Leg 18—Fullerton to Phoenix: May 20 & 21, 2006

I board Amtrak’s Train 4, the Southwest Chief, in Fullerton and travel through the following cities: in California, Fullerton, Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, Barstow and Needles; in Kingman, Williams Junction and Flagstaff. It is dark going through these cities, so I get some good sleep. I have traveled on this leg many times and there is nothing new to see. In Flagstaff, I have a two and one-half hour layover.

I try to find something to eat in downtown Flagstaff, but it is Sunday morning and nothing is open. I am hungry and tired. After all, it has been 29 days since I started this trip. I am anxious to get home.

At 7:30 a.m., an Open Road Tours thruway van transports me from Flagstaff to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport with a ten minute stop in Verde Valley.

The van is crowded and the seats are small. Only one seat is empty in the van and it is too small for my carcass, but I have to make-do. I think about positive things to pass the time. I reflect on my trip. This van does not compare to a train with few passengers, large seats and plenty of leg room.

I think about Bob and me taking a car from Kansas City to Branson, traveling through Missouri and into the Ozarks, riding the Branson Scenic Railway. I think about watching the Cubs and Braves game at Wrigley, seeing Babe Ruth’s wife and son, and riding the Red Train.

I reflect on traveling through four more states that I have not previously visited, i.e. Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont. Now I have been in forty-six states: I have been in all states but Connecticut, Rhode Island, South Dakota and Nebraska. I will need to visit these states next year.


I traveled through eight of the ten provinces in Canada. Canada is the world’s second largest country by area to Russia. I traveled from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean in Canada stopping at some of the larger cities. The country has ten provinces and three territories and is considered a bilingual and multicultural nation; both English and French are official languages.

What a trip. I traveled 10,000 miles in 29 days seeing some of God’s most beautiful landscape.

My friend, Alex, picks me up at Sky Harbor Airport, the final destination of the thruway van. I have completed a trip to remember.

Leg 17—Vancouver to Fullerton: May 18, 19 & 20, 2006

The itinerary for this leg was supposed to be as follows: Bus 8911, a Thruway Bus, was to take me to Seattle where I was to catch Amtrak’s Train 11 to Los Angeles, California and then transfer to Amtrak’s Train 596, the Pacific Surfliner to Fullerton. Due to Union Pacific repairing a tunnel somewhere between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, this route will have service delay until December 2006. Below is how my journey actually goes:

I awake at 3:45 a.m. to catch Bus 8911, the Thruway Bus, which departs Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on Thursday, May 18 at the scheduled time 5:30 a.m. and arrives at Seattle at 9:15 a.m. I grab a banana for sustenance at the B&B until I get something to eat. I call a yellow cab and arrive at the train station at 4:40 a.m. and discover the train station is locked. About ten passengers are outside waiting to get into the station. We wait until 4:50 a.m. when a security officer opens the door. All concessions inside the station are closed and there are no vending machines to buy food.

At 5:15 a.m., our bus arrives to take us to Seattle. No stops on the way to buy food.

When the bus arrives at the Seattle Union at 9:40 a.m., the Station Master announces that Train 11, Coast Starlight, arrived so late in Portland the night before that the route was terminated in Portland and all passengers will be bussed to Portland to catch the train. The coach passengers are unhappy about not riding a train, but so are the passengers who paid for a sleeper.

I can’t imagine paying for a sleeper and having to ride a bus. I am sure that Amtrak, in some way, will compensate the passengers who purchased sleepers. I had thought about purchasing a roomette, but I’m glad I didn’t. Unfortunately, delays and inconveniences are a few things that are expected on a train ride, even from way-back-when the trains were a major mode of transportation. In those days, passengers occasionally were involved with train robberies.

I purchase V8 juice from the vending machine to give me some energy.

As we leave Seattle, we pass Qwest Field, the Seattle Mariner's baseball stadium.

Bus to Portland: We stop at Centralia, Washington to pick up additional train passengers. At Kelso-Longview, the bus stops for a longer period. Passengers get out of the train to smoke. When we pull away from the train station, one lady notifies the bus driver that we have left a young girl’s grandmother behind. We have gone about a block before the discovery. Her grandchild was asleep in the seat. The bus driver returns to the station and finds the grandmother.

The State of Washington is green and the sun is shining brightly today. There is plenty of water between Seattle and Portland—including rivers, ocean and bays. We pass farmland, grazing sheep and lumber mills.

