Train ride from Edmonton to Vancouver

Hello everyone,
Ohhhhh Canada. With every city I walk in, the more I fall IN love with this amazing country. In one of the cities I was watching the news and there was a man from Afghanistan on it and he and wife just had a baby girl. He said that he was so excited not necessarily because he just had a daughter (that was a big part of it)but also because "she was born free." I had never or thought of it that way before. Born free. Canadian. A little girl. Free because she was born in Canada and not in Afghanistan. In many other countries of the world I would not be allowed to do these walks. In many countries of the world many women have to walk a lot more than 420 kms in three months. I will try to remember this next time I am complaining about politicians and taxes in this country (because with a election coming up I know that it will happen!) and think...at least I can complain about taxes and politicians because I am Canadian. I was born free.
So, after our walk in Edmonton (if any of you were like me and thought Edmonton is flat...it is not!) we got up Monday morning and got on the "Canadian" Via Rail train to Vancouver. I was really looking forward to this because I had heard nothing but good things about this trip. We leave Edmonton, stop in Jasper and then head through the Canadian Rockies and wake up in Vancouver on Tuesday morning. Another reason I was looking forward to it was because I could just sit in the observation car and take in all the scenery with my feet up! We board the train and go to our "double sleeper SUITE". Let me just say that I would not exactly call this a "suite". When we first walked into the suite, there were two chairs about the size of Muskoka chairs and that was it. Not because they did not have enough furniture to fill the room...because that is all that could fit in with our OVERNIGHT bags! Thankfully Pat had done this trip last year with her Mom (Throw Momma from the Train...part deux) and we checked our large luggage earlier. We sat down in our chairs and looked at the sink and mirror opposite to us. I had to go the bathroom which is in our room separate to the sink. So I got up from my chair, stepped over Pat's feet, BUTTERED UP MY HIPS and squeezed myself into our "double sleeper suite bathroom". It is such a good thing that we got this because when I sat down in the bathroom my LONG LEGS almost hit the opposite wall and my thighs were almost touching both sides. So after Pat was done laughing at me we went upstairs to the observation car and watched the scenery as we left Edmonton.
The train was built in 1954 and cost 3.5m to build. It could get up to speeds of 120 km an hour and had 19 coaches that made it 1842 feet long. It weighed 1360 tonnes and had 247 passengers with a crew of 29. I must admit it I did feel like I was in a movie from the 50's but it was a lot of fun. It was sometime after lunch and after we stopped in Jasper that was "the moment". We were up in the observation car and we were just about the only Canadians on it. Most of the other passengers were American, English or German. There was quiet chatter in the car and then we came around a corner and everyone stopped talking...literally....the scenery took our breath away. You could actually hear everyone catch their breath at the same time. The car was absolutely quiet as everyone just took it in with just the sound of the train. It was a moment I will never forget. For about 45 mins we all sat there in silence just looking all around us.
It made me then think of my great idea...Travel Canada. It is so expensive to travel in our own country that few of us do it. Myself included. We can go to Europe or the States much cheaper than it is for us to travel in our own country so we don't do it. At the same time though...I think just about every Canadian would agree that we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. We just don't see much of it. So...Travel Canada. Tour agencies would put together a package that would allow us to see the country at reasonable rates! This would be supported and promoted by our government, local, provincial and federal. Keep our tour dollars in Canada and support our local economies. So, I will still go down south but I will now try to spend at least one week a year travelling Canada. I have been just about every province with the exception of Newfoundland and New Brunswick and I want to go to the Territories. These walks have taught me a lot about our country and it has also shown me that I want to see more.
We went back to our "suite" to get ready for dinner and they had now made our beds for us. Our chairs were now gone...not sure where they went...but our bunk beds were ready and waiting for us. I had the bottom bunk, so I sat down on the bed and stretch out my tired legs. Did I mention how long my legs are? So when I sat on the bed and stretch my legs I could not touch the sink across from me...but when I flexed my foot...I COULD! I am not kidding either when I say this. I could sit on my bed and with my leg up, foot flexed actually touch the other wall of our "double sleeper suite"!! I guess I should not complain though because we were talking to one women from England who had to lift up her bed up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom in her room. We were "swimming in space". It was all part of the charm of train travel. So I was told.
We had a very nice dinner on the train...the food was very good...and met a great couple from England. We had a couple of glasses of wine with them and then brought a glass up to the observation car. I have failed to mention also that Pat and I were also the youngest people on this part of the train by about 20 years! So when we brought our glasses up to the car we got a few looks from the older group on the train and got some good nature kidding about it. Well, let me just say that I think we were what they were looking for. This quiet refined car became "Animal House" with seniors after dinner now. They were now calling for a steward to come up and serve them some scotch and Drambuie and one fellow came up with his own bottle of CC. I think being on the train for a couple of days, they needed some young "blood" to loosen things up for them. So we all enjoyed the scenery now on the "Party Caboose" and told jokes about how there is actually no wildlife in Canada. They are actually Via employees dressed in bear suits on the side of the rails just for the tourists. By the end of the night I think some of them were believing it or seeing bears that were not there. The only wild life was on the train that night.
After the seniors went to bed Pat and I stayed up and talked with a Mom and her 14 year old son for some time. They were from Montreal and they were having some "bonding time". You could tell that they had a great relationship (when he wasn't playing with his game boy) and we had a great time with them. They were very interested in our walks and why we were doing this. So as the sun was setting around 10:15 we retired to our rooms. I laid in bed and watched the country side go by and tried to remember a day that I enjoyed travelling more than that. I couldn't come up with one. Canada. Born free. Proud Canadian.
With love and thanks,
M.J.