“The more I traveled, the more I realized that fear makes strangers of people who should be friends.” Shirley MacClaine

5/26-6/6/2024

There was a rotating cast of characters as I traveled across Canada, so a very different experience than traveling with a tour- seeing the same people each day or on my own-crossing paths with strangers now and then. Even different than traveling with friends who joined me along the way, as we usually did most everything together. My trip started in Vancouver, where I met up with Esther Lee, a good friend from Culleoka, TN. She arrived a day earlier and spent the day exploring the hotel and studying the maps of our train journeys to come. In the morning, we would be boarding the Rocky Mountaineer for a two day trip, stopping in Kamloops the first night before continuing on to Banff. We would then travel by bus to Lake Louise, Jasper and Edmonton, where we would board the Via Rail to take us on a four day trip to Toronto.

From the start, Esther Lee and I got together, parted, and rejoined each other. My first afternoon was spent taking a sea plane on a tour of the Vancouver islands, while Esther Lee stayed at the hotel. My pilot, Joelle, was a young Frenchmen who invited me to sit in the cockpit with him. He was quick to tell me not to put my feet on any of the pedals or grab the steering apparatus. I didn’t really need to be told, but heck, safety first, as there is always someone that needs to see what would happen if they stepped where they shouldn’t. We were connected by headsets so chatted merrily away about what we were flying over and our other travels. We flew along the Strait of Georgia, viewing steep green islands and peninsulas with tiny houses and cottages along the shores. Other than the ride from the airport and walking to and from the beautiful Fairmont Vancouver Hotel to the harbor, this was my only chance to see a little of the city. The other passenger was left to his own devices, which was a little sad. It was a gray rainy day and I had hoped the weather would break but instead it got worse. Our landing needed to be done by instruments alone as you could not see the ground in front of us. However, it wasn’t a scary flight as Joelle was very calm and seemed to know what he was doing.

I did learn that Vancouver is the second most expensive place to live in the world. The cheapest house you can buy in the city, and that would be a very modest one, costs at least $2 million. That would be a rare find. A basic three bedroom, 2 bath house would sell closer to $8 or 10 million, and $40-50 million houses are not uncommon. You would need to live about two hours outside of Vancouver to find an ‘affordable’ house. That is possible because of Vancouver’s public transportation which is both efficient and convenient. Its system includes buses, the ferry and light rail, all of which are ecologically friendly, reliable and inexpensive. While there, I connected with a young woman, Sausan, who had interned with me at Vanderbilt University Medical Center a number of years ago. She made use of the SkyRail to come into the city so we could get together.

The experience on the Rocky Mountaineer was first class from the beginning. Our luggage was whisked away early in the morning, reappearing each evening in our hotel room. Let me tell you, it’s nice having someone else deal with your suitcases. Our assigned seats were on the upper floor of a domed observation car, providing magnificent views of the beautiful country side we passed through. We were called down to the dining car below for both breakfast and lunch and served delicious three-course meals on white table cloths. Our companions while we ate, changed from meal to meal which allowed us to get to know our fellow passengers. We dined with several interesting couples, one from the Cotswolds in England, another from Scotland, and one from California- though they both were born in China. We continued to run into the last couple are various points along the rest of our trip, although never had the pleasure of having another meal together. There were two shifts for every service but if you happened to be in the second seating for breakfast, they served you warm cranberry orange cake while you were waiting. The bar was always open upstairs and down, with wonderful Canadian wines, a featured cocktail, and almost anything else you might want. I often had hot water with lemon and honey, as the dry Alaskan and Canadian air was playing havoc with my sinuses which impacted my throat. We spent the days enjoying the views, wandering the long car to look out from different vantage points, talking, and me writing my blog. Somehow, my normal routine of scheduling several days rest between tours went by the wayside, leaving me no time to write.

