NELSON'S NOTES #87
Fun N Sun, San Benito, Texas, Sept. 12, 2011


LET’S JUST DO IT!

 
Back when we were full-timing, two opportunities to go to the Canadian Rockies didn’t happen because of motorhome problems. Last spring we planted the seed again, telling ourselves, “If we don’t do it now, we never will.” This time the seed germinated and grew, right out of our bucket list.
The “Rocky Mountaineer Adventures” tour we chose featured:
       • two days on the train from Vancouver to Kamloops to Banff
       • three days in the Rockies led by experienced, knowledgeable guides
       • hovering in a helicopter above glacier-covered mountains
       • seven nights in extra-nice hotels
                                            us

THE TRAIN – DAY 1
On the bus ride to the train station in Vancouver, our escort cautioned we would probably be driving through a picket line of striking Rocky Mountaineer workers. Sure enough, at the entrance to the station picketers shouted at our bus and held up “Locked out for 50 days” signs. Then they showed up again, as seen here:
strikers
            
Striking workers near the tracks as our train pulled away from Vancouver station. That was the last time we saw the strikers. I was sorry for them, but I must say, there were no noticeable effects from the strike during the entire trip.

 



                    holliday

Holliday, our train-car attendant welcomed us with non-alcoholic mimosa punch and proposed a toast to the success of our trip. Her most striking feature was a sparkle of tiny studs embedded in skin piercings below her left eye. When she served us, Bruce noticed writing on her hand.
Holliday was asked many questions. One was: “How did you get your name?” The answer: “My mother chose it because I was due on Christmas day.”
When Holliday wasn’t loading her food cart and rolling it up and down the aisle, she was explaining the significance of what we were seeing, no doubt referring to the writing on her hand.
As we rolled east through a lush agricultural area and then north toward Kamloops, we passed places with mostly self-explanatory names: Hell’s Gate, Jackass Mountain (named for the pack mules that traversed it in the 1860s), Avalanche Alley, and Jaws of Death Gorge. In contrast to the green areas seen in the morning, in the afternoon the landscape changed to a semblance of the U.S. southwest. Most notably was Ashcroft, a cattle ranching area and one of the driest places in Canada (average annual rainfall, 10 inches).
Holliday explained that trains could only carry enough wood or coal to travel 120-150 miles in the 1880s when the Canadian Pacific National (CPN) Railroad was built. Thus the route was divided into 120-150 mile increments called subdivisions; these are still used today in the mile marker system. The total distance traveled depends on the number of subdivisions traveled. If a mile marker says 110, you may have gone farther than that. Another fact of rail travel: freight trains have priority over the rails. So, from time to time the Rocky Mountaineer waited patiently on a spur track while a freight train moved slowly by on the main track.
Before serving our meals, Holliday used tongs to pass out a hot towel to each of us. The food that followed (even though cold) was abundant, tasty, and innovatively prepared. A few hours after each meal she returned with her cart at least twice, offering snacks (a package of lemon filled or chocolate chip cookies or a bag of “munchies”) with many choices of juice, soda, and hot drinks. A glass of wine or beer was offered at no charge at lunch but had to be purchased if it were ordered with the last afternoon snack.

See the video of day one on the train


Monday’s travel ended at the Kamloops station where a bus took us to the Riverland Inn and Suites. With a population of 70,000, Kamloops is a haven for retirees, we were told. The Riverland’s rooms have little balconies overlooking the junction of the North and South Thompson Rivers, called Kamloops Lake. We watched the sun set from our balcony. You may be able to make out more balconies where other people were doing the same thing.
sunset


Train Day 2
At the station, we were intrigued with what Bruce called the “Bus Ballet.” Eight tour buses arrived at a “staging area” near the station, we sat in our bus and watched as the other seven buses smoothly backed into a line side by side. After the last bus arrived in the staging area, the buses then pulled out one at a time and in a pre-determined sequence, drove down the narrow lane next to railroad tracks and parked alongside the train so that each bus was next to its assigned railroad coach. Thus, passengers did not have to look for their railroad coach; all they had to do was step off the bus and onto the train.
By the time we finished breakfast, the terrain had changed from the dry mountains of Kamloops to green fields and pine-tree-covered mountains. Since we were going through salmon spawning territory today, Holliday read a humorous poem about the salmon’s like cycle: spawning and dying. It ended with the line, “Sex is so much trouble.” She challenged each of us to write a poem about the salmon’s plight. An hour later, six or seven passengers, all men, recited their poems on her mike. One long ballad was really good and its author was proclaimed the winner according to Holliday’s “applause meter.” I don’t know enough about salmon to write about them, but I did pen a rhyme of sorts. When I finished writing it in the afternoon, Holly, who thought it was about salmon, blushed when I recited this verse:
                       Holliday said a poem we should write,
                       then come and deliver it on her mike.
                       If I wrote (as she requested) about fish that spawn,
                       all of you would be sure to yawn and yawn.
                       Instead, my mind is on the things we eat and see,
                       things Holliday gives us with much glee.
                      Thus, with this poem I’m here to say,
                      Thanks -- and thanks again -- to our gal, Holliday.

