Day Eight! Bye, Bye Victoria...

So sad to see you go.  Well, this is our last day here and we are off to Cordova Bay for Tea!  We had looked into the Fairmont Empress and well...no way, $60/person is a little out of our price range.  We had been planning to go to Buchart Gardens today, but they were calling for rain.  So off we went.  Cordova Bay is lovely and the place Dave and Christie took us to was great!  Adrienne's Tea Room was a busy place and while we waited for our table we went shopping.  I got some really nice things for some of my friends at home and a new wallet for me!  :)  Mom also got some nice things and then we had tea.  OMG...it was wonderful!  Two people got full on tea, sandwiches, fruit, scones and desserts for $32.99!  Great deal!  And so yummy!  I hope Dave and Christie go back there, it was great!  So then we drove downtown and I got a couple more gifts and we went to the bus station.  Saying goodbye was hard, but we were invited back, so that is a good thing!  LOL  And Mom and I were off to the ferry terminal.  We got on and knowing what to expect is a good thing.  LOL  We got upstairs and found seats.  The ferry was really busy!  I sat next to a really nice girl and started chatting.  She was going to Seattle for the weekend, sounded like a fun time.  :)  We docked and the bus drove us into downtown and we got to our hotel.  Got settled and ordered pizza, it was yummy!  I updated the blog and we went to bed fairly early.  Only one more night after this!  :(  

Rain and more shopping!

Day Seven-More rain, reading and shopping

So I got up made some calls and paid bills.  I know!  Exciting right?  Then we went off to Canadian Tire, had lunch at Original Joe’s and got some groceries.  Dave took us to a place called the lagoon, it is freshwater on one side and sea water on the other.  It is lovely and he says that Christie loves to go there a lot.  I could see why, even with all the fog it was peaceful there and the view  was amazing! 

We went back to their place and made dinner, steak, salad and roasted veggies.  MMmmm...we have plans to go to Buchart Gardens tomorrow but it is supposed to rain all day so we made alternative plans to maybe go for tea and souvenir shopping before we take the bus over to Vancouver.  It is Christie’s Birthday this weekend and they are going camping.  J   So tonight we plan to pack and get ready. 

It has been wonderful to see David and Christie again.  We have missed them.  I totally get why they love it here though.  It is wonderful and a tempting thought to pack up your life and try something new. 

Mmmm...shopping!

Day Six, Rain, laundry and shopping

We got up and gathered our laundry.  Came down and got it started, had coffee and got it done.  We got dressed and headed out to do some clothes shopping.  Got some new stuff and then we went to Wal-Mart.  The wal-mart is HUGE!  Two stories and wow!  The stuff!!!!  We got some duct tape for my poor suitcase and some dinner and headed back as Dave had baseball tonight.  We hung out and watched TV.  I went up early and had a quiet time reading and hanging out with Drama.  She is very funny.  Off to sleep, Good night!  

Off we Go Again! :)

Day Five, and off we go again! 

Bus Terminal, there was a crowd getting on and off, so we manoeuvred our way to the inside of the bus station and texted David as he had passed us sill on the bus.  LOL He came in and we had a big hug!  It was so great to see him!  He said we would pick up Christie and we could go for an early dinner.  Sounded good to me.    We did and then went for a driving tour.  We got off to look at the harbour seals and they were so cute!  Then we drove along the coast and went to different sites.  It is a lovely coastline and absolutely breathtaking.  The houses here are so cute and in the areas we went there were a lot of mansions.  You don’t have to be rich to live here, but I am sure it would help.  A lot! Dave and Christie took us to the base and showed us around. It seems a big place and pretty nice.  He showed us where his ship is and then we went to their place.  At Dave and Christie’s we got all our stuff in and met the kitty’s.  Drama and Daisy are adorable and Drama, well she suits her name.  She is very chatty.  We stayed up a bit but soon went to bed.  All this travelling is hard, well that and the time changes.  We got up and got ready to head to the bus to go to Dave and Christie’s on the Island.  We got there, got our tickets and some McD’s.  Got on the bus and headed to the ferry terminals!  The buses gets on the ferry and you get to get off and go upstairs to watch the scenery.  It was a pleasant crossing and not rough at all.  We got back on the bus and headed into Victoria. 

Vancouver, on stable ground! LOL

Day Four, Vancouver!!!! 

Got up, I slept so well I missed Kamloops and any stops we made last night.  Oh well, I am not too upset.  We are getting close to the coast and the river is very wide.  It even has ships on it!  Cool!  Got my stuff mostly packed and we went to breakfast.  Our last one, till we return of course.  We then headed back to finish up and watch our arrival into Vancouver.  We were stopped and I noticed some lovely wild roses at the side of the tracks.  So of course I took pictures!  LOL Pretty soon we were crossing a bridge into Vancouver and at the station!  We got off and had to wait for our checked bags.  Mom started back towards me with our bags and OMG!  My suitcase did not look well!  Ack!  It was wrecked!!!!  We took it over to the via rail counter where the manager took pictures and filled out a claim form to have it replaced.  He thinks the baggage handlers let it slip off the cart and ran over it.  NOT COOL!  They will have a new case for me on Sunday when we start homeward.    After we got that settled we got a taxi and headed to our hotel.  We got into our room and crashed.  All the travelling, excitement and stress caught us and we just died.  We had showers, dinner and got into bed really early.  It was so great to sleep in a real bed and not move.  LOL And that is not to say our beds on the train were not comfy cause they were.  

