Rocky Mountains

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Our six days spent touring through the Rockies has not disappointed. Departing from Vancouver on the 8.30pm Air Canada Rail, we enjoyed the comfort of our own cabin for a relatively restful night, after enjoying complimentary drinks and hot and cold nibbles (returning to find our bunk beds made a ready to collapse into.) Breakfast in the dining car was a treat, viewing the lovely village of Kamloops as we sat. After breakfast, we were fortunate to secure seats in one of the fully glassed viewing cars, of which there were six. Before we knew it, we were called to our sitting for lunch, again the dining car with large windows. The endless beauty of the majestic mountains and large pine forests was spectacular. Arriving at Jasper at 6.30pm, once we'd checked in to our Inn, we enjoyed a lovely evening meal followed by a great night's sleep, minus the rocking of the train. Jasper is a small ski village which we enjoyed strolling through, taking in the local tourist information.

The Icefields Pathway tour with the Explore Rockies Tour Group was a spectacular nine-hour day, despite being very overcast and without a sign of sunlight. Our coach driver provided an extensive description of every aspect of the areas as we approached, some of which included the Athabasca Falls, Sunwapta Falls, Mount Robson (Canada's highest mountain, 3,954 metres)the Columbia Icefield Glacier and Glacier Skywalk with a hot buffet lunch overlooking the Icefield Glacier, Peyto Lake and Bow Summit viewpoints, and the beautiful Lake Louise. It was hard to believe that on so many of these huge mountains, up to 100 metres of ice was a fixed to their extremities, even at this time of year. It was an amazing spectacle.

Upon reaching our destination at the end of this wonderful day, Banff, we were very happy to check in, and then stroll downtown looking to settle on a good spot for a meal. The predicted storm clouds broke just as we chose a restaurant! Sadly, the following day was extremely cold, -0 degrees and only rising to about 7 degrees and very overcast and foggy all day, so we weren't able to do any sight-seeing, thus enjoyed the local Banff village and warmth of each shop and café. We awoke to our final day in Banff with continuing heavy fog and very grey sky, sadly. However, as predicted, the sun did start to break through at about 2.00pm and we were able to take the Banff Gondola up to Sulphur Mountain (1,600 metres high.) The views were surreal as the clouds were just breaking, allowing bursts of sunshine onto the Banff valley and adjoining huge mountains. It could have been the middle of the snow season, seeing the fresh snow covering these majestic pine trees and the ground beneath. With our packing done, we are ready for an early start for our transfer to Calgary and then Toronto. Four sleeps until we see our grandies and Denise. Trent will be enroute to London for business and to watch the Wallabies' game. We will see him after that in Boston.

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