The Canadian

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Boarding The Canadian (with free treat boxes)

Even train delays are bigger in Canada! There was the initial 21 hour delay and then further delays due to freight trains having priority on the single track (which meant sometimes reversing slowly for miles into a siding to let one pass...) and a large portion of said track having been washed away a couple of days previously, so we arrived 32 hours late in total, not even a new record for this line and we went back 2 hours to Mountain time! Despite that we thoroughly enjoyed the 3 night journey to Jasper, the free champagne definitely helped!

The freight trains are HUGE! We did play count-the-carriages on the trains that passed us, the longest was 175 carriages long and with each carriage being 60ft that means the train was 2 miles long!!! There was rumour of even longer trains but we had given up counting at this point.

Highlights included spotting wildlife (beavers, bears, eagles, elk, falcons, groundhogs, mountain goats), stunning views of frozen lakes and immense mountain scenery as we approached the Rockies. Amy is also convinced she saw a moose, but it may have just been a moose-shaped tree trunk - there were LOTS of bear shaped rocks.



Car 116 aka Cameron Manor, our sleeping accommodation (and surprisingly awesome shower)
Bison

Waiting in a siding looking out of the window at this wonderful view thinking that things couldn't get any better when a beaver appeared right before us! We watched it swim from right to left at the close bank, climb onto the bank and then set of back across the lake leaving a wake on the mirror-like surface. A truly magical moment.

Our first glimpse of the Rockies




Once in Jasper we picked up the hire car, big thanks to Avis for altering our booking at no extra cost and staying open later than normal in order for us to collect our car.
After a quick loop of the parking lot Mike began the loooooong drive down to Canmore, budget conscious we declined an extra $13 per day for a GPS so it was up to Amy to navigate from tourist guide maps. The drive went smoothly, we saw more bears/elk/deer, only drove the wrong side of the road once (oops) and survived the Rocky Mountain foggy dark mountain pass game of "Where does the road go?" - our least favourite and most terrifying version so far. At 01:30 local time we made it to the Airbnb - phew!



Next post: The Rockies

Comments

  1. SusiB34817 May 2018 at 14:42

    Hi you two this is Heather on Suzi,s ipad. Brilliant to read your blog and see some of your wonderful photos. I’m here at the farm for a few days whilst Suzi & Chris are away. So rest assured I’ll be spoiling sweet Ted. Take care and have fun! xx

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