Canada Travelog April 2008

Jack and Leslie overlooking Banff from 7500 Feet

Travelog-Western Canada
April, 2008

Jack and I came to Vancouver for a meeting of my partners in the Aspen Family Business
Group. From there, we headed to Calgary/Banff for a brief visit and a long-anticipated train ride across the Canadian Rockies back to Vancouver and a return home. Here are some highlights from this trip. (Incidentally, if you double-click on photos they should become larger and easier to see)

Vancouver is a very cosmopolitan city-with a backdrop of the Mountains and water seemingly at every turn in the city. With a metropolitan population of about
3,000,000, it is the biggest city in Western Canada.
The downtown area is covered with tall buildings, quaint shops and the usual international brands one sees in all parts of the world-from McDonalds to Coach bags. Yet it is also a very Asian city-with over 40% of the population Chinese! It also has a very European feeling with the parks, cafes and colors.

Speaking of “metropolitan” we stayed in the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver which has a very European feeling-small lobby with elegant Asian highlights (a screen, lion sculptures, etc). We had our meetings there and then spent time each afternoon exploring the city.


Thursday, April 24, 2008
Jack and I arrived with enough time on Thursday to visit a few areas. The concierge at the hotel took us to Yaletown, a former warehouse area, converted into a trendy in-town neighborhood where he said they had a great “First Nation’s” Gallery (“first nation” or “first people” is how Canadian’s refer to the indigenous native Americans). While that gallery had a great collection, there were no other stores of interest to us there, so the concierge was kind enough to take us to the Gastown district-where there are many galleries as well as tourist attractions. There we found a number of wonderful galleries…..be still my heart!

We walked the area-went into 4-5 great galleries and stores and actually only bought a gift for our organizer. The sculptures, masks and artifacts we saw were fascinating. Of course the ones I liked were costly. We decided to keep looking and keep several small pieces in mind. After a stop at a local café, we hightailed it back to the hotel and got ready for dinner with our colleagues.

Friday, April 25, 2008
This afternoon, we visited the University of British Columbia Museum of Anthropology, which I had visited in 1971. I remembered certain aspects of it vividly: the Bill Reid wooden sculpture of the raven opening the clam shell allowing the people of the first nation to emerge after the flood; the incredible totem poles, the funereal boxes, the citing of the museum on a point overlooking the ocean. It is a magnificent facility as well as having an interesting collection. Unfortunately, I didn’t bring my camera with me to the museum!


We drove to the Museum with our friends Joe and Janey who knew the area and so gave us a bit of a tour as we drove back. The flowering trees were mostly in bloom, daffodils and tulips added more color and the sun was shining! We lucked out with our timing. We had dinner that night at a wonderful restaurant called “C” which was right on the water. Fresh Halibut was the highlight of our meal…

While we were in meetings, Jack was able to take a guided tour of the city. He found it quite interesting. Several of the places he saw, like Gastown and Yaletown, were places we had visited on our first afternoon. He noted that Gastown was named after the founder who sold booze and got lots of people "gassed." There is a statue of him there. He also visited Chinatown and saw the Sun Yat Sen garden where all the plants originated from China. He went from there to Stanley Park which he really enjoyed. They stopped in an area with exquisite totem poles. He liked the more natural looking totem pole rather than the multi colored ones. They could see seaplanes from that spot. Also in Stanley Park were 800 year old trees. He saw the aquarium there (see below). Even though it was his 3rd trip to Vancouver, he was very glad to have taken the tour and become more informed about Vancouver. He would recommend that strategy to other visitors.

Saturday, April 26, 2008
After our meeting today several of us went to the Vancouver Aquarium.
This was another great Vancouver resource. It sits at the edge of Stanley Park (named after the same fellow whose name is on the “Stanley Cup” ).
This aquarium is special because it has Beluga whales and were they amazing!

I kept having the Raffi song “Baby Beluga” go through my head (Raffi is a famous Canadian folk singer whom Baleigh and I loved when she was little…and 25 years later I can still remember most of the words to that song!) We saw Dolphins jump high out of the water and beautiful tanks of sea critters from many different waters.



Sunday, April 27, 2008
After today’s meeting, we headed for the airport and flew to Calgary, Alberta Canada. There, we were met by a guide who drove us to Banff and shared a lot of information and sights. He is actually from England but has lived and worked here in Alberta for 5 years and was very knowledgeable.

We drove through a number of areas occupied in the past (and some now) by First Nation’s Peoples such as the Blackfoot confederation We passed signs of the town Deerfoot and learned that he was a Cree Indian messenger! We were told that there is pictograph evidence of tribes here going back 2000 years. Although the oldest archaeological evidence of human occupation in Canada goes back 10,700 years in Banff. The residents of the reservations do not actually own their land as they do in the US. They have ability to farm or ranch, but not to develop the land.

