Friday Aug 21 – Kamloops to Vancouver

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The new day started in Kamloops Canada, but unfortunately first the story has to continue from last night. Janet got an e-mail reporting that her long-time friend and former hairdresser had passed away. Deb Kopp had been in bad health and she retired so she and her husband could move to Florida and enjoy some good years together. Unfortunately that did not happen. Janet is very sad by this turn of events, but it reminds us how important it is for us to enjoy these days of traveling while we still can.





We had a 7:20 departure time from the hotel, so we were up and going soon after 6:00. We needed to pack our bags but to leave them inside the hotel room. We got ourselves dressed and down in the lobby and boarded the bus to the train, exactly according to plan.





Since arriving in Calgary we have been wearing name tags, which also identify us as Princess Cruise Line passengers. Everywhere there have been people who have stopped us and asked, “where’d you park the ship?” Anyway, after today we will be on the ship, but in the meantime we have another fun day ahead.





Bad Joke: In order to entertain us during the short drive to the station, our bus driver told some bad jokes. Here is one we remember:



There was a chess championship in Kamloops a couple of months ago. During a break in the competition the players took a break out in front of the host hotel. The manager was very disappointed by this. He was asked by a bystander why he was unhappy. The hotel was fully books. Everyone was eating lots of food in his restaurant. Souvenirs were being bought eagerly in his gift shop. What was causing him to be upset? He replied that he never liked “Chess Nuts boasting in an Open Foyer”. We told you it was a bad joke!





Waiting for us on the train were the presents we had ordered for ourselves the day before. Janet got a nice Canadian Railway Tea Tin and David had two Rocky Mountaineer coats. Actually they recommended ordering two sizes and then picking the one which actually fit. The other has been returned to the Kamloops warehouse with no extra charge to us. So now that we have gotten off the glacier, David has a coat fit to wear in winter‘s chilly air.





The train left the station and proceeded west toward Vancouver. The area around Kamloops and especially to the west is very arid and essentially a desert. If the few scraggly trees had been cactus then this could have been part of Arizona or New Mexico. It has been shocking to us – we had no idea. Further to the west the countryside returned to tree-covered mountains with deep gorges and rushing rivers. Closer to the coast the land flattened some in the Coastal Foothills, but it was nice and green all the way west of the Canadian Desert.





The first order of business was the safety briefing followed by a “morning toast” for another day of good traveling. Today we had cranberry juice. Then came fresh fruit and cinnamon scones, which were very good. Then we got to real breakfast and we had omelets, with roasted potatoes and sausage links.





For about 40 miles west of Kamloops is Lake Kamloops, On each side is a railway line, and this will continue for the rest of the way to the Pacific. One line (the original Trans Canadian Railway) belongs to Canadian Pacific Railway and was completed in 1885. The other line, which we used, was built by Canadian National Railway and was completed in 1915. All along the route today the lines pass one another but are different. Canadian Pacific had the original right-of-ways and they selected the preferable route in each case. This forced Canadian National to build on the more challenging and costly paths, and ever since they have been distinct and different. Since we followed the CN line this may have actually given us the more spectacular route.





Anyway, as we were leaving Kamloops we were on “sheep watch”. They are frequently visible for this portion of the ride, and we did spot a few. David was even able to get a photo of one. Somebody in another car radioed that they thought they saw a bear, but we did not. There are also eagles which fly around this part of Canada and we saw several during the day.





We had a morning snack of beverages and people-kibble. We had the same options as yesterday, but it started the process of grazing our way to the west coast.





Along the way we passed several notable landmarks and the train slowed down as much as possible for “Kodak moments”. One of these was an area of the river known as the Jaws of Death Gorge, where the rapids that flow down the Thompson River qualify for a high classification in the associated rating system. We then moved into an area where rockslides are common. They keep from having any more problems than necessary, they have built “rock sheds” over the tracks in the more common slide locations. This way the rocks slide over the top of the shed and do not bock the tracks. If the rocks are not cooperating and fall somewhere else, then they hit a system of wire on the upside of the hill and that immediately signals the dispatcher to stop all the trains until the track can be cleared. Next we entered an area where the soft limestone had been eroded by wind and rain, resulting in a display of the remaining minerals. This is called Rainbow Canyon. A little later the Thompson River (which we had been following since mid-day yesterday) merged with the Fraser River (which we had briefly followed early yesterday). Along its course the Fraser had picked up a large amount of glacial melted ice and that introduced much silt and “rock flour” in the water. So at the confluence of these two rivers, there is a distinctly clear blue color from one and a murky gray color of the other. This is not man-made pollution but it does stain the previously picturesque waterway. Following this we came to the Cisco Bridge system. Here both railways built their own bridges across the river but they look quite a bit different (the intervening years changed the architectural style). Sisco actually comes from Sisca which is the First Nation’s word for “unpredictable” (fortunately not referring to the bridge but instead to the river). Along this way our route is supposed to have passed over 28 bridges and through 23 tunnels and snow sheds between Kamloops and the small town of Boston Bar.







