Next Stop Victoria

Leaving Jasper, I felt this sadness. Not only to be leaving the new friend I had made, but leaving my beautiful luxury hotel room , and the beauty of the landscape. I was sad knowing I would be forced upon a train for about 14 hours, and not have the freedom to climb up the side of a mountain anytime I chose to.

I took one of the few seats left available, settled myself and began to write.

I wrote a little… but wasn't quite in the mood. I put my laptop away, and headed up to the dome car to say goodbye to the mountains as we drove out of them.

As we were passing through such beauty, and it was such a clear day out, the dome car was packed. I grabbed the only empty two-seater and like everyone else, pressed my nose against the window. 

We passed through the mass mountains encompassing us on either side like giant fortresses. 

Lots of people say that Mount. Robson is a sight to be seen. I wasn't quite sure I would understand that. how could it be any different from the mass structures I was already staring in awe at. When I saw it, I knew! It was larger than all the others, and we practically drove right beneath it. The dome car has glass ceilings, and as I peered directly up, I felt as though I was at the base of the CN tower. The mountain is so high, that it usually creates it's own weather, and is only visible between 9 - 14 days a year. I was lucky, it was one of those remarkable days.

I stayed in the dome car for a couple hours as we slowly headed out of the mountains. There was a polite Spanish exchange student in the dome car running from side to side, with his fancy camera taking pictures of the beauty. When the car was full he asked if he could sit next to me and we started chatting. We chatted for about an hour or so, while some very misbehaved children ran around the car screaming and playing. 

His name is William, and he grew up in Spain. He decided to fly to Toronto and take the train to Vancouver, where he would be going to school to study English. He eventually went to have dinner, and I stayed in the dome car for a while.

I had dinner a little later in the dinning car. I sat across from these very friendly looking people, and as I talked to them more and more, I felt like they were the parents I never had. They owned a huge house and property where their children came to visit them a lot. They were brother and sister and lived together to take care of each other. They seemed quite informative, and told me lots to do to keep busy in Victoria (which happened to be where they were headed). We chatted a lot about Ontario, and Victoria. I told them I keep my eyes out for them on the ferry, and I did.

After dinner I got back to writing. I was at in for about an hour or so when William appeared. He just happened to be occupying the seat in front of mine. He sat with me and showed me his pictures of his trip so far. He had over two-thousand pictures. We chatted a bit and headed back to the dome car. We ended up hanging out there for a couple hours and what William referred to it as, painting.

Essentially, he was setting his camera's shutter speed to be extremely slow. So the camera would be more light sensitive. We started playing with lights and what-not… here's the best of what we came up with.

After painting I met some of the other people William had been hanging out with on the train. There was a wicked lady, a trucker, with an awesome personality. She was snappy, and witty, liked to drink, smoke and have a good time. She was in her late 30s, and travelling across Canada to pick up a truck and drive it back. 

There was Hugh, a 19-year-old Montreal born frenchman. He had a "Gangster" (his words , not mine) attitude, attire, and demeanour. His english wasn't very good, and he didn't try as hard as William to understand. He had decided to walk across Canada. He was starting in Vancouver, and walking back to Montreal. Seemed like a crazy trip, but even for his age, I could tell he was mentally prepared for it.

There were Jeff and Will, brothers travelling with their mom for a vacation and to visit some family. They were mildly attractive, and maybe a year older than me.

We all stepped off the train in Kamloops so they could have a couple smokes. 

Once the train started up again we all headed to the luxury class's dome car.  We all drank a lot, chatted and laughed as the train twisted and turned through countless tunnels. Hugh's was playing some old classic dance hits, and at one point Jeff, Will and myself were dancing to daft punk's around the world in the aisle of the dome car. It's not as easy as you think it might be as the train speeds along.

The brother's popped some mushrooms, and we kept joking about riding on a snake. Which I understood by looking out towards the front of the train, and seeing the whole thing wrapping around the mountains, and disappearing again into another tunnel.

I got back to my seat around 4. WIlliam was sleeping, and even though I said I would wake him, I didn't.

I slept for a couple hours, and heard the last call for breakfast. If it was last call, then we were pretty close to Vancouver.

Hugh, William and I sat in the dome car together chatting. There was a nervous feeling of uncertainty and excitement in the air. We joked and laughed, as we made our way to pick up our baggage. He saw Jeff and Will and say bye. I waved goodbye to the nice brother and sister I had dinner with the night before.

I said goodbye to Hugh and wished him the best of luck. It seemed pretty crazy what he was doing. However 19 was the prime male age to do so, and I know he will arrive home a different man, from the boy who started out. Or maybe he'll be like Nate, find somewhere he loves, and decide not to leave.

William and I were left. We picked up our luggage and I said goodbye. He gave me his e-mail, and I told him when I came back into Vancouver, I would let him know and we could go take pictures somewhere in the city.