Train to Santa Barbara: In Portland, Train 11, Coast Starlight, which was one of my favorite train routes on our trip last year, is waiting for us and departs Portland about one hour late. It is considered to be one of the most beautiful of all train routes. Going between Seattle and Los Angeles, the train passes through Portland, Eugene, Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area and Santa Barbara.

The scenery along this route is some of the best: snow-capped mountains, rolling hills, dense forests, fertile valleys and long stretches of the Pacific Ocean shoreline. You can smell roses in Portland’s famous rose gardens, ride trolley cars in San Francisco, visit wineries in Paso Robles or visit Hearst Castle near San Luis Obispo. Since we departed late, much of the route is traveled at night.

But on this trip, my patience is tested and I fail. It is about 3:00 p.m. and I haven’t eaten a meal all day and am hungry and cranky. The car attendant announces that the café car will open soon. When he takes my ticket, I ask him, “How soon will it open? I haven’t eaten a meal all day.”

He suggests I go to the café and wait. Thank goodness, it is open when I get there. I spill my heart to the café attendant. While I am eating, I feel bad about my attitude. It’s not his fault about the inconvenience. I sit with the grandmother and granddaughter. They are hungry too. We strike a friendship, which lasts throughout our ride to Santa Barbara.

We pass several little communities in California. The country along the coastline is filled with farmland and industrial sites.

After eating, I returned to the attendant and apologize, saying now that I have eaten, my attitude will change. We were friendly the remainder of the trip, and when we parted, he comments that he hopes circumstances will be better the next time we meet.

When we arrive in Santa Barbara at 9:30 p.m., five buses are waiting to transport passengers to various cities in Southern California.

Bus from Santa Barbara to Fullerton: I previously made arrangements with my son to pick me up at the Fullerton train station, but because it is so late, I call him from my cell phone when we reach Santa Barbara. I tell him that I will call him when we reach East Los Angeles, about twenty minutes away from Fullerton.

I fall asleep and wake up about ten minutes away from Fullerton. I call Ken; he hurries to the Amtrak station and we meet there about 1:30 a.m. We hit the hay as soon as we reach his house which is less than one mile from the Amtrak station.

I am able to stay with my family only one day because many of them had previous plans. My daughter, Jennifer, is on a cruise, but her husband, Dave, is home with my grandson, Evan. We will be meeting them for dinner before I leave for home. Ken is attending Biola University, a Christian University, to earn a graduate degree and must study for finals. My granddaughter, Jennifer, has to work and I won’t be able to see her at all.

My train is due to depart Fullerton at 7:20 in the evening. I visit with my daughter-in-law, Kim, and watch television while Ken is studying. In the afternoon, Dave brings Evan to Ken’s house for a visit before dinner. A short time before dinner, Rob, a 26-year old grandson, and his girlfriend come for a short visit.

We eat at the Fullerton Spaghetti Factory, an old depot converted to a restaurant. Dave’s birthday is just around the corner, so I buy dinner to celebrate everyone’s birthday. At the dinner are Ken and Kim, Dave and Evan, and Rob and Melissa plus me.

The stay is short, but I will see most of them again at the family reunion in the middle of June.

Leg 16—Jasper to Vancouver: May 15, 16 & 17, 2006

While waiting to board the train in Jasper, I could hear an operatic voice singing in the background, and I see Cameron, the gregarious gentleman that talked a lot on the previous time I was on Train 1. This leg is a continuation of the Toronto to Vancouver route. Both Cameron and I detrained in Edmonton: He spent time with his daughter and I took the bus through the Rockies. Of course, Cameron knew the opera singer.

After waiting for the crew to load and unload trash and cargo, we board the train. An hour away from Jasper, VIA Rail’s Train 1 crosses over the border between Alberta and British Columbia and the division between Mountain and Pacific Time Zones at the Yellowhead Pass. In British Columbia, we travel through Mount Robson, Valemount, Blue River, Kamloops, Ashcroft, Lytton, Boston Bar and Vancouver. We also pass the continental divide: Now all rivers flow west.

Soon after passing the border, the conductor announces that we are passing Pyramid Falls--too fast for me to get my camera. While much of this trip allows time to sleep, we see more of the Canadian Rockies as the train leaves Jasper. The conductor points out Mount Robson, which is the highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. It can be easily seen from the train.

