June 29: Calgary
Overnight in Calgary and then fly home
Calgary
Friday, September 25, 2015
Banff
June 29: Banff & Calgary
Today was the final day of our land extension and it started as we checked out of "the castle" - The Fairmont Banff Springs. The photos we took today on our tour shows the "postcard photo" you find online. You'd never know that the resort actually sits on a street on the one end of town as the photo makes it seem like it's in the middle of the park. Another luxurious stay (the driver today quoted one passenger an overnight price of $400 or more per night!).
Today's tour, following the sensational outing yesterday was a bit of a disappointment as we spent the first half hour picking up guests from other locations, then drove through town where we places were pointed out to us that we could "visit later." Unfortunately this tour had been booked for us as an end tour - we cannot visit any of these spots following the tour! When we finally set out on what had been billed as a 4 1/2 hour tour we had about twenty minutes before our 9 am appointment with the Banff Gondola. As we headed out we crossed the one and only motor vehicle bridge and there, walking down the middle of the Bow River was an Elk! It's more difficult to see him in the photo below (even in the blow-up section) than he was to see live, but he's there!
I had told Kim emphatically that I was fully supportive of her riding the gondola, but I do NOT do those kind of things well. In 2009 we'd been on an Alaskan Cruisetour and we were Alyeska, Alaska and rode a gondola to a restaurant/overlook. I did NOT like or feel comfortable on the ride, but the top lookout - which was just a rail which you could stand at and overlook the scenery was really frightening for me. So I was certain I did NOT want to do this. But this morning as we approached the gondola station I told Kim I was willing to try. I
t was helpful that only four people were in a car and the two with us were our new-found British friends Brian and Jill. And as Kim said, no one would ever know if our eyes were closed! Further, it was only an eight minute ride. Who can't do that I reasoned. Well, the ride up, for about six of the eight was absolutely no problem for me as I watched and gazed around, even shooting some video. But the last two minutes I don't mind saying I was ready to get off. Kim saw very little of the trip up! Once at the "station" that's when I really started to get a panic attack. The walkway to the edge was only about eight feet wide and was divided into two paths for guests exiting the cars and those returning. I hugged the wall. But when we reached the observation platform I was done. Kim was now perfectly at ease and walked out on the boardwalk along the mountaintop for a while; I remained at the back of the platform seated on a step trying to make conversation with a few people who also did not want to walk the mountain top. That was the longest 5-10 minutes I can remember in a long time as the longer I waited for Kim the more "panic" seemed to wash over me. When she returned I could hardly talk to her, but once the car was a minute into the descent I was ok again and "enjoyed" the return to reality! Horray for us however, and as our newly-purchased T-shirts say, "The Banff Gondola - I MADE IT To The Top!"
We left here shortly thereafter and stopped at a waterfall, the Bow River Falls. By now it was about 11:30 and we had two brief (15 min) photo stops. We took a group of about a dozen out to another lake for a boat ride and they were told the bus would come back for them. We did see some Elk grazing by the side of the road and they were good enough to hang around for about ten minutes for pictures.
Then the bus made the rounds of a couple hotels for drop offs and took us to the bus station for a transfer. We had been led to believe we'd have over an hour and a half for lunch in town, but there was only 30 minutes and the tour crew seemed to think that having a "bite of lunch" at the Tim Horton's was good enough for us before driving to Calgary (about two hours plus). The fast food lunch was as good as it got and then four different small groups boarded the bus to Calgary.
We arrived and dropped everyone off, with our group being the last ones. We said our goodbyes to everyone and were particularly happy with two couples we'd spent time with - one a French couple who spoke very little English and we became their "go-to" interpreters. As we walked into the lobby of the hotel we were greeted by a concierge who had folders for each couple pre-arranged with room keys and information and told us not to worry our luggage would be up shortly. Good for them, we were all very pleased. We came down soon after arrival - it was now after 5 pm and we asked about our transfer, our EARLY transfer, to the airport and a dinner recommendation. We will be in the lobby for a cab at 4 am, to open the airport at 5 am. Fortunately, as with my trip to Toronto last fall, the customs procedure will be completed here as we exit Calgary so when we land for our connection in Houston we won't have to worry about missing the connection, etc.