Both the Rocky Mountaineer and Via Rail run on Canadian Pacific or Canadian National rail lines and the commercial trains have the right of way. This was much more noticeable on the Via Rail, where we had to pull over several times to let long lines of colorful container cars pass by. The Rocky Mountaineer had 23 cars – 8 passenger, 3 engines, 3 generators, and nine crew and storage cars. We had 448 guests on board but in peak season there can be up to 900. The tracks, the Rocky Mountaineer runs on, are often built on a thin strip of ground between a mountain and a river so trains only run in one direction. We could see the west bound trains across the river, clinging to the rails on the side of the slopes. In many areas, those trains ran through tunnels so that avalanches can roll over the top of them, preventing many delays. As we climbed toward the Canadian Rockies, more snow covered peaks came into view. At one pass, our elevation was too great to go directly up the hill so we went slowly – 10 mph so not to break a knuckle, through a spiral tunnel. These are engineering feats, copied from Swiss technology. When you’re in the tunnel, it feels like you’re going straight but you’re actually making a sharp turn. It takes two turns, one to the left and one to the right, to make it up the mountain. We were always on the lookout for wildlife and were rewarded one day with a large herd of big-horned sheep.

The areas around and between Banff, Lake Louise and Jasper are just stunning. Snow covered peaks abound as do beautiful emerald and aqua lakes. The majesty of the mountains can make you feel small and insignificant. It was springtime, so there were many wildflowers blooming as well as tulips, daffodils, and apple blossoms. The wildlife was active, with bears coming out of hibernation and moose, elk, mountain goats and big-horn sheep roaming close to town to avoid hungry predators and to protect their young. In this area, there are animal passes both over and under the highway. The overpasses now cost $12 million to build but it protects the animals from both vehicular traffic and genetic isolation. Also, several highways and roads are closed to cars in the spring for calving and cubbing seasons.

Rivers were engorged with snow melt, gushing across the rocks as they flowed down the mountains. The snow melt from Mount Snow Dome on the triple continental divide flows to three oceans – Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic. Many of the rivers had that same aqua hue, caused by the glacier flour filled with minerals. Lake Louise was not yet ice free. From a viewpoint on top of Sulpher Point, I could see snow rolling into Banff off the mountain until the city was covered in a cloud, 15 minutes later it was clear again. When we had the opportunity to walk on the Athabaskan Glacier, part of the Columbia Icefield, snow flurries whipped round us and the ice crunched beneath our feet. Then, a mile down the road, as we experienced a skywalk over a steep hillside and roaring river, the sun shone brightly and it was a wonderful day. The towns were quaint, filled with shops and restaurants. Banff especially, which was created for tourists. You can only live in Banff if you work there or own a business. Our hotels, Rimrock and Chateau Lake Louise were excellent, both in service and comfort. I attended a great mixology class at the Chateau. This area is well worth a visit if you love incredible views, interesting wildlife, impressive hotels and charming little towns.

Some fun facts about bears. Black bears have claws like cats which is why they are so adept at climbing trees. Grizzlies have a hump on their back and long claws for digging grubs from the ground. They can lift a 300 pound rock to get to the bugs underneath and unroot a tree to get to you, if you’ve climbed there for safety. Bears love dandelions, the greens help get their metabolisms going after hibernation. Female bears can carry multiple fertilized eggs through the summer and can self-abort if she hasn’t eaten enough to support them, after the cubs are born in January. If she’s eaten well, she may have twins or triplets. Despite all the bears in the region, outdoor sports abound – lots of camping, biking, rafting, skiing, hiking, etc.

Our trip on the Via Rail was supposed to leave from Jasper, but a train derailed on the line we were to travel, spilling sand all along the track. Luckily, there were no casualties. So the train company had to scurry and figure out how to get us rerouted. Some thought they would just end up flying us to Toronto, which would have been a shame. Instead they bussed us to Edmonton where our train ,which was rerouted from the other direction, would be waiting. It took most of the day for them to work out the details, then after a 4 hour ride, we eventually got on the train. We were fortunate to be on one of the first buses to leave, arriving just after 9 pm. Others, including the California couple we had lunch with on the Mountaineer, didn’t get in until after 2 am. I was already in my cabin asleep. When the train jerked into action at 3, it woke me up, but then rocked me back to sleep. While we waited In Jasper for things to get straightened out, we meet a couple from Colorado Springs, both retired from the Air Force. They had been on the Mountaineer too, but in a different car. We ran into them again in Toronto.