I turned away and headed to my bus. Next stop Victoria.

We'll be coming 'round the mountain

I awoke again the the train stopping... The train going in fine... but the stops are when I wake up. I felt like we stopped a lot last night. If I can get back to sleep when we are stopped, the motion when we continue allows me to keep on sleeping.
Early this morning we arrived in Edmonton. That guy slept through and once again didn't buy his ticket... I wonder what's going to happen with that.
I decided I better go for breakfast... my tummy was crying!
Once I got in the dinning car I met Josie. A middle-aged interior designer who was taking a bit of a break between companies. She looked fresh faced and well-slept. I could tell she had just gotten on the train.
We were joined by Katie, a retired teacher, with very short red hair, drawn-on eyebrows and a no-nonsense Scottish attitude. They had both left their husbands at home, and decided to travel; Katie for the romance of the train trip she had dreamed about for twenty years. Josie for a break from her life and work. The three of us had a chat about compromise in a marriage. We all agreed that a necessary level of compromise was essential for success of a relationship. However, if you compromise far too much than you begin to lose yourself. While compromise is key, one must ascertain themselves and do the things that make them happy and complete as a person.
After leaving the breakfast table, the conversations lesson remained in my thoughts. I wondered where the lines of comprise could be blurred, and if a relationship could really exist under the ideas of comprise even if it wasn't meant to be.
Josie and Katie were preaching the responsibilities of comprise and marriages, important lessons, yes... I couldn't help but notice that Josie was not wearing her wedding ring. Now my question is: how does one preach the responsibilities of comprimise and success of a marriage, but yet do not wear the ring. Not only that, but what exactly was she planning to do on this trip. I do not judge, for everyone needs some excitement in their life. It just struck me as odd. I wanted to ask her about it, but knew it would be inappropriate.
I went back to my seat, and took a brief nap. It being only about 8:00am at this point.

When I awoke, I headed into the dome car. I wanted a good seat and a good view for the entrance of the mountains. It was raining, and pretty overcast outside. Gloomy kind of day, and I did hope that the mountains might be visible. The dome car was much more social than it had been in previous days. There was about six or seven or us in there all sitting alone, but carrying on a conversation about many things. We were all quite different people from different walks of life, and each of us had some different to add to different parts of the conversation. Especially on the idea of legalizing marijuana use.

There was one lady in particularly who was so well versed in the world, and great to talk to. When the dome car began to get busy, I sat with her. She was interesting because she knew so many different things about art, artists, writers, books, authors, travel, nature vs. society.. and the list goes on and on.

The vibe in the dome car was great. Everyone was excited and in a positive chatty mood. As we got closer to the mountains it cleared up, and the rain was gone.

Right after leaving HInton we began to see the mountains in the distance.

As they got closer and closer everyone could not help but gasp and marvel at their beauty. All these glistening peaks, getting closer and closer. 

We pasted by lakes, and the Athabasca River. The river seemed so clean and green. I could also tell that it expanded much further than where it was. As if during the summer, it was over three times the width then what it is at currently.

Everyone was chatting about the region and the mountains. Everyone had their cameras out taking pictures. We travelled in this happy bliss for about an hour or so. Every so often the man the operates the take-out car, Raman, would come up into the car and tell us something educational about what we were seeing, or what was coming up next.

He told us about this one mountain. It's one of the most popular in the region. It's called mount Roage (not sure if that's the right name), but to the locals it's now as Old Man or Pocahontas. Can you see the face? I thought it was neat how the terrain was naturally eroded that way.

I realized all of the sudden that Jasper sits right in the middle of all these mountains. I got so pumped just thinking about being immersed inside of all of these wondrous beauties.

I can not describe to you the feeling when I got off of the train. It was something I can not describe, I can only say that I was completely overwhelmed with the extreme closeness of the mountains, and their size. The air was fresher, people everywhere were smiling and excited. I got my luggage and walked across town to my hotel. I was simply in awe, and could not stop staring at the landscape. For everywhere I looked a beautiful mountain was hovering in the distance, as if smiling and welcoming me.

I dropped off my stuff and went out for lunch. I was starving and craving pizza. Turns out in Jasper, there is only one place where you can get a slice of pizza, and I couldn't find it. I ended up getting a small hawaiian and enjoying it's fresh baked deliciousness. Fresh home-made tomato sauce on a perfectly cooked crust, with the perfect amount of toppings. One of the best pizza's I've had.

I took an hour long walk up and down the side streets to explore. They have two main streets, and a bunch of residential streets. Jasper is an amazingly clean town as I saw NO garbage anywhere at all. I think this is due to it being a National Park, and the people that live there help to preserve it.

