May 17, Day 8, A Long Haul into the Station, Arrival at Jasper

A section of the Canadian Rockies

Last night, we were told that the train was expected to pull into the Jasper Station at 6:30am. We needed to be ready to depart the train quickly; there would be no breakfast served, but there would be some continental items – muffins, fruit juice, coffee, tea and such. With this in mind, we packed everything we could, except our pajamas, our clothes for tomorrow, and our toiletries.

We went to bed a bit earlier, about 10pm. However, it was a tough night. The train slowed or stopped several times. (Remember, passenger trains must give way to freight trains, because the track is owned by the freight rail companies, in this case, Canadian Northern.) This meant that when we were moving, the engineer was trying to make up for lost time! He was moving at a high rate of speed, at least relative to our “regular” movement. This is not the high-speed rail that is employed by other countries. Still, the train was moving very fast, and we could feel it while we were sleeping!

Both of us woke up, before the alarm went off at 6:00 am. We got about brushing our teeth, washing up, and getting our last things packed. Patrise was ahead of me, so she went to get some croissants and coffee/tea, while I finished packing up my things. Since I was still getting ready when she returned, she left with the food items to go to the observation car to get us two seats. By this time, we were told that the train would not get into jasper until closer to 8:30, rather than 6:30. Bah, humbug!!! We could have slept longer.

I joined her in the observation car. She ate a croissant and decaf coffee. I had no appetite for a croissant, but I did enjoy the tea. Meanwhile, we were traveling through one of the national parks – Banff, I think – and the views were incredible. People were taking a lot of photos – rightfully so. We reached a point in the park, when the train was completely stopped. We knew this meant we were waiting for a freight train to clear the track, but we waited almost an hour for this to occur. Now they were projecting we would get into Jasper about 9am. To bring this saga to close, we eventually arrived in Jasper at 9:44am, just 3 hours and 15 minutes late. Our poor driver at the station had been waiting for us since 6:30am. Oh well.

Views of the national park (Banff?) seen as the train heads to Jasper, Alberta.

Eventually, our luggage was unloaded. We collected it and loaded onto our bus, the SunDog Tours, driven by Perry. Perry drove us around town telling us a bit about the history and the sites. A very serious forest fire swept through the town last summer, and you could see many sites where burned buildings had been torn down. There were some burned buildings still in evidence like a church. There also seemed to be a randomness to it all. On one block, only one house remained, but on either side of it and behind it, all of the neighboring structures had burned down. As Perry told us, he was not an official tour guide; he was just showing us around a bit, before delivering us to our various hotels. (There were eight people, four couples, on this bus.) After showing us the town, he drove us into the hills above the town to see Pyramid Lake and the Pyramid Mountains. These were some spectacular views. While walking around viewing these, Patrise and I spoke with Perry. He is from the Philippines and had come to Jasper to work. He was hired to work for a hardware store. His family also came with him, some sixteen years ago. His two older children are grown, but he still has a nine-year-old son at home. He has really enjoyed Jasper. Still he returns to the Philippines each year to see family and friends. He plans to retire back there in about nine years he said.

Various scenes from the train station and town.

Views in and around Pyramid Lake and the Pyramid Mountains

When we returned to town, Perry dropped us off at our hotel, the Forest Park hotel. We checked in, rested very briefly, then walked into town to find something to eat. We ultimately decided to eat at Cassio’s Italian Restaurant. Great choice. The drinks, the food, the service were all very good. We packed up our leftovers to take back to the hotel to have for dinner. After lunch, we stopped at a nearby souvenir shop, then an ice cream store.

1st row: VIA Station sign, Gare de Jasper (train station), Cassio's Italian

2nd row: Cassio's satisfied customers, Chapman's Ice Cream, ice cream selections

3rd row: headed to hotel, the firehall (fire station), welcome sign for Metis monument

4th row: Mountain Metis monument, Patricia Street, view from the restaurant

We then hurried back to the hotel at a clip, to avoid what looked to be a rain shower coming into the area. We settled down, turned on the television, but I was nodding asleep while sitting up in bed. It did not take much for Patrise to convince me to get under the cover for a nap. Next thing I know, she had also gone to sleep, and we slept for 2-1/2 hours and 2-hours respectively.

Upon waking, we found a Braves games on television. We watched that, while I began working on this blog entry for the day. When the game reached the end of the 6th inning, we put on our swimwear and went to the hotel jacuzzi and pool. I stayed with the very warm jacuzzi; Patrise started in the jacuzzi, went to the pool, then came back to the jacuzzi. We got out and sat by the pool reading our books for a while. Then we returned to the room, changed our clothing, gathered laundry (to be done tomorrow after breakfast), heated our leftovers and ate dinner. We watched television, while I finished working on the blog.

Tomorrow, we will go to the Visitors’ Centre, to learn more about what we might do in Jasper and the nearby national park. We are supposed to have an “official” tour tomorrow evening, from 5:30-9:30pm. The morning after, we will head to Banff National Park and Lake Louise.