It's time to go to dinner. The opera singer sits behind me unbeknownst to me. He sings a classical and gets a round of applause. He continues his singing, Irish songs, contemporary and popular songs. It becomes tiring to my ears and to other passengers as the applause subsides. I say to the diners at my table, "I wish he would give our ears a rest."

The gentleman sitting directly in front of me points to his lips to shush me, pointing to my back to let me know he is sitting behind me.

After being served and savoring our very tasty dinner, one of the servers yells, “Bear on the left.” I look to my left and see nothing. I look back to see the server, he is facing west and I am facing east. The bear would have been on my right. The server’s loud shout causes a stir in the dining car. As it turns out, no one but the server saw the bear. Maybe, he was trying to quiet the opera singer.

All trees are mature and beautiful the farther west we go. The deciduous trees have sprouted green leaves that are mature now. During the night when most passengers are asleep, we exit the Rockies.

When I awake, I don't eat breakfast--just drink coffee.

As we pull into Vancouver, flowers are seen almost everywhere. The rainfall averages 57 inches each year.

The train pulls into Vancouver Pacific Central Station about 45 minutes late, but it is still early in the morning. In addition to VIA Rail and Amtrak, Pacific Central Station is also served by Rocky Mountaineer tour trains, and intercity coaches run by Pacific Coach Lines and Greyhound Lines.

Amazingly, McDonald's has a concession in the station. I eat a Sausage McMuffin with egg and drink coffee to gather my wits and plan my day.

I will not be able to check-into my B&B until the afternoon, so I decide to take the tour I purchased from Gray Line for their Double Decker bus. I rent two lockers at the Greyhound terminal, located in the same building, to store my bags while I take the tour, but I have a difficult time locating a stop to catch the bus. Finally, after asking several people and walking around the area for about six blocks, I ask a gentleman sweeping the streets where the hop on-hop off bus stops. He points to a sign about six feet in front of us and says, "I think its there." The sign advertises a trolley stop.

When a trolley stops at the sign, I asked the driver if Gray Line stops here. He says, "Get on. The Gray Line tour works together with the Vancouver Trolley Company. The tickets can be used on either tour."

I hop on the trolley. The plan is to tour the entire route the first day and to hop off at certain stops the second day. The tour has 25 stops.

There is plenty to see in Vancouver. It is a beautiful city. The tour guide drives by and points out many famous buildings and tourist sites. A couple of the stops are on Robson Street, which is popular for designer stores and restaurants similar to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, California. Some locals call it 'Vancouver's Rodeo Drive'.

Stanley Park is a must-see. The tour has five stops in Stanley Park: The rose gardens, Vancouver Aquarium, Totem Poles; rose gardens, again and Prospect Point. The 1,000-acre park is a popular tourist attraction. Beautiful lush green grass and flowers of many species can be seen from the trolley. The park features many huge Douglas-fir, Western Redcedar, and Western Hemlock trees. Tours around the park can also be taken by horse drawn-carriage or by a bicycle-built-for-two. On one occasion, the driver makes an unscheduled stop to allow the passengers take a picture of Lion's Gate Bridge.

The Lions Gate Bridge (officially known as the First Narrows Bridge is a suspension bridge) that connects the City of Vancouver, to the North Shore municipalities of the District of North Vancouver, the City of North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. The total length of the bridge including the north viaduct is 5,890 feet. The main span alone is 1,550 feet, the tower height is 364 feet, and it has a ship's clearance of 200 ft. The bridge has three reversible lanes, the use of which is indicated by signals. The center lane changes direction to accommodate for traffic patterns. The bridge is very well used with 60,000 - 70,000 vehicles crossing daily.

Granville Island, another stop on the tour, features a microbrewery, a Kid’s Market and eating establishments. A public market has fresh produce and seafood, craft shops, theatres, and bakeries. We stop to let some tourists hop off the trolley here and make another stop down the hill to let some tourists hop on.

Riding through Vancouver reminds me of Seattle. The Starbucks coffee houses seem as thick here as in Seattle. In fact, at one intersection two Starbucks are kiddy corner from each other. The driver says the intersection is nicknamed 'Caffeine Crossing'. Both cities have Chinatowns.

The Vancouver Chinatown stop allows you to hop off and visit the second largest Chinatown in North America. Shops with exotic herbs, teas, produce and porcelain collectibles, the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Gardens, and many restaurants are a few attractions to visit.

