Canadian Rail Adventure

Canadian Rail Adventure

This story begins with my sister, Anne, and I talking about a train trip. We both had always wanted to take a train ride complete with sleeper. She said one of the things she would like to do is go to Montreal to check it out. Neither of us had ever been there although we had enjoyed the English atmosphere of Victoria, B.C. many times. The Silver & Blue class of the Canadian Railroad offered a trip from Vancouver to Toronto with one stopover. The Montreal trip was extra and not available on the Silver & Blue class. After looking over the route it would take it didn't take long to decide to where we wanted to stop. The stop would be at Jasper, Alberta in Jasper Nat'l Park. The Silver & Blue Class offered luxury, with a private room for sleeping ( and sitting during the day). They offered scenic dome cars for better viewing of all of the beautiful scenery around us. They also had activity cars with games and movies. The meals were all included and the meals were wonderful, not to mention the irresistible desserts.

We left home on September 4th and caught the train in Vancouver, B.C. at 5:30 PM. We settled back to enjoy the trip. We watched the town, rivers, and mills go by our window as we traveled toward the Rocky Mountains. While we were having dinner the porter made up our beds and we came back to the room ready for us so we could try to get a good nights sleep. The next day, we awoke with anticipation fun and full day. We were now in the Rockies Mountains. Anne got a brief look at Pyramid Falls as the train went by. I was looking away and missed it. After breakfast, we went to the dome car where we got to see Mt. Robson as we continued on our journey. It was truly a spectacular sight. We seemed to be passing it for about 10 miles. Because I was not in a window seat, I was unable to get any pictures. When I realized we were almost past it I took one anyway. At 3954 meters (12,972 ft) Mount Robson is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies.

On September 5th, 11:15 AM we arrived in Jasper. Jasper attracts tourists from all over the world. It is easy to see why! It is gorgeous! There will be many photo opportunities here. Because the Park is a wildlife sanctuary, we expected to see some wildlife too. We signed up for a couple of tours and just looked around the first afternoon and made plans for the next couple of days. We called for the shuttle and checked in to the Lodge. The Lodge was about a mile from town, or at least it seemed like it was that far. The street was lined with a range of mountains on one side. A girl in the drugstore down town told us that it was the Colin range. We walked down town twice, once for lunch and once for dinner. Both times we spent time looking at the sights.

September 6th we were taking a tour to Maligne Lake. Here we took a boat ride to Spirit Island and took some pictures of the mountains around the lake. It was overcast and you could see the mountains rising into the clouds. In some cases the tops were not visible. Our first photo stop was at Medicine Lake. The Indians named it Medicine Lake because they thought it was big magic. They couldn't understand what happened to their water each fall. It would just disappear. Maligne River flows into this lake, but nothing appears to flow out. Later a series on underground tunnels were discovered. Medicine Lake is drained by one of the largest underground river systems in North America.

September 7th we took a tour with Thompson tours. We had another tour booked but it did not include the trip to Athabasca Falls. It was only for the Columbia Icefields. We spotted this other tour in a brochure that seemed to include much more so we cancelled the planned tour and rebooked with Thompson. We were expecting to go to Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls, Tangle Falls, and the Columbia Icefields. We got an added bonus. Our tour guide had to pick up a couple of hikers at their car and take them to their trailhead where they would hike about 3 days back to their car. The trailhead was at the base of Mount Edith Cavell. There we saw a couple of glaciers. One was Angel Glacier, so named because it looks like an angel spreading her wings. Early traders called this "the mountain of the great crossing". During WWI it was renamed after a heroic British nurse. She saved hundreds of war prisoners by smuggling them out of the country in coffins. She was later caught and executed. The road to the viewpoint under the mountain's spectacular north face was pretty rugged and was the start of a variety of trails. It was a beautiful view and we took some pictures here before returning to the Icefields Parkway to begin the planned tour.

The next stop was at Athabasca Falls. The river tumbled over the rocks and through a narrow gorge. A pothole seemed to have been formed by the force of the water. We got some great shots.

Next was Sunwapta Falls. Here we had lunch, and a short road led to the falls. They tumble into a limestone gorge. The falls was in two parts. The walk to the lower falls was about 15 minutes.

We then went on to the Columbia Icefields. There were three major glaciers here. The Athabasca Glacier a part of the great Columbia Icefield is where they have a Snocoach that you can ride on and then walk on the glacier. We passed on that one!! We were already pretty cold. We then went up to the Visitors Center. The elevation at the Visitors Center was 6500 ft. The Columbia Icefields is the largest accumulation of ice in the Canadian Rockies. Mount Columbia, the highest mountain in Alberta is behind the icefalls. Mt. Athabasca is there also and quite beautiful.

