FUN!

 

Our train trip to Jasper was pretty much the way I envisioned it.... I took the early ferry off Salt Spring and was waiting for Esther at the Schwartz Bay terminal as the sun came up...

We were on the 9 a.m. ferry to Vancouver. The train doesn't pull out of Vancouver until early evening, but we were both excited to get going, and just decided that we'd rather hang out there than wait it out at home. The Vancouver station is a heritage building, and it was a lovely sunny day, so we checked our baggage, walked around a bit, picnicked on the lawn... and waited for the 'All Aboard!' call.

That first evening, we just had time to get settled on the train. It was already dark, so there wasn't much to see anyway!

We woke up on Wednesday morning in the 'foothills,' and we could see the Rockies in the distance ... it was lovely! Lots of evergreens but some fall colors, too.

Our first glimpse of Mt. Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies ... the peak is cloud-covered except for 10-15 days a year!

At 4 pm on Wednesday we rolled in to Jasper ... it was cool but sunny, and there was no snow, except 'way up on the mountains. Ate some dinner at a nearby restaurant, and fell into our beds in our cabin!

Apparently neither of us got a picture of the lodge where we stayed, so I've borrowed this one from their website:

Thursday, after a buffet brunch, we walked into 'town' to visit the yarn store. It was similar to the one here on Salt Spring ... a combination of quilting, other needlework, beads and yarns. The owner wasn't in but the gal working there found a couple of nice chairs so we could sit and knit and visit -- I never thought to take any pics! I was able to sell them ten sets of my stitch markers, which was, coincidentally, the exact amount I needed to bring home a gorgeous skein of superwash merino in variegated greens produced by an Edmonton indie dyer called DandelionKnits . Esther succumbed to her charms, too, and bought a skein in purples.

Jasper is lovely ... unlike Banff, which has become a huge, commercialized centre, Jasper has retained its small-town charm. Here's the visitor information centre and a few shots around town:

 

There were a few stone houses. This was the prettiest one we walked by -- and even the shed in the back yard was stone: 

When you look up .... 'waaaaaaaaaaaay up.... here's a sight! It's a restaurant at the top of a tram ride, apparently. Not that I was going any closer to see it!

Here's what the view of Jasper is like from up there, apparently ...

(... pic borrowed from a Jasper tourism site...)

The time went by really quickly, and soon it was Friday mid-day and time to start the journey home ... here's some of the scenery from the train:

I saved my personal favorite for last. With the lens of the camera flush with the window of a very fast-moving train, I give you ...

... my Jasper Monet! :-)

We arrived back in Vancouver on Saturday morning ... exhausted but happy. I'm already planning my trip for next year! Yes, some knitting got done ... more about that tomorrow.

Esther has more pictures on her blog here, too.