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This year we fulfilled one of Linda's wishes to see the Rockies, and that means Banff and the Icefields. I wondered what the weather would be like in May. I guessed that it could be cold up on the glacier so we had to pack enough layers and Goretex jackets, just in case. We travel very light, only one wheeled suitcase for each of us with our nylon clothing (which we can wash in a hotel bathroom and they dry quickly). The limit being 50 lbs. we weighed the larger of our two cases and found it to be only 22 lbs.! Don't forget to click on the blue underlining for some websites which will help you in your planning. In case you don't remember, the music playing in the background is the Maple Leaf Rag, Scott Joplin.
I had time in the Seattle Airport restaurant to set up a tripod and take a series of shots of the planes on the tarmac with strange blobs painted on their tails. I stitched the images into the panorama below. The blobs turned out to be the face of an Eskimo.
Seattle Airport |
May 17th, 2002 |
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Vancouver - We were to be picked up at 6:00 a.m. to be whisked to the BC Rail station. We saw little of Vancouver the night before. This first leg of our trip on the Rocky Mountaineer was only to be a few hours (73.7 miles to Whistler). We passed Howe Sound as a large ferry was just leaving port. Later we passed the salmon fishing along the Cheakamus River. The guide on the first leg was very interesting, pointing out the sights and warning us of animal sightings on the right or left. We saw many elk and bear. Our destination for this first leg was Whistler, a popular weekend spot for Vancouverites.
VIDEO CLIPS |
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Vancouver, British Columbia |
May 17th, 2002 |
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Whistler |
May 18th |
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Twilight in Whistler |
Evening of May 18th |
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Leaving this Vancouver vacation spot... |
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Our trip really begins. |
Linda thought Whistler was too commercial but I thought it a glitzy but comfortable resort town. The ski lifts to Whistler and Black Combe Mountains were busy all day long. I even saw one biker on a 3-wheel supine bike, a paraplegic it appeared, with mud on his face from his run down the mountain. Lots of snow boarders and skiers, too. We enjoyed a trolley tour of the town and surrounding historic points and lakes. Alta Lake was the nucleus for what was to later become Whistler. It was a camp for train travelers with 100 cabins. There are now only 3. The driver made sure to show us one of the newest estates (price tag $9 million). These homes are constructed with logs, some 2-3 feet in diameter, which are carved with native peoples symbols.
The next leg of our journey was grueling, more than 10 hours to complete the 462.4 miles to Prince George. We slid by Green Lake, the color caused by glacial till and stretched our legs at Pemberton. On our side of the train was the cabin of a World War I vet, Abe Gramson, who named his homestead #10 Downing Street after the official residence of Britain's prime ministers. We stopped briefly at Lillooet, mile 0 on the 1860s "Cariboo Waggon Road." We passed Williams Lake and Quesnel. The trip along the Fraser River revealed a desert that was suited to grow ginseng but little more and the spot along the river where native fishers still dry their salmon catches.
Rail To Prince George |
May 19th |
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Syd and Hazel were from England |
Prince George - One night stay at the Coast Inn of the North and we were off again.
By rail again to Jasper |
May 20th |
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The rail ends here and the bus begins. |
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The all day journey was made pleasant by Chris, Monica and the guide who drove our 30 ton SnoCoach to the top of the Athabasca Glacier in Jasper National Park. They were funny and informative. Everything that one would want of a guide. Snow was predicted for our day on the icefields and that was ok except you couldn't see the mountains above the glacier.
Jasper to Banff on the Icefields Parkway |
May 21st |
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Day on the Athabasca Glacier |
May 21st |
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Lake Louise |
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Banff |
May 22nd |
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Cave & Basin Centre |
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Gondola to Sulphur Mountain |
Lunch |
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Luscious meal at Theatre Bistro |
Evening in Bannf |
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Brewster Mountain Lodge |
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The last two days activities were the most exciting of the trip. There were many opportunities for me to pull out one of the two camera that I always carry strapped to my side. One is the Nikon CoolPix 995 digital still camera and the other is the JVC videocam. Here you are only seeing the places where movement and sound are not so interesting. I will be putting in a little video for you to enjoy soon. Seeking unusually good food we found it at the Theatre Bistro. It made it almost as rewarding as a trip on the American Orient Express might have been.
Transfer to station at 8:55 a.m. |
May 23rd |
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Bannf, Alberta website |
Scenery abounds on the Trip to Kamloops |
Afternoon of May 23rd |
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Rainbow across the sky at the Best Western |
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Waiting for the bus at 6:15 a.m.; we board the Rocky Mountaineer at 6:30. We roll along the Thompson River through the desert belt. We passed under the "rocksheds" of Avalanche Valley and watch the two distinct colors of water merging at the meeting of the Thompson and Fraser Rivers. I got a little video of some rafters on the rapids near Hells's Gate, the narrowest point on the Fraser River.
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Kamloops to Vancouver |
May 24th |
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Kamloops & Region website |
Vancouver, Canada website |
Granville Island |
Evening of May 24th |
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