Here is the video of Day two on the train 


At 5 p.m., we were surprised to be the only passengers in our railroad car to get off at Banff (the other 26 were going on to Calgary, 129 miles away). When we checked in for two nights at the Caribou Lodge a gal at the front desk speaking with a New Zealand accent said we were getting the best room in honor of our anniversary. “Wait ‘til you see this!” Bruce said. The suite had an upstairs loft where there were a king-sized bed, a Jacuzzi, and a full-sized bathroom. Downstairs had a half-bath and a gas fireplace. Rustic luxury!
natalie
Our friend Natalie was always admiring the huge hanging planters. This one was at Caribou Lodge in Banff.


Day 3 – a day on our own in Banff. Several times we were told that Banff stands for: “Be Aware: Nothing’s For Free.”

banff ave
Banff Avenue
The town of Banff is part of Banff National Park, one of the two largest National Parks in Canada (the other is Jasper). The Banff National Park building consists of a museum but there are no rangers who give talks, take visitors on guided walks, or introduce people to the area and its heritage as there are in the U.S. In order to live in Banff, residents must own businesses there or work there. They own their homes but lease the lots from the government; they are allowed to continue living in Banff after they retire.
A hike to a Bow Falls viewpoint gave us an appetite which we rewarded with ice cream cones. Surprisingly, we only found two shops that sold ice cream. The one with reasonable prices was in the back of a fudge shop where we eventually spotted eight ice cream containers lined up in a freezer. I chose “Tiger Stripes.” Dark ripples running through the orange sherbet looked like chocolate but turned out to be licorice. I ate it anyway. We were sitting outside eating our cones when a woman rushed up to us. “May I take your picture?” she asked. “You all look so cute eating your cones!” Somewhat surprised, we said, “Sure,” and made arrangements for her to email the picture to us (so far she hasn’t).
Day 4 – on the way to Lake Louise
At Caribou Lodge our bus driver, rosy-cheeked Mike, checked in our luggage and his 28 passengers.
Our first viewpoint overlooked the CPN Railroad’s Lower Spiral Tunnel. A long freight train was waiting its turn to enter the single-track tunnel, just as our Rocky Mountaineer train had done two days before. The tunnel’s spiral climb allows trains to gain, or lose, elevation at 2 % grade rather than the steeper 4-1/2% grade, which can be dangerous when descending.
Another stop (Mike’s favorite) was Natural Bridge. Over hundreds of years, the rushing river forced its way through cracks in the rocks. The water and the silt it carried gradually wore down the boulders and created the shortcut the river is rushing through in this photo. natural brdige
The "bridge” is where the fissure is narrow.

Two nights at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise

 fairmont four

Outside the Fairmont Chateau with our new friends Natalie and Dillon from Vermont.

 

 

ll viewing area
Today is our 55th wedding anniversary. At the Fairmount Chateau, a bottle of champagne in an ice bucket awaited us in another lovely room, this one with an elevated viewing area of the lake.



Bruce took this sunrise photo from the viewing area.
lake louise sunrise
As are so many lakes and rivers here, Lake Louise is emerald-colored due to the glaciers above it grinding the rocks to powder – “rock flour.” Blue and green tones from the rocks are not absorbed; this accounts for the bluish-green appearance of the water.

 


We were told that all of the Chateau’s 540 rooms are full today and tomorrow. The hotel has several restaurants; all are busy and expensive, even the deli. Unless the hotel guests have a car, they are captive customers. We wondered how the many families milling about can afford to stay here. A complete cold breakfast has many nice choices but it costs $19. A bowl of soup or chowder is $12; when served with rolls and butter it makes a satisfying lunch. No entrée was less than $37.
Convenient, portable charge machines are at every restaurant, even McDonald’s. The server brings it to the table (at fast-food places it is on the order counter). The size of a writing pad, the machine has a slot on the side to slide a credit or debit card. The customer completes the transaction, then hands back the receipts to the server. Very speedy. We’re puzzled why they aren’t in use in the U.S.


Day 5 - touring the Rockies by bus, Snowcoach, helicopter
Some roads we traveled today had construction going on but it didn’t hold us up. I like the Canadian expression for widening a highway -- “twinning.” Twinning creates two additional lanes, making a two-lane highway four lanes wide. Our driver, Tall Tim, said because of a short good-weather window, construction workers have only four months to widen the roads and bridges (some bridges take years to complete).
Herbert Lake, a photo stop on our way to the Icefields.

lake relections

 Early in the day when there is no wind and no ripples in the water, Herbert Lake is like a mirror.