Comin Round the Mountain!

Day Three, She’ll be coming round the mountain...

So the sheep slept in my shower bag again.  They seem to like it up there, who am I to argue?  When I wake up today we are nearing Edmonton.  It is really early.  I have been waking early on the train and going to bed early.  So we pull into Edmonton and some people get out for a walk.  I am just getting dressed! So I take some pics of the train station and the planes taking off right next to it.  It is kind of out in the middle of nowhere.   LOL So I get ready to go for Breakfast and plan on staying in the activity car to watch for Mountains.  I know we will be getting to them soon.   Mom and I head up after we depart for Jasper.   We had yummy breakfast and then went to the skyline car.  We sat and chatted for a bit. The scenery started to change and I could tell we were getting closer. 

The first sight of the Mountains is always awe inspiring.  I don’t care who you are, it just is.  It was the same for me this time as it was the last time.  They are amazing!  I managed to get some really nice pictures though.  Everyone on the train was super excited!  J  We were taking pictures and looking this way and the other way. It was awesome and a lot of fun. 

Pretty soon we were deeper in the mountains and we saw a moose, mountain goats, hawks, elk and lots of other birds.  No pictures of these...LOL It happens to fast!  LOL And the stupid trees getting in the way!  Sheesh...my mountain pics are important, get out of the way!  Or bend!  Teehee...

Pretty soon they announced we would be in Jasper.  Mom headed back to our cabins as she had an errand to run right away.  I hung back and left from the next car.  Got into the station and got off and went to the bathroom in a non-moving toilet!  Woot!  Then went over to the shop in the station and got some postcards to send.  We were only supposed to be there for 45 minutes. So I got them and went outside to enjoy the sun and write.  Mom, just got back with timmies iced coffee and they announced we would be staying for longer.  They had to take off 2 train cars.  So we hung out and got some sun, it was hot!  Drank our coffees and socialized.  Finally we were allowed to get back on and off we went heading towards British Columbia.  Back on board we saw more of nature’s beauty.  Pyramid Falls and we saw a brown bear!  Sweet!  He was at the side of the tracks and did not look too happy to see us there.  Pretty soon dinner was called and off we went.  In case I haven’t mentioned it enough the food is amazing!  J  After dinner I hung out with Stu for a bit and we chatted about his plans once we reached Vancouver.  We also talked about how Mom and I came to be on this trip and our plans too.  We headed back and I got ready for bed.  One more night and then we would be off to a new adventure!  

Winnipeg!!!

Day Two Winnipeg!! 

So this morning we woke up still on the Canadian Shield.  LOL In an hour or so we will be in Winnipeg.  Mom and I decided to have breakfast there instead of on the train.  After de-training we went over to the Force Market.  There were some really nice stores in there.  We ate at the pancake house.  Yum!  We bought postcards and stamps and wrote them out to send from the train station.  I bought some drinks and we both bought these lovely paintings!  

The artist is Lesia Anna.  We met her and she was super nice.  She told me I was beautiful and reminded her of her sister.  I bought one painting and a framed saying.  It was fairly inexpensive and well worth the money!  We left the market and ambled back to the rain station, mailed our cards and sat down to wait to re-board.  We smiled and chatted with all our train friends.  And saw a few new people getting ready to get on and join us.  They called re-boarding and we did and off we went!  J  

Into the prairies...dun dada dun!  Can you say mostly flat?  Yeah, everything you heard...true!  Lots of flat ground and growing wheat crops and other crops too, lots of little lakes and ponds, ducks!  The ducks are smaller here!  So cute!  Lots of birds along the tracks, Red-Winged Blackbirds are predominant.    After dinner I decided to be brave.  LOL I had a shower on the train.  Let me explain something.  We had lost a lot of time because of freight trains.  They take predominance in certain areas and we had to stop and let them pass.  This takes time.  So the train engineer was making up for lost time and travelling fairly quickly this evening.  So...you are in a fast moving train, in a small cubicle getting jostled around, a lot.  I didn’t even use the conditioner, the shampoo got in my eyes and it was soooo not a lot of fun, but very funny all the same.  So I got out of there and wouldn’t you know it as soon as I got back to my cabin the damn train stopped.  What the hell?  So not fair...LMAO 

I went to bed and called it a day...LOL

Tomorrow we will be in Alberta!  Edmonton is early am, then onto Jasper early afternoon.