.  We had a nice chat with her as we walked in the rain.

Picked up our Kia Sorrento with no problems and drove back to the hotel.  We then walked down to check out the restaurant by the golf course and have a drink, but it is closed today, so we walked to Bow Falls further down the hill.  You can really feel the cold breeze come off the water, which is putting out a huge volume with the melt.

Back to the hotel to finally start posting my blog!

A few shots of the gorgeous hotel from this morning.

We went out to the Rundle Bar for a fancy drink before dinner.  We thought we’d just grab a sandwich in the café after that, but they were closed by the time we got there.  We wandered aimlessly outside - we really didn't want a fancy meal but we also didn't feel like driving into town.  Luckily Brad spotted the tiny grocery store!  Got sandwiches and raw veggies for dinner, and a fruit cup and yogurt for breakfast tomorrow.  It was all very fresh and tasty.

After dinner I continued with the blog until bedtime.  I have been pretty much keeping up with my writing in Word – it helps that I don’t need Wi-Fi for that, so I can work on it on the train (oh yeah, there’s no Wi-Fi on the trains).  Sorting through and adding pictures to the blog is what takes the most time.  I have to apologise for the inconsistencies in font size and centring.  I have given up trying to fix it, it drives me nuts to see it but I cannot figure out how to make it right.

Tuesday June 7, 2022

Kamloops to Banff

Up even earlier today at 5 am, downstairs and on the bus by 6:15.  Here's a sight not often seen - the green hills of Kamloops.  For those who've never been there, they are brown or white 99% of the time.

The train left Kamloops at about 7 am for Banff.  We spent the day stuffing our faces and enjoying the incredible views.  We learned yesterday that freight trains have the right of way, and they can be very long, so we have to stop to let them by.  Sometimes we end up waiting a long while on a siding for a train to get up to where we are stopped.  This happens at least once every hour or two.

Replica of the Lion's Gate Bridge, over the Columbia River at Revelstoke.

We also learned that CP and CN have a reciprocal agreement through the Fraser Canyon whereby all trains travelling east use the CN tracks and those traveling west use the CP tracks.  This is because the Canyon is so narrow that there are next to no passing places for trains traveling in opposite directions.

Breakfast was a yogurt bowl, I really needed something lighter after yesterday!  This morning we sat with the couple who has been sitting across the aisle from us up in the dome car.  Bill and Deb are from North Carolina, near Harrisburg, and they are traveling to Toronto.  They are very nice, he was a nurse and a parachutist with an Airborne Division, and she was a medical imaging technologist, very highly advanced and skilled in her field.  We chatted medical stuff and eating healthy, the differences between army and recreational skydiving and the back injuries that army parachutists end up with.  It was all very interesting!

I have seen hundreds of avalanche chutes over the years, but I've never seen the end result of one.  I guess they never get close enough to the highways to view, but they sure get close to the tracks.  Here is what is left at the bottom of a chute when the snow melts.

Everyone came inside in a hurry when this was spotted.  My first pollen storm!

At last, mountains!

We went through the Spiral Tunnels, an amazing feat of engineering.  It took awhile for me to wrap my head around how they work.  We head one way, circle around and head the other way, circle around and we've climbed the mountain.

The usual snacks appeared, then lunch of olives, bison sausage and bread, then risotto, then apple galette with ice cream.  This time we sat with a couple from Kalamazoo Michigan.  It’s been interesting meeting people from such diverse backgrounds.  Interesting as well that both couples today mentioned politics and are not fans of the last president, or of guns, and they are both very much fans of masks and vaccines.  Very Canadian views!  Ended up stuffed to the brim with food again.

After lunch we discovered why the highway from Revelstoke to Golden was closed last year, and why it still has closures.  This is a bridge they have built (are building?) that eliminates many switchbacks on the #1.  It is massive.

By 5:00 we were getting slightly goofy.