Soon after this the terrain changed back to the forested mountainsides again so it was more like we had been expecting in Canada. This led us to Hell’s Gate (as opposed to Little Hell’s Gate yesterday). This is a section of the Fraser River where it is less than 34 meters wide, but through which all the water flows. This amounts to up to 200 million gallons per minute when the river is at its highest level. The waters were down this time of year, but it still was a very ferocious flow of water.









After Hell’s Gate we had lunch. This afternoon we actually dined with the president of the Rocky Mountaineer Company (Randy Powell). He was making a trip to gather information about their services and decided to sit at the open chair across the aisle from us. We literally had lunch with the president and gave him many of our observation about the service – which was quite high praise. We learned from him that the Silverleaf service is new this year (previously there had only been Red and Gold – elegant and budget). He chose to phase out the Red and implement Silver as a less expensive version of the Gold, but still with a lot of elegance. The car we have been riding in these two days was a reconditioned Red car and has been in service only a few weeks. The windows are actually much larger than on Gold, although those cars are higher as you sit above the dining area. But the goal is to make an excellent trip to for all their customers. His observation was that high-class train lines can cater to the same crowd as the cruise lines, and therefore should provide an equal level of service. Anyway, we feel they rally nailed that one!









For lunch we had white wine. They served a tomato salad that was very good. Janet had the spare ribs and potatoes and David had the salmon and potatoes. Both were delicious. The president (Randy Holmes) wanted to sample a little of everything, but they ran out of salmon before they got back to him. He just had to take David’s word that all was delicious.









One thing we haven’t mentioned is that a brochure of sorts is provided for each pair on seats and it provides interesting information about many of the places we have passed. It provides maps to show not only this trip but all the Mountaineer routes. There are also mileage references so we have been able to anticipate arrival at some of these places. It also makes a nice souvenir of the trip as well as an advertisement of their other routes.









After lunch we traveled though less spectacular areas as we began approaching the coast. But it is still green everywhere and we continue to follow a river. But the coastal hills are hard to get excited about when you have seen the mountains of our past few days. Dessert was served about 30 minutes later. It was chocolate brownie with optional applesauce, and Bailey’s with coffee.









We had a series of farewell conversations with the train staff. They also presented us with a package just before we got off and it was a couple of nice pictures of the train. Also, they had given us a nice lapel pin when we first boarded the train yesterday (forgot to mention that). Along with the goodies we had purchased, now we will be challenged to get it all in a suitcase to go aboard the ship, much less back to St Louis on an airplane. Oh well, we will find some way to handle it.









The train service runs from the 3rd week of April to 1^st week of October. After that the cars and locomotives go into a maintenance period for the coming year. A few of the leaders have year round work but many of the train personnel only work during the summer season. But the train service has been running for the past 26 years (with annual tweaks to the plan) and they seem to be doing pretty well.









The train was actually 30 minutes early so the bus was supposed to be 30 minutes away to pick us up. But it actually showed up in 10 minutes and we were ready to head for the hotel. However 4 people had wandered off, so the bus went off without them. They will get delivered to the hotel somehow. We are in the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel in Vancouver. This is in the heart of downtown Vancouver and seems to be a pretty fancy neighborhood. We are almost directly across the street from the cruise terminal. It is the plushest hotel we’ve been anywhere during this trip. We have a nice big room with a king-size bed. The shower is very possibly as large as the whole bathroom on the ship(based on our previous experience).









Dinner this evening was provided in the Princess Louise Dining Room. We started with a complimentary beverage (wine or beer) and had a strange salad (far from being our favorite type of lettuce) to start the meal. The entrée was either trout (which Janet had) or braised beef (which David had) and assorted vegetables. For dessert we each had a lemon tart. It was a good “last dinner” before we start the ship dinning. We sat with 3 other couples who we have gotten to know well during the past week. There were Barbara and Michael McCord from North Carolina, Everett and Cathy from Ohio, and the English sisters, Sylvia and Maureen. We expect to be running into them again during the cruise.









FYI – back when we met the Mountie on the first night in Banff, his last name was “Comeka” instead of “Somebody”. We enjoy the comments we have gotten back from the earlier postings and hope we can respond to any other questions.









Now we need to get a good night’s sleep and have the luggage ready for pickup at 8:30 tomorrow morning. The biggest challenge will be getting everything inside the bags – at least we do not have the 50 pound limitation (hopefully the poor bellboy doesn’t get a hernia).

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Photos

Janet & David
boarding the Train

Big Horn Sheep
outside of Kamloops

Breakfast
being served on the train

Rocky Mountaineer
train (looking at back portion)

Hell's Gate
different than Little Hell's Gate (yesterday)

Greeting Committee
when arriving in Vancouver