The first on our “Someday is Now” trip list is one that Rob has talked about pretty much as long as I’ve known him. He…as are most of the menfolk in his family…is a train guy. He loves trains and train travel. One of our first dates included a visit to a favorite train station so Rob could share with me one of his most special places.
We’ve taken several day trips on trains…some pretty long days in fact. But we’ve never done any overnight rail trips. At first because we couldn’t afford the time or the fare, and then later because sleeping and showering on a train doesn’t seem particularly back friendly.
Riding a train through Canada – especially the Canadian Rockies – has nevertheless been one of Rob’s dreams. And we are now finally doing it.
Learning a couple of years ago that there’s a rail company that lets you ride an excursion train by day and enjoy the stability, space, and king-sized, back-supportive mattress of a hotel by night was a game changer.
And so this blog entry is coming to you from the comfort of a lovely bed in a lovely hotel in the especially lovely Whistler, British Columbia. We trained here from Vancouver, BC this morning. We arrived around noon and got to spend the rest of the day and night exploring on our own. So far, it is seeming a fantastic way to travel.
We spent most of yesterday walking around Vancouver after we got situated in our hotel. We had some messy but tasty crepes at a sidewalk café for lunch, and killed some time in a fancypants department store while their jewelry desk replaced my watch battery (yes, I still wear a watch…especially when travelling outside my cellphone’s normal coverage area. I’ve learned the hard way that cell phones aren’t always reliable international clocks.).
We happened upon a very chatty and knowledgeable Lookout Tower employee who offered to give us a historical tour as we veeeeery slowly made our way around the observation platform 553 feet above Vancouver. What was advertised as a 20-minute tour turned into more like an hour. But it was truly one of the best tours I’ve had of Vancouver, BC in my five visits there.
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| Bright sun backlighting makes selfies pretty tricky Nevertheless, that's Vancouver BC behind us |
After dinner, we plopped in our hotel room and actually opened the window to the noisy city street below us because in amongst the car horns and bus engines and police sirens was the most lovely serenade by a street performer.
He was a violinist with an amplifier and a dog. He stood on the corner in front of Tiffany’s jewelry store and played the violin with enough expertise, I started to suspect he actually plays for the Vancouver Symphony and just practices on street corners for kicks and extra cash. His set was over promptly at 9:00pm, unfortunately well before I had hope he and his wafting violin would help lull me to sleep.
Our train tour started this morning at the godawful hour of 6:05am. That’s when we needed to have our luggage available to be picked up. We are not morning people; we were hoping the early start would be worth it. So far, thankfully, YES!
After dodging lots of closed roads and Vancouver police getting overtime pay and keeping our eyes peeled for Ryan Reynolds as the filming of a movie called “Dead Pool 2” was being filmed on the street outside our hotel, we finally got settled into Seats 37 and 38 on the Rocky Mountaineer train. WHOO HOO, CHOO CHOO!
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| We're awake...sort of. |
Although we’ve only spent about 4 hours on the train so far, it seems like a splendid way to travel aside from the early morning departures.
The seats are super comfy with almost as many buttons to play with as a pedicure massage chair. Except unlike a pedicure chair, the Mountaineer chair does not make my teeth rattle and make me fear my titanium spine might vibrate loose. THIS chair has adjustable lumbar support and three levels of heat and a motorized footrest. For the first time in 15+ years of lugging around my trusty and bulky lumbar travel pillow, I don’t need it. OMG!
Ooops, sorry. Chairs are quite central to one’s life when one has chronic back pain. Perhaps not everyone finds the Rocky Mountaineer Goldleaf Chair quite as monumental as I do. I’ll move on. But did I mention…O M G, heated lumbar!!!
We enjoyed a very scenic morning slowly chugging through mountains and a river gorge, past a fjord and a small mining village. The skies were clear, the sun was bright, the cameras were ever-present.
We were served mouthwatering cinnamon scones, a hearty breakfast of quiche and bacon and sausage and pancakes, and as much beverage of any sort that we desired. Can’t say I remember the last time I sipped on Chardonnay at 11am but hey, Someday is Now!
We arrived at our first station stop at about noon. I didn’t really know what to expect from Whistler, BC other than knowing it is a ski resort and was the site of the 2010 Winter Olympics for all things mountain snow sport.
What I know now is that Whistler is remarkably beautiful and even though the Olympics are long gone, there is a youthful, athletic, energetic vibe here. The vibe makes it very easy to imagine what it must have felt like when the town and the Olympic Village were bursting with competitive skiers and lugers and tobogganers.
Whistler was built for pedestrians. There are signs and walking paths and street lights and orienting maps all over the place. The buildings still feel new and are filled with shops and restaurants and specialty stores catering to bicyclists and skateboarders and hikers and skiers.
Walking around, the place felt like Disneyland without the rides. Or, rather, the rides were all up on the mountain. Even in the summer, without snow, Whistler offers mountain biking and dirt biking and white water rafting and hiking and lake swimming.
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| I swear I expected to see someone wearing Mouse ears |
So naturally, Rob and I walked a lot, watched other people be all athletic and sportsy, and hoped to play miniature golf but got to the course too late. Boo!
We spent a good chunk of the day riding ski lifts and gondolas up to the top of Whistler Mountain, praising my coordination and strong knee to actually get on and off the lifts without requiring apologies or emergency stops.
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| Ski lift selfie!! I was pretty pleased with how well this turned out considering I have zero experience taking photos while on ski lifts |
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| The gondola is called Peak2Peak. It goes between the two main mountain peak ski area in Whistler and is the longest unsupported lift span in the world at almost 2 miles. I chose not to dwell on this fun fact while on it. |
We had lunch at the top of a ski run. The altitude made us both a little dizzy but we nevertheless essentially finished our heap of poutine (a Canadian snack we discovered in Montreal several years ago that, when done well, is sooo worth the clogged arteries: French fries smothered in gravy and cheese curds. OMG. Hey, don’t judge me…Someday is Now!). We purposely left one fry uneaten just so we could claim we couldn’t finish the “snack.”
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| I forgot to mention the beef barbacoa we opted to add on top. Please note the zero calorie beverage I chose to pair with this vacation delicacy. |
4.5 miles later, sweaty and slightly sunburned from exploring all of Whistler that our feet would allow, we have called it a night and are preparing for quite a long day on the train tomorrow.
We are to be down in the lobby at 6:45am (we get to sleep in!) and are heading for a town called Quesnel. I keep thinking it’s Quiznos, and then I heard a local called it Quin-nell, so I have no idea how to pronounce it, nor what to expect when we get there. Our itinerary suggests it's mostly just a place to spend the night. Which is just fine with me. WHOO HOO CHOO CHOO with HOTELS!
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| REALLY hard to capture the beauty in a point-n-shoot photo |
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