In the evening a couple of people saw a bear (was it though?), and we all saw a moose (Brad & I saw it first, but neither of us managed to get a photo of it) and a few elk.  Very satisfying for those who were seeing the mountains for the first time, and for me as well!  I think everyone in our car is from the US, except for one Aussie couple and one Swedish couple.

A truck and an elk.

More snacks followed, then a wine and cheese pairing at what we thought was the end of the trip.  Unfortunately, there were two freight trains in a row that we had to stop and wait for, for probably over an hour, between Lake Louise and Banff.  The stewards were making up stories and games to occupy us.  They also had the chefs come upstairs so we could give them a round of applause.  All the food is cooked from scratch in the galley in our car.

With all the delays throughout the day, we didn’t roll into Banff station until about 10 pm.  The bus drivers had been waiting for us since 6:00!  We were met outside the Fairmont Banff Springs with our keys – again our luggage was already in our room for us (we think they bus it out).

The stewards had handed out snack boxes to us on the train, since because of the delay the restaurant choices might be limited, plus most of us were too tired to go out at that hour anyway.  Crackers, fig spread, trail mix and Pringles ensured we didn’t starve.  It was midnight by the time we hit the hay.

Monday June 6, 2022

Vancouver to Kamloops

Up at 5:30 and down to the lobby by 6:45. Checked in our baggage and loaded onto a tour bus for the ride to the train station.

Got settled in our heated seats in the dome car and found out we are in the first breakfast seating in the dining room below.  Thank goodness, because the second seating turned out to be at 10:00 – unfortunately tomorrow we will be in the second seating – but that’s ok, we will get a pastry appetizer while we wait.  We left Vancouver at about 8:00 and went down for breakfast at about 9:00.  After a fresh baked croissant I had delicious avocado toast and Brad had the eggs Benedict.  We sat with a very nice couple who are with an AAA tour group from Pennsylvania.

The staff are amazing, they bring whatever we want and are full of information.  We can go outside and stand on the viewing platform to take photos; it’s quite protected from the elements.

It is so interesting to see sights that we have seen many times before, but from a different angle or perspective – for example traveling under the Port Mann Bridge as opposed to over it, or passing a place like Hope in a totally different location than any highway or road you might drive on when passing through.  That has kept it very interesting for us.

A quiet section of the Fraser.

A passing freight train.

Back to the food - snacks came around a couple of hours after breakfast (pretzels, chocolate, dried fruit, or any combination of the above), then lunch, and what a lunch!  It was like a dinner with wine and an appetizer of greens and candied salmon.  Brad had salmon with rice and vegetables, and I had chicken in a mushroom sauce with potato wedges and vegetables.  Then cheesecake for dessert.  So. Stuffed!  We sat with Donald the AAA tour guide and a nice man named John, who is from the US and traveling alone.  He loves trains and was told by a friend that he had to do this trip.  The snacks come around again a couple of hours later, then a fresh baked oatmeal raisin cookie before we arrived in Kamloops.  And drinks all day long.

Just before Hell's Gate.

So many old telegraph poles left to rot by the tracks.

Near Lytton.  You can see the devastation from the train that you don't see from the highway.  Everything really is gone.  We were asked not to take photos out of respect for the residents who lost everything.

Some more scenes from today.

Kamloops Lake.

Bighorn sheep.

Beautiful colours to end the day.

We rolled (literally) off the train around 8 pm.  We were given our hotel room key while we were still on the train, and when we got there our luggage was already in the room.  We immediately went to dinner with Brad’s sister Diane and her partner Gord and had a nice visit.  We had a fairly early night and had a great sleep.

Sunday June 5, 2022

Our trip began 2 days ago, but today is the official start of the adventure!  We left New Denver on Friday and stopped in Grand Forks to visit Dad and Sharon, who kindly offered to look after Shadow while we are gone for 5 weeks.  Then on to Keremeos for the night.  The next day, our trip to Tsawwassen was uneventful.  We had a lovely dinner out with Joyce, who we must thank for this trip.  We were hoping the boys could walk on the ferry on Sunday for a visit, but with the reduced ferry schedule on the weekends, we would only have been able to visit for about an hour.  They decided they will wait until we see them in August, and we can’t wait!