The Gastown stop is the older part of Vancouver. It still has cobblestone streets. This part of the city is Vancouver’s first official settlement known for its architecture and art galleries.

I ride through all 25 stops and get off the trolley at the stop I boarded, but I leave my two-day pass on the tour bus. Now, what do I do? I have to change my plans.

I eat lunch and enjoy some refreshments at a pub near the train station, which I learned on the tour that it was built in 1912. The pub is located inside the Ivanhoe Hotel. In 2001, the historic Ivanhoe Hotel changed ownership and was transformed into the new The Central Station Hostel. The beer is cheap. One of the pub owners is serving and tells me he works on volume. I believe it, because the pub is crowded with people.

I strike up a conversation with a friendly contractor, named Paul, who waterproofs commercial buildings. After talking with Paul awhile, I think it is time for me to find my B&B.

I check into Catherine's B&B at 4:00 p.m. in the afternoon. The owner’s son greets me at the door and tells me the owner is out of town. He is the host during my stay here. I ask him where a bank is located in the area. He directs me to a bank, gives me his cell phone number and takes off for his job.

I then check my email at the B&B and log out of the computer.

I walk to the bank about six blocks from the B&B and get cash. I am hungry, look for a restaurant and see at a Chinese restaurant, where I eat chop suey and drink green tea. The meal is delicious. Most of the customers are Chinese.

When I return to the B&B, I see a couple of guests arriving at the same time. I say, “Hello” to each of them and return to the computer to gain access but discover I need a password. The couple is not too happy when I tell them that I logged out of the computer previously.

The guests are an English couple. The gentleman says that I need to call the owner, but his wife says that the owner is on Holiday. I tell them that the son is working and that his sister may be at the B&B later. Apparently mad at me for turning off the computer, the couple ignores me, so I go to my room.

I call the son’s cell phone number—no answer. He has not set up his answering device with his telephone company. I finally reach him later that night, but he will be working late. He says that he will fix the computer when he gets off work. Thank goodness for cell phones. When I awake the next morning, the computer is fixed, but the couple has checked-out.

The B&B does not serve a full breakfast as advertised on the Internet, but there is cereal, milk, muffins and other breakfast foods available for a continental breakfast.

I locate TransLink, Vancouver’s transit network, on the computer. I call them to ask how to catch the bus from my location to downtown. I am told to catch the #8 bus on Fraser, which I take to downtown Vancouver. I window shop, take a few pictures and return to the pub. I learn that the pub is located in the C&N Central Station Hostel.

The station is located steps away from the bus depot and train station, as well as the sky train and city buses. It is also just a short distance from the ocean front boardwalk and the future Olympic village. The hostel offers single beds and private rooms and has a communal kitchen, laundry facility, storage and luggage room, internet café; rooms have cable TV; some rooms have a refrigerator; and free parking is available on the streets around the hostel. If I return to Vancouver again and because I am looking for cheap deals, I may review the hostel as possible lodging.

For dinner, I eat at a deli in a strip center on Fraser. I am disappointed. The restaurant has one person working both as server and as cook and I am the only customer. The food is not very tasty. I don’t recommend eating here. I can't remember the name of the place anyway. I guess that's good.

I return to the B&B and check my email before going to bed for the night. I need to arise early in the morning to catch a taxi to the train station. The #8 bus goes in front of the station, but I need to be there early and my luggage is too large for a city bus. I figure I better eat because I don't think anything will be open this time of morning. I drink some milk, grab a banana and call a cab.

Vancouver is one of the most beautiful towns I have been in. I recommend putting Vancouver in your Canadian travel plans.

Leg 15—Banff to Jasper: May 14, 2006

Before leaving for my vacation, I purchased tickets through Gray Line to take a Brewster tour from Banff to Jasper prior to my vacation. The tour costs $93.81 (CAD) but well worth the bucks. The nine-hour tour through the Canadian Rockies takes gorgeous scenery, to put it mildly. We see wildlife, evergreens, blooming deciduous trees, snow-capped mountains, and top it off by visiting a glacier. The bus passengers walk on a glacier. This tour has to be the highlight of my vacation. Although the tour is by bus, it is worthwhile because it travels where trains can’t go. This leg is my favorite of the whole trip.

