August 5 Rocky Mountaineer to Jasper

 Up at a reasonable time in the DoubleTree Inn in Kamloops.  No need to get bags out early, just leave them in the room and the bell team will come get them later --  because the bags don't travel on the train, they go by truck to our hotel in Jasper.  They get there long before we do.  Train travel may be fun but it's not fast.

In the rail yard, our departure is viewed by an osprey in its nest. Fun fact -- the power company puts up these platform poles, taller than the normal power poles, for the birds to nest on.  This is to prevent the birds from nesting on the actual power lines, which isn't good for either the birds or the power company.

In the Silver Leaf cars, travelers eat in their seats as in airline travel.  In Gold Leaf we have a separate dining room. I guess that's better.

Wave off

We're rising from the desert into the mountains.

RM promises gourmet dining in addition to great sightseeing.  Breakfast and lunch are provided each day, so we didn't have to find something like an Egg McMuffin before boarding the bus to the train. This is an example of lunch.  Before the entrees are presented, here's little something while you wait.  Prosciutto,  bread, cheese, fruit, and pickled vegetables (with something HOT added to them).  And there are only tables of four so you have conversation partners for these meals. All done on white linen.

Pyramid Falls

Here are the seats in the upper level, with a dome that allows you to see all the way to to the top of the mountains.  It's also tinted to keep the sun from roasting you. Add in the leather seats and the swaying, rhythmic clacking of the wheels on the rails and it's tough to stay awake for the scenery.

A monument to the soldiers and train men who died in a crash at this spot in 1950. 21 people died.

To get from the observation seats down to the dining area you had to negotiate this spiral stairway.  For those who couldn't make the stairs there was an "elevator of shame".  We had one person on this trip who required it.

Mount Robson, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies.

It's at this point that we shift from the North Thompson River back to the Fraser River we were on as we left Vancouver.

Our arrival in Jasper is met by the Sleeping Chief in the mountains above us. (The dark spot on the top of the ridge - eyes on left chin to the right- is the face and the body is to the right.  His hair/headdress surrounds the head.)

Our room, one of four in the cabin, is to the left.

The view from our room of Beauvert Lake.

And from the seats outside our room, a great view of Mt. Edith Cavell.

August 4 Rocky Mountaineer Day 1

The expected highlight of this trip is traveling on the Rocky Mountaineer, and today is the day!  But we have to admire the view out of our hotel window one last time.

BTW, at the triangular point you can see the divided bike/pedestrian lanes, and to the left there's a significant hill.  One of the worst places is where the pathway bends around out of our sight.  Bikes come down that hill quite fast, turn the blind corner, and there just might be a pedestrian in the wrong spot.  We saw several people nearly come to grief when we were down there. (There's a SUBWAY in the row of shops on the lower level.  Dinner last night.)

After checking that our bags were in the lobby for RM, it was outside to wait for the bus to the station.

The bus was less than 15 minutes to the station...

...and we get our first look at the car.  The upstairs is the normal travel area while the downstairs is the dining room, toilets and open vestibule for picture taking.

"Our first view of wildlife" as our narrator proclaimed.  At every departure there was a line of RM employees waving us off.  No doubt glad to see us go.  This was the only departure with bagpipes.

We had passed here on our way in to Vancouver.  Impressive engineering.

A bald eagle not interested in us.

Our route follows the Fraser River.

Hells Gate, originally a major impediment to river travel up the river, is now a major tourist attraction.  You can ride the Swiss built AirTram across the gorge, rising 500 feet above it, or just walk across the bridge.

The confluence of the Thompson and Fraser rivers.  The Rocky Mountaineer shifts to tracks along the Thompson.  Our train trip parallels not only these rivers, but also the Trans-Canada Highway, #1.

A random grouping of rail maintenance equipment, a reminder of how much effort there is in keeping the tracks safe for travel.  We frequently saw large piles of railroad ties which need to be replaced frequently.

We're traveling along the Canadian Pacific rails, the original trans-Canada railway.  On the other side of the river are the Canadian National rail tracks.  CN got the tougher side of the river since they were second and you see the effort they had to make.  On the left is a bridge, on the right is a tunnel.  

CN and CP were fierce competitors along these tracks until it became obvious that working together would make more money for both.  Nowadays eastbound travel is along one set of tracks, westbound along the other.  We'll be over there in a week.

Thompson River

Here's the place where the CN and CP rails cross over each other.  We'll cross the river just out of view ahead, while the CN bridge is right here.

Rock slides are a problem wherever a cut was made.  You can see rocks gathered in a catch fencing.  At other places there was a grid of wires along the track.  Anything breaking those wires would signal that the track was blocked, send the maintenance team.

Here are the remains of a forest fire two years ago. Fortunately for us, we traveled before the 2023 fires in British Columbia became a problem.

The other side of the river, and the other tracks.

Here's a solution to the avalanche/rock slide problem.  Chutes are constructed to guide the rocks over the trains.  Also notice that there is a LONG freight train going the other way.  Lots of freight travels along these rails, leading to trains over 200 cars long.

A good view of the Rocky Mountaineer train.  We were near the end of the train. The smaller cars are for Silver Leaf guests, while the taller dome cars are for Gold Leaf passengers.  Gold Leaf means you pay more money for a more elegant experience.  Also better viewing.

Although you can purchase Gold Leaf travel, you can't get priority over the freight travel.  Rocky Mountaineer uses the CN and CP tracks, and yields to freight.  Here we are stuck on a siding waiting for 230 (I counted, so I might be off by a little) coal cars to go by.  Fortunately we never had to wait more than 15 minutes.  There are horror stories online about RM stuck for hours because of freight.