I was walking past a retirement home, a noticed a cute man ahead of me. He was shuffling along the sidewalk with a stick in his hand. The stick had a rope tied to it, and the rope was strapped around his wrist (In case he dropped it, he wouldn't have to bend down and pick it up). He said "hello there" and I said hello back. I mentioned the nice weather we were having was (it was about 14 degrees) and I was still in full awe about the mountains. He stared to tell me about how he has such a hard time going outside, but had to come out today because of the weather, and to say hello to the mountains. I liked him, and we exchanged a few more words before continuing on my adventurous walk. It was so quite and peaceful everywhere and the town seemed to have a permanent feeling of bliss hovering above it.

I passed the elementary school and heard some kid whining at his brother that he "didn't want to go home". I thought that if home was away from the landscape, then I completely understood why.

Once I had wandered all through the side streets and through the main part of town twice, I decided to head back to the hotel. I was inspired to write.

I relaxed completely, couldn't help it when the vibe was so present throughout the town.

I watched the sunset from my balcony and the mountains slowly disappear into the night.

Choo Chooo

        Throughout today the dismal winter was transformed into a more recognizable atmosphere. Vast forests of skinny evergreens lead way to breaks of rich lakes, and rivers. I took a moment to watch the sun dance across the lake and remembered that these moments are often passed up and not savoured.

          Earlier today we stopped in Hornepayne. This was the Hornepayne "landmark", an old silo, forgotten and abandoned. This was an hour and a half stop, and practically everyone piled off the train for some fresh air. It was quite snowy, but the sun filled the air with such warmth that I hardly noticed at all. SpongeBob was afraid to get himself wet with snow (Hence being a Sponge), and I had to coax him off the train.
The employees helped the children (passengers) to make snowmen as they cheerly chatted about Canadian climate and culture. 
Everyone looked so happy to be off the train and enjoying the sunshine and fresh air.
My boots, being far from waterproof, stopped me from venturing too far from the train. However I did find this old train station building which was also abandoned. All the windows were either smashed or boarded up with beautiful pictures painted over the windows.  Something about the old bricks and hand-painted frames drew me towards this building, where I felt it contained a certain kind of magic.

          At lunch I sat with a young couple who had a seven month old baby. Cutest little drooling thing he was. The mother had to put the child down (to nap), and I chatted with the father while I enjoyed my lunch. He worked for via rail and was taking the trip with his girlfriend to kill some time in his schedule before the busy tourist season started up. He was typically french (montreal), with only a slight accent, and I could tell he was liking the opportunity to work on his English.

          SpongeBob and myself spent most of the day in the dome car watching Ontario pass by in all it's grand beauty. I started working on a new knitting project (GO ME!!), which made me get motion sickness and hence took a well-deserved nap.

          Since we hit Winter in Sudbury at 5am last night I have not had any phone signal :( I think it should come back once we get back into civilization (probably tomorrow morning when I hit Winnipeg). I was enjoying pulling up my location on my fancy phone and seeing exactly where I was… Now I get to guess.

          I decided to once again visit the dinning car for dinner. I had a delicious cut of AAA Prime Rib and a glass of crappy Pinot Noir. The company was great. One quite nice and friendly retired salesman on his way to Vancouver (Courtney actually) to visit his son. He was full of world-knowledge, let me also say a plethora of knowledge for the rails, especially this trip (this being his 5th or 6th time doing it).

There was a nice mid aged woman who was moving to Edmonton to become a nurse. She was very supportive of my future attitude of career choice. She had told me about the many different careers she had ventured into, looking for the "right path", for herself. 

We also had a  middle-aged gentlemen who worked for companies to help clean up old industrial sites. He lived in Vancouver, and was taking the train home after flying to Toronto.

I felt like they were a little shocked by my age, and idea to take this trip alone, however I do not feel that they looked down at me in any way. I rather enjoyed my chats with them and I left dinner feeling full, satisfied and with a bigger smile on my face.

          The biggest difference I notice between the train and the plane is that it forces you to relax. You must relax completely in order to sleep between the jarring of the cars, and the constant blowing of the horn. I'm a light sleeper, and each and every time someone walks past me in the aisle, I am awaken. Not only that, but you have to wait…. it takes forever to get to where you are going, and it forces you to slow down and relax… it's not like you can go anywhere. The other huge difference is the staff. They are friendly, fun, and have their own personalities. I notice everyone is smiling. You WILL NOT see that on the plane. 

          My coach-mates are fine. Not loud or annoying in anyway. There are a couple young kids, who I think are quite well behaved under the circumstances. We just stopped for a "smoke-break" in Armstrong, where I picked up my first item to carry home. It is an old copper peg used to secure the wooden rails to the tracks. Now I'm in the dome car, ready to watch the night pass by seamlessly and Winnipeg to be my adventure of tomorrow.

          I'm a little sad to be getting off of the train. It feels like this is a comfy little home away from home, full of familiar smiling faces. 
          But first, the sleep!