The next day, the 8th, we had breakfast at the Embers, the restaurant at the lodge where we stayed. We then got everything packed for the next leg of our journey and we were now ready to catch the shuttle back to the train station. Then we were back on the train on our way to Toronto. It was indeed a fabulous couple of days. We were now leaving the Rockies heading into the plains country. We passed through many cities and towns and passed by many lakes. In fact, it was as if there was an endless chain of lakes and ponds, first on one side of the train and then on the other. I took a few pictures out of the windows. We had a service stop at Winnipeg and we had a few minutes to walk around, also we stopped at Capreol where I took a picture of a nice river next to the train as took a short walk. I don't remember any other service stops; they may have been at night.

We arrived in Toronto on the 10th at 8 P.M. where we got settled into our hotel room. We were looking forward to the Niagara Falls boat tour the next morning (the 11th). The tour was to meet us at the hotel at 9:38 AM. We went down for their continental breakfast at 8:30A.M. When we finished we went to the lobby to wait. It was early so we decided to take a short walk to determine where we would have dinner later that night. Anne spotted a Newsweek magazine with an article on aging and longevity so we went in to buy it. Everyone was gathering around the TV and on the screen it was showing smoke coming out of the World Trade Center in New York City. We continued to watch the TV as we waited for our ride and were in total amazement as we watched the second plane hit the second tower. We were in shock to say the least! There was much speculation but nothing was said immediately about terrorism. People were just in a state of shock and disbelief just as we were. We were numb as we walked back to the hotel. We decided that we should take the tour anyway; after all there wasn't anything we could do. During the 75 mile ride to Niagara Falls the tour boat the guide filled us in on what had happened.

Our first stop was at the Minolta tower where we got a great view of everything.

My cousin, Bobbie, and her husband, Don, were supposed to meet us in Montreal but were unable to cross the border because of the terrorist attacks in the U.S. Because of this change of plans we had to form a plan of our own to get back in to the country, because originally were going to ride back with them to their home in New Jersey. They, Don and Bobbie, had already made reservations for all of us in Montreal. We had train tickets to go there so we decided to use them. At least we had a place to stay in Montreal even though our cousins wouldn't be there to share the experience with us. By this time I had gone through many emotions about flying home, I was definitely afraid to fly! I tried the 800 numbers I had and they would not work from Canada or maybe the phone lines were just bogged down, but in the beginning I really wanted to cancel the flight and find another way home. We decided to wait until we got back into the U.S. to make a decision. Since we were here we decided to see some of the city even though our cousins couldn't be there. We went ahead and booked a tour for the next day. We saw some of the sights and took some pictures but it wasn't the same because of the tragedies that had happened, it seemed to change everything! I offered a silent prayer as I visited the Notre-Dame Basilica in Montreal.

On our way back to New Jersey we stopped at Lake George for lunch. We stopped at Fort William Henry where The Last of the Mohicans was filmed. We then went to Binghamton, NY where we had lived as children. The house was gone, but the grade school was still there as was the theater we attended for the Saturday Matinees. We went on from there and spent the night in Scranton, PA.

The next day we went on to Kingston, PA where our parents lived when we were born. We lived there for the first few years and returned often to visit. This house was gone, too. Then we went on to see another cousin, in Bristol, PA before returning to Don and Bobbie's place for a few days. While there, we went to the Atlantic Shore and we also drove to Philadelphia. There is much history here where our great nation was born. We visited Independence Hall, Congress Hall, and the Liberty Bell. There was no admission fee. I don't know if it was because of the current tragedy or the fact that the day we visited, it was Constitution Day. I'd be lying if I didn't admit to fighting back a tear or two.

When I called to confirm that the flight was still on, I wanted to inquire about added security. You know these voice mail things? Well this one did not have a 0 option for a real person so I wasn't able to find out anything. We then called the airport; it appeared that with the additional security we would be able to fly. It was much safer now than the morning of the 11th. We had to take nail files, clippers and anything metal out of our purses and put them in the carry on bag, which had to be checked, I kept a tube of lipstick. You never know when you need it.

After much inner conflict about whether I really wanted to board a plane loaded with fuel on a coast to coast flight, we boarded the plane in Philadelphia on the 20th. We arrived back, safely, about 1:30 (4:30 AM eastern time) pretty tired. We were in Seattle about 9:12 PM but we still had the long drive back to home. By the time we got back to Forks we had been up for 21-22 hours so could barely think straight. Now after being home for a few days and rested, I'm starting to think about where I would like to go to next! This Sunset was taken from the window of the plane