Days 7 & 8

Once again, we have only a pocket of time to post something - we're in Jasper right now, and I promise to catch us up once we're in Vancouver!

Day 7 – Evening

After our scrumptious sushi, Roger and I picked up some girl guide cookies at the Bathurst TTC station (yay mint chocolate!) and headed down to Union. We’d been encouraged to get there early, as we would have a chance to book what sitting we’d want for lunch and dinner. Thanks to our fast service at Sushi Couture, we were there with plenty of time to spare. We whiled away the hours in the Panorama Lounge by reading and watching Jeopardy (HEATHER), and before we knew it we were loading onto the train – car 121, section 2. After settling in (you’re right Mom, looks just like what I remembered!), we headed to the Dome Car at the end of the train for (flat but festive) champagne and little hors d’oeuvres. Our bunks had already been made into sleeping arrangements when we first saw them, and we were tired enough to climb in and fall promptly asleep.



Day 8

Friday was a restful day. We woke up to beautiful, painting-like landscapes of birch groves and emaciated pines, with breaks of marshland and shining lakes. I told Roger it reminded me of a mix between Dr. Seuss art and the Group of Seven landscapes. Sometimes, those tall, skeletal (no leaves remained) birch trees were in forests dense enough to remind me of bamboo forests I’d seen pictures of in China and Japan. Something about their tall, graceful forms clustered together. Often, I was reminded of the stories of Nanabush, that Ojibway folktales book I used to read from when I was younger. The forest seems at peace up here, if that makes sense. Wild but ordered. Happy that their northern location keeps them far away from civilization, I imagined.
Our focuses on the train became the food. Our breakfast was hearty – we both got the blueberry pancakes that seemed more berry than pancake, and they were delicious. Our lunch was BBQ Shrimp wrap – again, very tasty for something so simple. Dinner that night was Pickerel, and though disappointed that vegetables were treated more like garnish than food, the meal was wonderful. The landscape that was so fascinating in the morning seemed tired now, and it flew by with less and less notice. We were both ready for a change of scene.

(More is coming, don't worry!)