Soaking Up Some Sights in Vancouver

The weather was cool and clear on Wednesday so we headed outside to look around the city.

This is what our hotel looks like.  Notice the small balconies on the near corner.  Bill found them to be rather scary with just a small railing for comfort support.  However, Karen pointed out that they were great to walk out on in the morning to feel what the weather was like.

We walked in Stanley Park where we thought it was an outstanding idea of have separate lanes for pedestrians and bike traffic.

We started out on this tour that you see above to get our bearings.

We want to compliment the horses for a job well done.  We were told that the draft horses came from an Amish farm in Iowa, and the younger horse was bothered whenever he got close to the ocean as it seemed to baffle him.

We saw this "Girl In A Wet Suit" in the harbor.  She was modeled after the mermaid in the Copenhagen Harbor in Europe.

Of course out here we saw totem poles.

Stanley park had beautiful flowers in many locations.  We were told the park is the third biggest municipal park in North America.

After lunch we visited the Vancouver Aquarium that had stunning displays to sea creatures like these Jellyfish above.  They looked like floating fungus.

These two giant sea lions reminded us of Sumo Wrestlers as they tried to push each other off the platforms.

The displays were bright and probably the best we have ever seen.

We believe we made the best of one of our extra days in Vancouver.  It is a great city to visit.

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We End up in Trump Tower (well almost)

So much for a smooth well-planned vacation!

When we got to the Vancouver train station last evening we were only six hours too late.  The train scheduled had changed two months ago after we booked the trip and nobody bothered to let AAA or us know.  So we are still here instead of on the tracks to Edmonton this morning.  

But now for the good news.  We had the option of flying to Edmonton to catch up to our train but we chose to see the Rockies from the train instead.  Via  Rail put us in a taxi and booked us into a rather swank two-bedroom suite 25 floors up in a downtown hotel.  It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, three televisions, a dinette and a living-dining area.  We are getting two extra days to explore Vancouver before we catch the next train on Friday.

Oh yes - and we even have an outdoor balcony, but who wants to look down from this high up?

Here is the dinette. 

This is the living room and dining area.

Here is the main bedroom.  

It felt like our Puffy bed at home and so much better than the train beds.

The extra bedroom.  The suite is made for a family.

Here is the view from our widow.  We are going to make the best of our extra two days in Vancouver.

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Sightseeing In Vancouver, British Columbia

We arrived in Vancouver late Sunday evening and took a taxi to the downtown Hampton Inn.

Then Monday morning we jumped on a ....

....hop-on, hop-off tourist bus like you see above.

The weather was cool and clear: great for sightseeing.

Here is the World's only steam powered clock that blows its steam whistle every quarter hour.

We went up into the Vancouver Lookout which is a tall building with a glass viewing dome at the top.  The port was busy with shipping containers.

The Lookout was a great place to view the city and ocean.  Note the tall building in the middle of this picture.  Notice anything unusual?

How about the tall trees growing at the top?  Rather unusual we thought!  The roots only have to go down about about sixty stories to hit real dirt.

The city has hundreds of pleasure craft.

We found this floating gas station to be rather unique and a good way to avoid congestion.

This carriage ride in one of the big city parks reminded us of Mackinaw Island.

These huge drive-through storage tanks at a concrete business were different.

We enjoyed a good pizza lunch.

and

We found Vancouver to be the most environmentally friendly city we have ever visited.  You see trash containers like this everywhere to encourage recycling.

Tuesday evening we board the "Canadian" Train on the Via Rail system for Toronto. 

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We Make It to Portland, Oregon with Interesting Passengers

 

On Sunday morning we awoke in the middle of Washington state and followed the Columbia River for a stretch before arriving at the Portland Union Station. (above)

Just like in Chicago as "sleeper car" passengers we are allowed to enter the Metropolitan Lounge to wait for our next train.

These lounges are very comfortable with complementary hot beverages and bottles of water.  Union Station in Chicago even had complementary snacks set out.

On the train going west we were surprised to be traveling with quite a few Amish families who were going mostly to Montana.  Here are a few who are getting off to play at one of the stops.

We have found them to be very pleasant to be around and to talk to.  Many got off at White Fish Montana where a young man told us he had started a sawmill and his family was coming back from an Indiana wedding.

In Portland we found many bicycles and electric scooters to rent - but we did not take the plunge.

This is our next train, The Cascades, bound for Vancouver, B.C.

The Empire Builder was an excellent traveling experience.

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To Bed at the Mississippi River - Breakfast in North Dakota

Our sleeping birth on the Empire Builder is tight but manageable.  Almost the entire train is two stories.  Most passenger accommodations are above.  Only about a quarter of the travelers have sleeping quarters,

The most popular car for daily travel  and sightseeing is the dome car that you see below:

This car is also the tallest on the train and thus - sways the most on occasional rough tracks.  We saw an elderly lady fall down up here.  That brought a small group of emergency techs to pick her up and dust her off.   We learned that it is best to take train trips before one gets too old!

Here is an Amtrak map that we saw at Union Station in Chicago.  The red line at the top of the map shows our route from Chicago.  At Spokane Washington the train splits in two with half going to Portland and half going to Seattle. We are going to Portland.

North Dakota and Eastern Montana showed us plenty of sights like this of the open plains and grain fields.  We did see occasional cattle and a small herd of Antelope as well.

 By nightfall we were approaching the Rocky Mountains so the landscapes changed dramatically.

Our fares include meals and we have found the Amtrak meals to be very good..  All passengers need a reservation to be seated in the dining car for dinner.

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We Catch Our First Train and Start West

On Friday morning Sally drove us to the train station in Kalamazoo.

We jumped on the 10:19 Amtrak and left Kalamazoo behind.

Our train stopped in Dowagiac, MI, the town where Bill was born almost 70 years ago!

We also had a quick stop at New Buffalo, a beautiful Lake Michigan resort town, and the town where Bill's mother started her teaching career.

Finally, before noon,  we made it to Chicago and were pleasantly surprised to be greeted by our daughter, Beth, and grandson, Iggy who had lunch with us at the huge train station.

At 2:45 PM we boarded the Empire Builder and were given a sleeper birth in the last car on the 15-car train.  This is our view a few steps to the back as we leave Illinois behind and head toward Portland, Oregon.

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We Are Off on a September Railroad Trip

On Thursday, September 13, 2018 we drove to Lansing to drop off our old bird at our son's house and then drove to Bill's sister's house in Portage, Michigan to spend the night.  

Here is Sally with her house cat named Peaches.  Peaches has a twin sister named Cream who was sleeping in this morning.  Sally is dropping us off at the Kalamazoo train station on Friday morning for the start of a 10-day train trip to the West Coast then back through Canada.

More to came later.

Stay tuned....

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