In driving from Calgary to Banff we were on the Trans Canada Highway which is the longest paved highway in the world (3000 miles long!). There are underpasses and overpasses in the highway built to let the animals (moose, deer, bear and cougars to name a few) travel across without being killed. Within 2 years of putting in the passes, the death toll of animals dropped 80%!



Along the way, we traveled by frozen Lake Minnewanka, (see above). We saw Big Horn Sheep eating salt off the road(below).


Calgary grew from whiskey trade. In 1873 homesteaders came here to trade and to look for gold in mountains. Sam Still led 90 Rocky Mountain Mounted Police to put down a whiskey trader rebellion. These traders were followed by missionaries. Then the railroad. As the Railway came through in 1892, Father LeCompt became a liaison between Blackfoot tribes, railway and mounted police. He tried to negotiate and keep the peace rather than what happened to American Indians who were slaughtered.

Another strategy used to make peaceful progress was marriage. Fur traders and trappers took squaws for a wives and could do business with tribes. So a population of people who were “half –breeds” came to be. they were known as Metis. They were in this region for 100 years as farmers. And, the railway wouldn’t negotiate with them because they weren’t a tribe. They became very agitated. One of them, Louis Real, was educated as a lawyer and considered becoming a priest (thought he could hear the word from God) became a negotiator for them. He began to negotiate more for himself than for his people. This led to the 16-year Metis war.

The railroad played an important role in helping to build a confederation of provinces. Sir John McDonald promised that if the provinces would come together, they would build a railway from one end of the country to the other. Another motivation to confederate was the fear that the US would annex British Columbia. At that time, many of the middle provinces were controlled by Hudson Bay Company. 1867 was the year Canada succeeded in coming together. The railroad was completed in late 1885 and the first trip was in June of 1886 and crossed more than 3000 miles of rugged terrain. After difficult beginnings with the railway, they hired William Van Horne from the U.S. who had helped build the transcontinental railway there. Finally they had someone with experience to do the job! It took 10 years to build.

William Van Horne became the President of the Canadian Pacific Railroad and envisioned a series of hotels as well. The first of which was the Banff Springs Hotel.

We arrived at the Banff Hotel around 8PM and it was still light. Quite a sight! It is indeed a castle in the woods and on the water!



It turns out that late April is the best time to come if you are not a ski bum…this is the shoulder between ski and summer tourist seasons and it is quiet.November is another good time.
Below is the view from our room.




April 28, 2008 Banff/Lake Louise
Jack and I rented a car so we could explore the region between Banff and Lake Louise. We drove West to Lake Louise and went directly to the Chateau Lake Louise. The Chateau was built around the turn of the century (1900) as part of a chain of hotels connected with the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. The original “cottage” burned down and progressively, over the years, the large Chateau was constructed. Some of the details in the hotel are wonderful, e.g. the light fixtures.




We enjoyed some sunshine and warm weather-close to 60 degrees F! We wandered along the alternate route, 1A on the way back and saw many beautiful views of mountains and rivers. We saw Deer and Elk. We returned to Banff village and visited stores and galleries.


Mt. Rundle and Downtown Banff

We found a wonderful souvenir: a small frog created by Bill Reid in the 70s and cast by John Nuttle who is a glass artist who worked with him on the sculpture. Reid made the small frog pin for his wife, Monique and she let Nuttle reproduce it. He creates beautiful glass pieces on which the frog sits. How nice to have a piece of the Reid legacy!

After touring in town, we headed toward the hotel and Sulpur Mountain and went on the Gondola up to the top of the mountain! At the top of the mountain we were at 7486 feet in altitude. The views were spectacular and the ride while short, was dramatic. Since we arrived there around 5:30, we had a short time to walk around the top, take pictures and get down by the 6:00PM closure.

Banff Springs Hotel from the top of Sulphur Mountain

April 29, 2008 Aboard the Rocky Mountaineer
We boarded the train at 9am in Banff and we are in a dome car with incredible views. Below is our train arriving at the station.



It is so exciting!! We are served coffee and tea at our seats and watch a wonderful view from the tracks. We are following the Bow River as we head west, surrounded by mountains like Mount Rundle that are over 9000 feet high. Yesterday, we took a gondola up Sulphur mountain which was close to 8000 feet high! We are approaching Lake Louise now (which we also visited yesterday) and had lunch at the Chateau Lake Louise. Even though we are approaching May, the lake was still solidly frozen..may not defrost till June. We have just passed Lake Wapta, still frozen, from here are head waters of the Kicking Horse River, heading West now as we have crossed the Continental Divide.