We went to a highly touted restaurant just a block away and had a farewell toast and a delicious meal. Kim had the Butcher Steak with chimichuri (bottom right) with green beans (bottom left). I had the Bison brisket with boar bacon & sour cream (top left) with creamed corn (top right). We enjoyed wine with dinner and topped off the meal with Oreo Gelato-Ice Cream pie with Oreo Crumb shell. A super ending to a great adventure!
Thanks again to the best cruise specialist/travel agent in the world, Nancy Nelson of DreamVacations (877/348-1776 - nnelson@dreamvactions.com) who coordinated our trip to the tiniest detail. A highly recommended resource for your travels!
Banff Tour Highlights
Jasper
June 28: Jasper
The pictures are all you need from today's amazing adventure. After a cinnamon roll with icing as we left the lodge at Jasper it was a visual overload of stunning vistas. Three things sum of the day and serve as an introduction to these samplings of what we saw on our 12 hour tour......
(1) It can hardly be portrayed in these "best of" photos the remarkable mountains covered with glaciers. We have seen amazing glaciers before, but never, EVER one right after the other literally from 8 am this morning until 8 pm this evening when we arrived here in Banff.
(2) WE DID IT! We crossed the Glacier Skywalk outside of Jasper - check out the photos and the video!
(3) The lakes.....oh my - the color in the lakes, especially Lake Peyto was just unbelievable. You may look at the pictures of that lake specifically think "he must have photo-shopped that" - nope. It was just spectacular!
Enjoy the pictures - I can promise you that the highlight video of today (when I'm back in Ft. Lauderdale and can post it) will be SOOOOO much better!
Athabasca Falls
Athabasca Glacier / Ice Fields
Glacier Skywalk
Glacier Skywalk Video
Lake Peyto
Bow Lake
Lake Louise
Banff Springs Fairmont Inn - The View From Our Room
Jasper Video Highlights
Glacier Views
Canadian Rocky Mountain Express
June 26-27: Train Ride to Jasper
After spending all day (12 hours) on an excursion Saturday and then having the great evening with Dave & Heather where we closed down the restaurant, we were more than happy to use our "free day" in Vancouver to relax, repack for the nearly-week long train/bus adventure, and watch some Netflix television ("The Vikings"). We left via taxi for the rail station about 6:15 pm and were checked in by 7 pm....boarded at 7:30 and pulled out before 8 pm. We had a sleeper deluxe cabin for two which was two chairs and a picture window by day and two bunk beds by night. We were very excited to have this adventure of staying overnight on the train!
There was little to see by shipping yards until dusk when I got a nice shot of the sunset behind the mountains framed by a bridge. Sleeping on the "rocking & rolling" train was an interesting experience and while we wouldn't say we had a great night's sleep, it was fine. And we were very happy to have finally had this experience - and would recommend it - but we won't do it again :) As dawn broke we found ourselves in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Breakfast was provided on the train and after eating in the dining car we spent the majority of the morning in the domed glass-topped car viewing the scenery. But to be honest the real good sights didn't start until about 10 am. Around that time most of the good photos were to the right side of the train, which was the direction of our personal cabin's picture window so we moved downstairs.
When we were in the domed car our guide/bartender told everyone that at about 11:30 we'd be passing Pyramid Falls and this is only viewable by rail or air. Luckily it was on our side of the train and we got a great video and photo of it!
Now we were in the heart of the mountains and from this point until shortly before we arrived in Jasper our trip was VERY similar to the first day in Alaska where it was continual "ooooh" and "ahhhh" vistas.
