For many years now, I've wanted to do something for my Dad to show how much I appreciate him. About two years ago, my Dad mentioned that he would love to go on one of those scenic train trips that travels through all kinds of beautiful and dramatic terrain. He made the statement that my Mom would never go because she is deathly afraid of heights. At that point, a light went off in my head and I started searching on the Internet for scenic rail trips. Surprisingly, there isn't much available in the United States other than day trips or trips that only last a few hours. I wanted something bigger.
During my research, I came across a train called the Rocky Mountaineer that travels through the Canadian Rockies. I gathered some information and started sorting through all of the necessary details. I am a AAA member, so I contacted a travel agent there and told her what I was looking to do. Last June on my Dad's birthday, I told him that him and I would be taking a train trip the following spring. He sounded a little surprised, but as I described the trip I could tell that he was excited.
We left for Canada last Wednesday, April 25th. We flew out of Harrisburg at around 8:00am ET. About 180 miles from Chicago, we were told that our aircraft was being put in a holding pattern due to rain and high winds at O'Hare. The pilot said that we would most likely be about 30 minutes late getting in to Chicago. This immediately made me nervous as our connecting flight to Vancouver took off only about 40 minutes after our scheduled landing. My only hope was that our connecting flight would be delayed as well. As luck would have it though, it wasn't delayed and we missed our flight. The next flight to Vancouver wasn't until 3:00pm CT so we sat around in the airport for about five hours. This wasn't too bad as I was reading a really good book (Deception Point by Dan Brown; highly recommended) and I was able to get a lot of reading done. My Dad and I also ate lunch at McDonald's; my God their food is horrible. We finally boarded the plane for a 3:00pm takeoff, but we didn't actually takeoff until about 3:30pm CT. The flight to Vancouver was about 4 hours, so we landed at around 5:30pm PT. We had to go through Canadian customs, get our luggage, and then catch the bus that would shuttle us to our hotel in Vancouver. We waited for the bus about 45 minutes and then it was about a 40 minute ride to the hotel so we didn't arrive until about 7:30pm. Keep in mind that I had now been awake for the better part of 18 hours. I woke up at 4:30am ET and it was now 10:30pm back home. Despite the long day, I wasn't really all that tired. As you can see, our trip got off to kind of a rocky start (no pun intended). Little did I know then that it would get much worse before it got better.
In Vancouver, we stayed at the Fairmont Waterfront Hotel located right on Vancouver's harbor. We had an incredible view out of our window.
We put our stuff in the hotel and then went out to grab a bite to eat. It was raining and in the 40s in Vancouver. After walking around a bit, we decided on an Irish style pub called Smiley O'Neal's. It was kind of cool because the hometown Canucks were playing against Anaheim that night and we got to watch the game with a bunch of Vancouver fans. I had a lamb burger and a salad along with a beer. We finished our meal and returned to the hotel. As we needed to get up very early the next morning to catch the bus out to the train station, we retired around 10:30pm. As I was laying down in bed, I noticed that my stomach didn't feel all that great, but it had been a long day so I just figured that I needed some rest.
I woke up around 1:30 in the morning and knew right away that I was in trouble. I rushed into the bathroom and it wasn't long before nature took its course. Luckily, I had brought some Imodium (btw - Imodium is another fabulous Johnson & Johnson product; sorry for the plug but J&J pays the bills) with me on the trip, and just as soon as I could get off of the toilet I went out and took some. Shortly after that, I found myself in the bathroom yet again. This time though - added bonus - I felt myself becoming sick in the stomach as well. I will spare you all of the gory details, but suffice it to say that I was up every hour until 4:30am vomiting. The Imodium did take care of the other problem fortunately. I don't know if all this was caused by something that I ate or what - the lamb burger maybe?
After purging all food and fluids from my body and getting very little real sleep, I was a mess the next day. We boarded the train and began our trip. I barely ate anything all day as I couldn't bear to eat solid food, but I was able to drink juice and soda all day and keep that down. I had a really tough time staying awake, and was drifting in and out all day. I couldn't wait to get off the train so that I could go back to the hotel and get some sleep.
The first day of our journey took us through the the Fraser Valley and Fraser Canyon including Hell's Gate - where water literally gushes through the narrowest point in the canyon. We also traveled alongside the Thompson River en route to our first day stop in Kamloops, BC. Even though I was sleeping off and on throughout the first day's journey, I did manage to get a few pretty decent pictures.
Approaching Hell's Gate
A rock slide shed across the river in the Fraser Canyon
The Thompson River Valley
Let's just say that after sleeping for a solid ten hours on Thursday night, I made an amazing recovery the next day. I felt a little rough when I woke up, but that is to be expected. After I had some coffee and some solid food, I improved rapidly and started to actually feel human again. The first day of the trip was scenic, but the second day was immeasurably better. If I had to be sick on one of the two days, I'm glad that it was the first and not the second.
On the second day, the train continued east from Kamloops toward the Rockies. We passed through the Monashee and Selkirk mountain ranges before getting to the Rockies. All I can say about the scenery and the vistas that we bore witness to on the second day of the trip is WOW!!!! The beauty of our surroundings was absolutely stunning. On our trip through the mountains, we saw several black bears, elk, and deer. I took somewhere around 250 pictures that day. The experience of traveling through those mountains is something that I will never forget. My Dad and I went out into the "vestibule" - the area outside between the train cars - several times and inhaled the fresh, crisp air of the mountains. The experience was uplifting and humbling at the same time. We were surrounded by natural beauty and my Dad and I kept saying how man-made beauty can never compare to what nature did all by itself. I was just awestruck. Some of the highlights are captured below; although it is only a minute sampling of what we saw that day.
The town of Golden nestled at the foot of the mighty Rockies
This was the type of stuff that we saw all day long.
The Kicking Horse River (yes there is a story behind the name)
Here are some of the elk that we saw. They are the first elk that I've ever seen in the wild. There is a bull in the middle flanked by two cows.
We ended up in Calgary and spent the night there before flying home on Saturday. In the end, the trip was a huge success despite a less than stellar beginning. I could tell that my Dad enjoyed himself immensely, and that was after all the whole point of the trip. On the second day of the trip he said, "This is my first time in the Canadian Rockies and probably the last time that I'll see it," so I know that he really relished the experience of being in the midst of such a magnificent display of natural beauty. That trip alone with my Dad is something that I will treasure for the rest of my life. I will always remember the time we spent together fondly. I can't begin to express how glad I am that I took my Dad on that trip. It was the fulfillment of something that I've wanted to do for many years and it felt good to see it come to fruition. It was truly a life-enriching experience.
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