I was glad Esther Lee and I decided to get separate cars on the train since neither of us wanted to sleep in the upper bunk. But we were even more happy once we were on the train, as the cabins were pretty small. One morning as I walked the length the train to get some steps in, I met an elderly man in the hall yelling to his wife, “have you seen my pants?” He wasn’t able to fit into the cabin while his wife was changing. Many of the couples we talked to, dressed in shifts. One got up, dressed and left the cabin then the other followed suit. When the bed wasn’t made up, there were two chairs in the cabin – they folded down below the bunk during the night. It was very pleasant to sit and look out the big picture window at the passing scenery while reading a book. But most of the time, I was in the observation car, the community car, the bar car or the dining car talking to various and sundry people. I enjoyed conversations with a middle aged couple from Switzerland who were traveling for two months, a young teacher from Toronto who was moving to the Yukon, a couple from Vancouver vacationing by train, an enjoyable gay couple from outside Atlanta – one a railroad aficionado, a professional woman from Toronto returning home after a business conference, and several others. I saw a few others couples we had met along the way on various tours- Jennifer and Bruce, Mary and Andrew, and the older couple with the man with the missing pants. In was interesting that so many of us were traveling as part of a transition in our lives.

At night the rocking of the train was quite pleasant, during the day not so much. Walking the hallway had you careening between the two walls, luckily they were close together. Sitting in the domed observation car was very pleasant. The Canadian landscape flew by, changing from snow covered rocky mountains in Alberta, to the spacious flat plains of Saskatchewan, to the green woods of Manitoba and Ontario filled with countless lakes. We saw herds of bison and cattle, lots of ducks, Canadian geese, and red-winged and yellow headed blackbirds. Big bushes of bright purple lilacs caught your eye – familiar to me from my Wisconsin childhood but seldom seen in the heat of Tennessee. Tall wooden grain houses popped up now and then, along with red barns, and abandoned farmsteads. Saskatchewan discovered potash not too long ago and huge piles of the white chalky substance could be seen for miles, the equipment on top looking like tiny ants. There are ten providences and three territories in Canada but we only experienced five of them on our nine day journey. Canada is the second largest country in the world, Russia is the first and the US the fourth.

After a late start in Edmonton – we were quite behind schedule, we made good time in the three days we were on the train and arrived in Toronto at least two hours early. The beautiful Fairmont Royal York Hotel let us check in early, so we had an opportunity to get out and see part of the city. We visited the Art Gallery of Ontario to see a Group of Seven exhibit, featuring paintings of the unique and beautiful Canadian landscape and the daily lives of Canadians during the 1920’s and 30’s. The museum was handsome and the exhibit a real treat. Toronto was so much warmer than anywhere I had been for several weeks, so afterward, I walked back to the hotel enjoying the sunshine and doing some people watching. Toronto is considered one of the most ethically diverse cities in the world, over 200 languages are spoken here. English and French are most widely used and written on most signage throughout the country. Toronto is the 4th largest city in North America. We celebrated the end of our trip with dinner at the CN Tower, providing marvelous views of the city and Lake Ontario. Esther Lee’s grandson just happened to be in the city on business and met us at the restaurant. It was a delight to have him join us. It was weird hearing about the Great Lakes here, as to me they seem quintessentially American. And I could not leave without visiting Niagara Falls. The beauty and power of water never ceases to amaze me.

We met so many people during these two weeks, who then appeared here and there along the way. We ran into Jeff and Randy, the couple from Atlanta at the falls – so much fun. Bob and Laura, plastics engineers, who we met on the Via Rail were staying in the same Toronto hotel. We often caught glimpses of Jennifer and Bruce who were staying there as well. It felt like you were in your home city, running into friends on the street. Esther Lee really loved this aspect of the trip and she was often off doing her own thing and meeting new people. It was lovely to have her with me as she is so curious and finds joy in everything she sees and learns. No one would believe she was 84 years old, she is as active and alert as anyone else we met. Many time on this journey I felt like I live a charmed life and was very grateful for it. This leg was not different. Several times we had upgrades at our hotels; we often got separate seats on crowded buses – saving me from having my knees jammed into the seat in front of me; we were given a tour while we waited in Jasper – the bus driver taking us wherever we wanted to go; and I was upgraded to first class on one of my flights, as examples. This trip to me was restful in a way, even though I power walked at any stop the train made or walked around every lake we toured, just to get some exercise. But I needed the rest as I was getting tired. I’m happy to be going home.

Reading List:

The Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman

Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery

Next Up: Nashville (suggested by a friend and loyal follower, Paula)