Day 10 – Banff to Kamloops, back on the rails

A scary thought crosses my mind: are we actually getting used to 18 hour-long days of active traveling? Either the pain has so dulled our nerves as to be almost imperceptible or we really are beginning to enjoy on-the-go style. We cannot refute one inexorable fact: we are seeing so much, doing so much, and absolutely maximizing all the daylight hours…. Now we only need to schedule a sleep day for when we return home!

The morning greets us with a light dusting of rain, so light in fact that we barely become wet while waiting for our transfer to the train station. The low lying clouds cover the summits of the surrounding mountains, giving us a almost other worldly view. Our short transfer (maybe 7 minutes) drops us in front of the Banff train station. The station is a scene from a classic movie. The building is quite small, yet the staff still manages to bring everyone in out of the sprinkling drops of rain and warm our bodies with hot coffee, tea and hot chocolate. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adventure, Alberta, Banff, BC, British Columbia, Columbia Icefield, Glacier, Jasper, Mountaineer, Rail, Rockies, Rocky Mountain, Train, Vancouver, Whistler

Day 4 - Leisurely Whistler Monday

Today began with pastries; phenomenal, crunchy butter croissants that crumbled gently in your mouth. Fresh juices, granola parfaits, smoked salmon, three varieties of eggs, hot sides and just plain goodness. Nathan commented that this was perhaps our best continental breakfast ever. Sure, we’ve had better made to order and hot ‘American’ breakfasts before (our best recently in Meunich), but never such a wide selection of high quality goods so arranged in a ‘cold’ self-service buffet.

We were hoping to ride the ski lift and complete a circuit this morning: up the wizard express to Blackcomb, across the peak to peak to Whistler, and down the Whistler gondola into whistler village in time for our afternoon massage and treatments. Alas, distracted by pastries and fruit parfait, our morning breakfast combined with our 1:30PM spa treatments did no allow for the two to three hours necessary to traverse the mountaintops and take pictures. But, ever optimists, we leave this excursion undone as a reminder of and incentive to visit this quaint ski lodge village once more. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adventure, Alberta, Banff, BC, British Columbia, Columbia Icefield, Glacier, Jasper, Mountaineer, Rail, Rockies, Rocky Mountain, Train, Vancouver, Whistler

Day 3:  Vancouver To Whistler; Sea To Sky

Well, Marc says it’s my turn to blog today and I couldn’t be happier.

Today was full of excitement as it was our first real “rail” day. We started our morning with an early wake up call at The Fairmont Waterfront. After slowly waking up and getting ready, we made our way down to the lobby of the hotel to await our transfer to the train station.

Our train was scheduled to leave at 8:30 AM, and at 7:35 we started to worry since the rep for Rocky Mountaineer had not arrived yet, however the concierge reassured that the train company was very reliable and we needn’t worry. Sure enough about 10 minutes later the bus for the transfer arrived. Checking in for the train and receiving our rail vouchers was a breeze, and before we knew it we were on the bus headed over the Lion’s Gate Bridge to North Vancouver to catch the train. Our journey throughout the rocky mountains is in Rocky Mountaineer Vacation’s “Gold Leaf” service, the highest level of service available on this journey, and it feels great to be treated like a star. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adventure, Alberta, Banff, BC, British Columbia, Columbia Icefield, Glacier, Jasper, Mountaineer, Rail, Rockies, Rocky Mountain, Train, Vancouver, Whistler

Day 2 – Vancouver at Leisure

We had a full day today, totally unplanned of course. An early (for us) wakeup call was a good start to the day for handling online chores, and the modern conveniences we cannot seem to part with even while on vacation. By 10 we were ready for a bite, and wanted to go out and hit the town.

As part of our rail journey, Rocky Mountaineer Vacations provides an attractions pass booklet which, for Vancouver, included a hop on hop off bus tour service. Not normally our cup of tea, we decided to try something different and ‘hop on’ at the second stop on the tour across the way at Canada Place. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adventure, Alberta, Banff, BC, British Columbia, Columbia Icefield, Glacier, Jasper, Mountaineer, Rail, Rockies, Rocky Mountain, Train, Vancouver, Whistler

Day 1 – Transit to Vancouver, Vancouver

Never wait till the last minute to pack your suitcase(s)…. at least don’t wait until that last minute to launder and pick out the clothes, fold them, and organize your travel gear. Wise words to live by, and ones we always strive (yet, sadly fail) to adhere to. It’s the curse of the frequent and experienced traveler. Subconsciously, we think we have all the time in the world; we’ve done this a thousand times before, after all.

Of course, as is always the case with travel-day, there are over a million things that needed to be done: chief among them, one high-visibility deliverable that MUST be emailed, bills that MUST be paid, chores, chores, chores to prepare for the almost two weeks away…. and OH! don’t forget about who’s baby-sitting the cat! Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: Adventure, Alberta, Banff, BC, British Columbia, Columbia Icefield, Glacier, Jasper, Mountaineer, Rail, Rockies, Rocky Mountain, Train, Vancouver, Whistler