Our lunch was the "second seating" and as we approached the dining car we were invited to join one of the couples on the tour who are from Great Britian who we'd talked with a few times. We enjoyed lunch, during which we got to see Mount Robson - the highest peak in all of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. We were told it's summit reaches nearly 13,000 feet and that that you can only see the entire peak about a dozen times a year!
We arrived in Jasper about 4 pm, picked up our luggage and we were combined with another tour group (without a representative of our tour to guide us!) and headed to the Jasper Park Lodge. What a view off our balcony!
Video Highlights From VIA Canadian Train Trip
Victoria/Vancouver Island
June 25: Victoria & Vancouver Island
What a great day! After arriving here yesterday morning and touring the city, we closed out the first day by watching the first two episodes of Big Brother 18 - our favorite reality TV show - and were out like a light by 10:30 pm. But we had to set the alarms this morning as we needed to meet our guide in the lobby by 8:30 am. We set out to the ferry which would take us to Vancouver Island and Victoria.
The trip to the ferry was 45 minutes and the ride over on the boat, with all the cars and tourist buses was a unique experience! The weather was overcast and with the wind from the boat on the water it was very cold when Kim and I posed for a photo op on the observation deck.
We went through "the passages" between the islands on the way and were looking for whales and we think we saw a couple just off the side of the boat for just an instant. We arrived on land after a 90 minute trip to find, lo and behold SUNSHINE and a goregous day. We have been told over and over that this kind of weather is NOT typical of the Pacific Northwest, but we continue to be blessed by the wonderful cool summer weather. The drive to the city of Victoria was about 40 minutes and then we had two hours to explore the city, especially the waterfront. We headed down to the pier and had a fish & chips lunch while looking out on the bay which is officially an "international airport" because of all the float planes which fly in, including from Seattle, thus making it an "international" destination!
The view at lunch
We walked around the city and went into the Empress Hotel, photographed the legislature building and had some of the very delicious home-made ice cream which comes from dairy cattle right here on the island. Our driver arrived and we drove out to Burchart Gardens.
This was to be one of the highlights of the day's excursion. The flowers were amazing. The BEST story of the day's trip was this.....the gardens were started by a couple who loved to travel. They lived on the property here in a private home which was adjacent to a cement factory which provided their income. Everywhere they traveled all over the world they would bring back seeds from the flowers they'd seen. Their garden grew and grew and became a popular spot for locals and then tourists to stop by, knock on the front door, and go out back to see the garden. Finally they decided to expand begin to charge to see their ever-expanding garden. But to do so, the wife had the brilliant idea to tear down the cement factory and make a "sunken garden" in the "hole" left in the ground from where the plant had been. This truly is the most beautiful part of the gardens.
EVERY where you look there are beautiful plants and flowers and I'm sure if you were a floral fan you could spend hours looking at the different varieties of flowers. We were here a little over two hours before heading back to the bus to travel back to the ferry where we had a 6 pm reservation to cross back to the mainland. We arrived back at the hotel about 8:30 pm - a long day, but the BEST was yet to come. Fifteen years ago I'd gone to a class reunion - I'd tell you which one, but you wouldn't believe me if I told you which one it was, so let's just leave the numbers out of it! Anyway, while there (outside of Columbus, Ohio) I ran into one of my buddies/football teammates from high school (by the way, our team when 25-2-0 in three seasons and were three-time conference champions AND ranked #3 in the state of Ohio in our undefeated senior season!). We chatted and I discovered he'd moved to the Pacific Northwest. We became Facebook friends and we share a love for travel, especially to Europe. So as this trip approached we made tentative plans to get together. David and his wife Heather drove nearly two hours to meet us at our hotel - then picked up the entire tab for dinner.
The four of us had THE BEST time! Kim and I made David and Heather promise to come to South Florida so we could take them out on the town and show them the best of our area....but we encouraged them to come during the winter, NOT now where the weather is in the 90s with outrageous humidity. It was nearly midnight when we exchanged hugs and goodbyes in the hotel lobby to cap off one of the best days of the trip!
Vancouver Island/Victoria Video Highlights
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