Spiral tunnels were built along the tracks in 1885. The government allowed a 2.2% grade normally. This track had a 4.5% grade for the big hill (Field to Kicking Horse). However, coming down from the big hill was difficult and trains went off the track. For 23 years it operated with 4.5% grade. The railroad gathered a group of engineers and studied how to decrease the grade. Increased the width via a switch back between two mountains in side a tunnel! -increasing the tracks 100%, using 686 tons of dynamite…to go through Mount Cathedral and Mount Ogeden. Completed in two years. We are now in British Columbia. Each tunnel takes us down 50 feet. Hanging Glacier (below) was an interesting site in this area. We also saw some leftovers of the Kicking Horse mines that produced zinc and silver until 1985 when the mines were closed.

Hanging glacier

As we travel through the Rockies, we are now going through Kicking Horse Canyon, along Kicking Horse River and passed under the Kicking Horse Bridge. There are lovely young attendants who not only serve us but also give us historical and other information along the way. There is a group of 50 people from Australia and the owners of their travel company happened to have lunch with us. They are a family business…so we told them about the Aspen Gathering…that could be fun!

Train Staff working

Now going through Golden with a population of 4200. The rapids here are where the Canadian rafters practice. We are heading into the Columbia Range of Mountains out of the Rockies. Into the Rocky Mountain trench that is 1000 km long….We’ve seen very little wildlife so far, just some elk and Canadian geese.

Elk


Jack Relaxing on the Train

Salmon come up here to spawn here in the fresh water and then head to the Pacific Ocean for several years and come back to this area to spawn where their parents did. 2 Million Sockeye salmon come here to spawn-out of 8 million who start off. Takes them 21 days from the Mouth of Frazier River to Thompson River and come into Kamloops. 4000 eggs laid yielding only 10 that come to maturity. Kamloops is our destination for the evening.

Kamloops is the meeting point for many provincial games; it is a desert region; olive trees; paper processing plant. It is a spread out town. South Thompson and North Thompson Rivers meet in Kamloops. Population is around 82,000 people. Home of Two Rivers University.

April 30, 2008 On Board the Train from Kamloops
We follow the Kamloops Lake out of town and it looks like Baja California! Low shrub, brown hills and water. An area they called “painted rock” is a subtle version of the colored rock we see in the southwest. The two rivers come together there to make the Thompson River which we will follow until we get to the Frazier river.


Jack and I got off the train last night, went to the restaurant next door to the motel where we were staying and had dinner….after that, we headed “downtown” and went to a casino for a few hours—a good diversion.
This morning, the bus picked us up at 7:20 and we were on the train moving around 8:00 with breakfast downstairs. Kamloops struck me as a town of transits-much of the life is around the trains coming through, the regional sports events and people going by road east to west. The river running through the town seemed to be the most significant point of interest.
During the trip today, we traveled through many climate and plant zones from Ashcroft-driest part of Canada with 10 inches of rain/year to wet zones where there was still snow and much dampness and ferns, moss, etc. We are constantly on the lookout for birds and critters.

Avalanche valley: wires that are detectors to sense if rocks are falling and if so, headquarters closes the tracks and gets them cleared before another train can pass. We went through rock sheds that keep the trains free from avalanches.

Avalanche Sheds
We also pass the confluence of Thompson River and Frazier River: you can see the difference in colors of water. As the salmon go east on these rivers, the different types of salmon go on one river or the other.


We then get into the wetter area and can see snow again in the higher mountains.

Snow again!
Quite a contrast to this morning! One of the reasons for the difference is the fact we come into another range of coastal mountains that holds in the moisture. Once we left the arid area, we began to see cedar and hemlock. Further on, we saw more fir trees and pine.

Our train and a Cargo Train

Hell’s Gate: Salmon ladders were constructed because during the construction of the railroad, rock was blasted into the river and then salmon had trouble making their trip upstream.

Now, into the town of Hope that grew out of gold rush times in the mid-19th century. Beautiful wooded town that is now the chainsaw sculpture capital of Canada. People still go fishing even though upstream is reserved for first nation’s people. (See salmon dryer above)

Now we are going through Frazier valley which is the breadbasket of this region. This was a flood zone that has now been protected to allow farming. Very deep topsoil (1 mile above bedrock!) Bison farms, jersey cows, corn fruit and wine grapes in what is referred to as the “Lower mainland” of Vancouver.



Finally, we begin to travel along rivers that have fishing boats, then industrial areas and alas, the city of Vancouver. We slowly make our way into the city and to our point of disembarcation.


We say goodbye to friends we have made from Dublin, Atlanta, Australia and our Canadian hosts. While we have been together only two days, we feel like old friends and sadly move away.

Jack and I travel back to the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver where we spend our last night before heading back to Scottsdale.

Stay tuned for future travels!