The Rocky Mountaineer train does not travel at night.  The intermediate stop in our travel east is the town of Kamloops.  Travelers are put up in a variety of hotels in town and are on their own for dinner.  Since the food on the train was very good for both breakfast and lunch, we split a turkey sandwich from a convenience store for dinner. We had been up early to get the bus to the train, we were tired and went to bed.  More train tomorrow!

August 3 Vancouver

We have a free day in Vancouver as the Rocky Mountaineer leaves tomorrow morning.  The view out of the hotel window in the early morning light remains as impressive as yesterday.  The building in the middle distance has a grass roof.  Everywhere we went in Canada seemed environmentally conscious.

The Pan Pacific Hotel seen from the front.  The low part of the left side is a conference center.  The tower is the hotel.  And in the back is the cruise terminal, as well as a tourist attraction similar to "Soarin" in Disney World, although much longer and more expensive.

This is the view to the east side of the cruise terminal (our room overlooks the west side).  The expedition ship (i.e., small) Roald Amundsen is currently awaiting passengers.

We go to explore Vancouver, and pass the Art Gallery again.

Architecture

Next to the gallery is Robson Square, named for John Robson, the Premier of British Columbia from 1889-1892. The covered ice rink was not in use, it was summer after all.  Apparently there is an off season for hockey in Canada.  Overseeing the rink is the Bird of Spring sculpture.

Here's what it looks like.   Based on 3 minutes of Google search, there is no symbolism for this piece, and there are several others in Vancouver.  Why something named for Spring would be overlooking an ice rink is beyond me.

Architecture.  I always wonder if I could live in the upper levels of a building like this.

Vancouver is a hot area for filming TV and movies.  We stumbled across a professional setup.  You can tell they're professional by a) the camera, and b) the apple box to the right.

We passed through the production and looked back.  They were shooting people crossing the street.  Can you identify the background actors vs. regular people just passing through the shot.  It was easy for us -- the light would change, everybody would start across the street, the guy on the far right would then yell something, and the actors would stop, turn around and go back to their positions.  The actors are generally the ones on the right, holding shopping bags. (I would point out that this picture was taken about 9am, no stores were open, so anybody with a shopping bag would be out of place -- except in movie magic,)

After walking along Robson Street for about a mile west, we went north back to the water, arriving at Coal Harbor.  This panorama shows the marina, and in the foreground the walking path that extended all the way back to the Pan Pacific.  Future Visitors: Note carefully the double yellow line down the middle of the path.  On one side are the pedestrians.  On the other are the bicycles.  DO NOT WALK in the bicycle lane.  They are not forgiving.  Fortunately, further east the bike lane moves further away from the walkers, separated by a short wall.  But they rejoin in the more crowded commercial area near our hotel.  Walkers beware.

Apartment buildings rising in the Coal Harbor area.

Street art.  The shed is a half size replica of the original harbor masters office.  I don't think the original was on stilts.

People using the harbor

For other people using their boats on the harbor, the filling station was located about 500 yards from the marina, floating out in the middle of the water. I think this is a safety issue.  If something goes wrong in the fueling process, the fire/explosion is well away from Coal Harbor Marina.

The harbor was bustling with activity.  Most notable was Harbor Air, with planes taking off in the middle of pleasure boats.

Actually there was plenty of room for the planes.  And they used it.  Here's a plane coming in to land while two others are taxiing out for takeoff.

Sailboat

A children's water play park along the path.

Some Canada geese strolling along the path here in Canada. Seems like a stereotype.

Here's a portion of Harbor Air's terminal.  Passengers would check in at a small terminal office ashore.  When their plane was called they would walk down to the dock and their plane, then climb the steps up into it, and off they'd go.  Disembarking was the reverse -- the plane on the right is unloading passengers in the picture.  

HA flies to lots of local destinations -- remember the HA planes at Victoria?  They also offer sightseeing flights from 20 minutes to all day for the interested.  As airplanes, they make miserable boats.  I watched them move out to take off, and decided that I would fill my barf bag before the plane even left the water.  So no sightseeing flight.

Above the HA terminal, a "wind sock."  the left hand side is kinetic, making fascinating patterns.

We found a place to eat lunch with a view of the HA terminal.  "Tap & Barrel" if you're interested, but they only have about 5 tables with this view. Arrive early.  

Also note the yellow warning sign in the bottom left.  The graphic shows a warning for a bicycle grade, and the pedestrian and bicycle paths have rejoined, separated only by painted lines. From experience I can tell you to be very watchful when bikes are coming down the hill.  Having paid the price to pedal up that hill, they are loathe to use the brakes when coming back down.

A paddle wheel tourist boat. Seems congested, but that's mostly the telephoto lens flattening the distance.  But the plane is yielding to the boat, and followed it out until reaching a clear spot for takeoff.

Architecture, with a forested balcony.

A final, technical note on our hotel.  I have never seen this type of door before. Both pictures are taken from inside the bathroom at the sink. The potty is in its own room to the left. In the left picture, the door is closed (mostly) so that the bathroom is isolated from the outside world. In the right hand picture, the door is opened (mostly) where it now becomes the door to the potty room. One door fits in two different door jambs.  

At first I thought this was a practical and skillful use of a door.  Later, after using it, I found it inconvenient since you'd always have to go around the door, swinging it open and then closed to get to the potty (and maybe swinging it back to close the potty room).  I guess that this was an elegant solution to providing the necessary doors, but the labor necessary to get everything lined up so a single door fits perfectly into two different jambs seems excessive.