By mid-morning, Tim dropped us off at the Columbia Icefields. The Icefields Center, where we awaited our turn to ride a Snocoach, has the distinction of having the largest ladies room (68 stalls) for a building its size (the men’s room has 13).
Snocoach vehicles take passengers up steep ice-covered inclines to traverse a glacier and actually get out and walk around (it’s like walking on slushy snow in the spring). Snocoach tires look like huge tractor tires, 5½’ high x 3½’ wide. It seems these monsters would erode the glaciers. However, we were told that because of their spongy consistency they do not damage the ice.
Tim and the other guides today reminded us that glaciers have been retreating for thousands of years. The most rapid melting has occurred during the last 30 years. Melting is caused by global warming but whether it occurs naturally or is due to human intervention, no one agrees. More glacial ice melts than is created -- that is the problem. The ice is not created by water that freezes but rather by snow that falls, accumulates in depth, and becomes compacted and compressed by its own weight. When glacial ice melts, it slides down mountains taking with it stones and silt. The mixture lands farther down the slope in piles (called moraines) or in fan-shapes that create gouged-out areas which eventually become lakes and rivers. The resulting blue-green rivers and lakes are a delightful sight especially on a sunny, clear day like today blue river

One of many blue rivers

Ride with us on the bus and the snowcoach


At the Icefields Heliport, we were instructed to approach a helicopter with moving blades like this: walk quickly with hands on thighs and knees and head bent (this avoids beheading by the fast-moving roto-blades!). While the helicopter roared, a guy fastened our seatbelts, adjusted two vertical straps in front of each of us, and handed us helmets with earphones and a mouthpiece-mike. We were all set to go! Up, up we went, hovering over that pristine place with its rolling slopes and blue-tinted glaciers. The pilot’s voice came through the earphones like a bad cell phone connection. Large glossy prints of photos taken of the two of us with a helicopter in the background were for sale. The picture was a good likeness of us but we appeared to have been “pasted” into the setting like we hadn’t really been there. I would even had paid the $25 being charged but didn’t because the picture looked fake.

Come along with us on the Helicopter ( noisy)


Returning to the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise:
On the way back to the hotel, Tim reminded us to call out if we saw a wild animal. We hadn’t seen any the entire tour so I had more or less given up. After a while, Mike O’Hara, who was always alert and looking out the window, shouted, “Bear!” People awoke from their naps and Tim braked and started backing down the road. Mike told him to keep going. Tim went further and Mike said, “More,” and then, “Keep going, keep going.” I thought he was unable to remember where he saw the bear and that we never going to see it. Finally he said, “That gulley there, that’s where I saw it.” Sure enough, coming out from behind a berry bush and headed for the next bush was a black bear with a tan snout.


bear


The three-year-old bear was oblivious to the bus and us in it. ?He ?She swiped its paw along the branches and used its tongue like a scoop to remove berries.
In luck again: down the road vehicles were pulled over, usually a sign an animal has been spotted. This time the cub was smaller, probably a year old. It was doing the same as its brother or sister up the road: wiping the bushes clean of berries. Again, no mother in sight; this one was also on its own.


Day 6 - more touring on the way to Calgary
The weather is still great, like it has been all week. Based on having lived in the north most of my life, I think August usually has better weather than July. That’s why I chose it.
On the last leg of our trip this afternoon when our bus rounded a curve on a busy road’s mountainous descent, I let out a startled “Oh!” Mountain goats (at least seven) were marching toward us as if the middle of the road was their path. Bruce captured three of them here.

goats


We are leaving the mountains and heading for the prairies and our last overnight stop, the International Hotel and Suites in Calgary. With a population of one million, Calgary is Canada’s fourth largest city; Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver are first, second, and third. We will fly home tomorrow.


Some notes and impressions:
Money –
Since the exchange rate is about equal, our travel agent advised us not to bother getting Canadian money. He said to bring U.S. bills -- lots of fives and ones for tips, some tens and twenties (but nothing larger) and to charge our meals and any other purchases.

Clothes –

 Knowing that temperatures could drop to freezing or below and rise to 80 degrees F. or more, we brought lightweight layers of clothing. They worked out fine.
An easy way to convert from Celsius to Fahrenheit-
take the Celsius temperature, double it, then add 30. Using this formula, 20 degrees Celsius equals 70 degrees F.

The people-
The people in the Canadian tourist industry work hard and are knowledgeable, efficient, and friendly. Many employees (as well as visitors) are from Australia and New Zealand. Among the people in the airport, we saw Indian men wearing turbans and ladies in saris, Jewish men and boys wearing Yarmulkes (skull caps), and many Chinese and other Orientals speaking their native tongues.:

 


Marianna
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