We continue on the Trans-Canadian Highway (TCH), Icefields Parkway, and the Provincial Route 93 from Banff to Jasper through the Canadian Rockies. The Trans-Canadian Highway is the second longest in the world. The longest is in Australia.

One of our stops is Lake Louise. The lake is still frozen at this time of the year. Lake Louise is both an actual lake and a nearby small settlement located in Banff National Park. The unique emerald color of the lake comes from Rock Flour carried into the lake by melt-water from the glaciers that overlook the lake. Recreational activities in the area include hiking, scrambling, and down-hill skiing. On the eastern shore of the lake is Chateau Lake Louise, a five-star hotel. It was gradually built at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century by the Canadian Pacific Railway and is thus a cousin to Château Frontenac in Quebec.

The background of Lake Louise is filled with views of several snow-capped mountains including Mount Temple (3543 m / 11,692 ft), Mount Whyte (9,844 ft) and Mount Niblock (9,820 ft).

The Canadian Rockies contain five national parks: Banff National Park, Jasper National Park, Kootenay National Park, Watertown Lakes National Park, and Yoyo National Park. The tour bus travels in Banff National Park and Jasper National Park. Banff National Park alone is 2,564 square miles, and Jasper National Park covers 4,199 square miles.

The bus driver makes many stops for photo shots, to eat and to use the wash room (a Canadian bathroom), thus making the trip a nine-hour ride vis-à-vis a four-hour trip by car.

The Brewster driver, Bill, says, “Bears are waking up now, so yell, if you see a one, and I will stop the bus for everyone to see.” He says that a bear attacked a bicyclist two days ago in Banff. He shows us fences constructed next to the highway to prevent animals from getting killed by cars. Animals have overpasses to cross the highway.

Someone says they see deer. The driver drives slowly by six deer alongside the road but not slow enough for me to get a picture.

The driver is humorous. He tells a joke, “What is the difference between a bison and buffalo? A buffalo is a four-legged animal and a bison is what British wash their hand in.”

Evergreen and deciduous trees cover the mountains up to 7,200 feet. The deciduous trees are beginning to turn green. In the fall, these trees produce many fall colors in a backdrop of evergreens. On several mountains, there are large areas where trees had been mowed down by avalanches.

The Rockies is home to a whole host of wildlife known to man: elk, deer, moose, caribou beaver, marmot, big horn sheep, mountain goat, snowshoe hare, lynx, cougar, wolf, and black and grizzly bears. But also claiming the Rockies as their home are two species of humming birds, a ground squirrel that sleeps for eight months of the year, and a frog that freezes solid in winter and yet thaws out in spring alive and well.

On our trip, we spot mountain goats at about 6500 feet on the mountainside. The goats live above the treeline in cliffs, rocks, scree, rockslides as well as grassy slopes and alpine meadows. Bald eagles and golden eagles try to knock the goats of to their death for their dinner.

Along the highway, we see several flocks of bighorn sheep, climbing on the rocks near the road and feasting on grass and plants. The sheep can easily climb and scale steep rocky faces that are extremely difficult for man. They live at lower elevations than the mountain goats, they travel in flocks, and they are shy and elusive.

The driver stops the bus to look at two Caribou. The Caribou of North America is now considered to be the same species as the Reindeer of Europe and Asia. The Caribou are mammals and live year-round north of the treeline in the rugged Canadian Rockies.

Banff National Park has in excess of 1,000 glaciers. Brewster offers rides onto the Columbia Icefield in custom built Snowcoaches for $33.95. The Snowcoaches are the monster-trucks of the bus world and the experience of walking on a living glacier together with riding in a Snowcoach is worth the cost. The Snowcoaches travel at 12 miles per hour.

The Columbia Icefield is astride the Continental Divide of North America. The icefield lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff and the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 1066 feet in area, 328 feet' to 1,197 feet in depth and receives up to 23 feet of snowfall per year. The icefield feeds eight major glaciers, including: Athabasca Glacier, Castleguard Glacier, Columbia Glacier, Dome Glacier, Stutfield Glacier, and Saskatchewan Glacier.

Part of the icefield, the Athabasca Glacier, is visible from the Icefields Parkway. The Athabasca Glacier has receded significantly since its greatest modern-era extent in 1844. During the summer months visitors to the area can travel onto the glacier in the comfort of large "snowcoaches".