We headed to the airport to park the truck on Sunday afternoon, then took the shuttle to the airport and the Canada Line into the city.  We were able to check in to the Fairmont Waterfront right away, then had a nice leisurely walk around Coal Harbour.  Numerous information signs have been erected all around the harbour about people and events that define what Vancouver and British Columbia is today.  Many of them we had never heard of, so it was very interesting to read.  The number of seaplanes continuously taking off and landing impressed even the world traveler.  There was a bit of drizzle and wind, but nothing my umbrella couldn't handle!

We had a long leisurely (4 course!) dinner at the Coal Harbour Cactus Club, under the grass in the photo below.

We had an amazing appetizer, we were both so impressed with the flavours.  Squash ravioli in a buttery cream sauce with a prawn and crispy sage leaf on top.

I could not finish my dessert, which was a travesty, as it was delicious.

Ended the day by going back to the hotel to rearrange our packing so that we would have what we need to access in our backpacks tomorrow, and headed to bed.

Sunday November 24

No photos today.  Up at 5:45, on the metro by 7:00.  Two trains to get to the RER train.  At the airport by 8:00.  Print our boarding passes, check in our bag, go through border services to get our passport stamped, catch a train to take us to the building where our gate is, go through security...whew!  I got all of my stuff in the trays, started to take my boots off but the security woman said no.  I told her they will beep, she said leave them on.  I go to walk through the metal detector, next security guy says take off your boots first.  I tell him I tried to but his colleague wouldn't let me.  He says take them off.  I go back and tell the lady that her colleague wants me to take my boots off.  She ignores me.  By now the three people behind me have started filling up their trays, so I have to ask them to pass me another tray and get my boots off.  Something always happens when I go through security!

Our flight was delayed 50 minutes, so we had 20 minutes to go to the lounge for a quick coffee and snack.

I actually managed to sleep for a bit on the flight, which I have never managed to do before.  About an hour and a half before we were due to land, a gentleman across the aisle from me had a medical incident (heart).  Brad offered to help right away, told the flight attendant that he was a critical care flight nurse.  She said doctor?  He said no nurse.  She said no thanks, they were going to page for a doctor.  Meanwhile the guy is being helped out of his seat to the galley (right behind us) and they take the time to page someone, when they could have had Brad helping from the start.  They got a doctor, an anesthesiologist and a paramedic.  Brad did eventually head back to help which was a good thing because none of them were sure what the drugs were that the airline had provided to them.  You need a nurse for that!  The man seemed to be doing ok, BC Ambulance came on board first thing when we landed to take him and his wife to the hospital.

Once we got through border services and got our suitcase, we went to Air Canada and asked to get on an earlier flight.  We were able to fly out at 2:45 instead of 8:20.  We had time to go to the lounge for lunch and Ryan was able to pick us up at the airport at the earlier time.  We had a little reunion, Tyler made us Kraft dinner and we were in bed by 8:30 - up for 24 hours except for the nap on the plane.

What an amazing trip, we are so lucky!

Saturday November 22

Today was a very lazy day.  We had a late breakfast in the hotel.  This is where I learned that, unlike the Dutch and the English, when the French put out whole eggs, they are not hard boiled, they are in fact raw.  I wondered what the vat of hot water next to the bowl of eggs was for!  I was able to warn an English woman at the next table in time to save her from the same fate.

We mostly worked in the room, me on the blog and Brad on our finances (gulp!).  We had a nice walk around the neighbourhood in the afternoon, had lunch and picked up a couple of things for breakfast tomorrow.  And in the evening, out to a patisserie down the street for a snack and these.  I couldn't leave Paris without eating macarons!