Some of the highest mountains in the Canadian Rockies are located around the edges: Mount Adored, Mount Athabasca, Mount Bryce, Castleguard Mountain, Mount Columbia, Mount King Edward, Mount Kitcheners, North Twin Peak, South Twin Peak, Snow Dome and Stutfield Peak. All are two miles are greater above sea level.

The Athabasca River and the North Saskatchewan River originate in the Columbia Icefield, as do tributary headwaters of the Columbia River. These waters flow ultimately north to the Arctic Ocean east to Hudson's Bay (and thence to the North Atlantic Ocean), and south and West to the Pacific Ocean respectively, making it a triple divide point.

When we leave the Icefields, we enter Jasper National Park, the largest national park in the Canadian Rockies, spanning 4,200 miles. The park includes the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield, hot springs, lakes, waterfalls and mountains. Wildlife in the park include: elk, moose, mountain goats, bighorn sheep, bears and caribou.

Some of the park's many photogenic vistas include Mount Edith Cavell, Pyramid Lake with Pyramid Mountain, Maligne Lake, Medicine Lake, and the Tonquin Valley all considered best photographed at sunrise except for Maligne Lake, which is best in the evening. Other attractions are numerous other outdoor related recreational activities (e.g. hiking, fishing, wildlife viewing, rafting, kayaking, camping, etc.).

Major river systems originating in the park include North Saskatchewan River, Athabasca River which flows north along the parkway then turns east at Jasper town site to continue out of the mountains and on into the Mackenzie River system.

On our tour, we stop at Athabasca Falls, just 23 meters high. It is not known for its height; Instead it is known for the force of the falling water due to the quantity of water flowing. We follow the Athabasca River to Jasper, the final destination of our tour.

Jasper, Alberta is a railway town built next to the Athabasca River. The town is the vacation center of Jasper National Park. There are several hotels and B&Bs in Jasper. I stay at the Evergreen Guest House.

A young couple hosts the B&B. The Evergreen Guest House bright guest rooms in a quiet neighborhood, just a short walk from downtown Jasper. Each room features a private bathroom and a queen-sized bed with pull-out futon couch or twin bed. Both rooms have cable TV and private entrances. The young lady offers me a discount on my room without the breakfast, which I accepted.

After checking-in I walk three blocks to have dinner at the Mount Robson Restaurant. There I eat their special, pork chops and salad.

The next morning, I window shop, have my digital pictures transferred to a C.D. and eat breakfast.

Leg 14—Calgary to Banff: May 13, 2006

I have several alternative times to catch the Greyhound Canada bus to Banff. I catch Bus 5, which takes me from Calgary to Banff with stops in Canmore—each city is in Alberta.

The bus travels on the Trans-Canada Highway (TCH) for fifty miles or 83 kilometers through Banff National Park, Canada's flagship park. The highway runs through the heart of the Bow Valley, an ecologically rich and important part of the Park. On the TCH to Banff, we see the Canadian Rockies in the distance. At one point the driver says we have reached the highway’s highest point—1,470 meters above sea level. The countryside is glistening with glaciers and snow-capped mountains.

On this route, wild life can be seen from the road, including grizzly bears, deer, caribou, and wolves. Bears are just coming out of hibernation, so very few can be seen during May. No one on our bus spots any bears. Occasionally, deer and caribou are seen.

I break the pattern of staying at B&Bs because of the cost involved. I choose Red Carpet Inn, which has an AAA discount. The Red Carpet Inn in Banff is located near downtown. It is a two-block or three-block walk to most restaurants and stores. Some of the hotel amenities include: continental breakfast, balconies, parking, hot tub and wireless Internet. I use the hot tub for about ten minutes and feel very relaxed.

After the relaxing dip in the hot tub, I walk downtown for dinner at Earl’s. Beef, chicken, fish and vegetable dishes are moderately priced. Earl's satisfies many pallets: Recipes reflect Thai, North American and oriental influences (e.g. Caesar and chicken salads, finger foods, burgers and sandwiches, pastas, fresh BC salmon, prawns, and baked-on-site desserts). Prices for lunch and dinner range from $7 to $17. It is customary in Canada to add a 15% gratuity to your bill. I usually give 20%.

After dinner, I walk around town to window shop and stop at Safeway for trail mix to take with me on my tour bus tomorrow.

As is my custom, I arrive a couple of hours early so that I don’t miss my bus. The bus line is Brewster, a Canadian company that specializes in tours. I bought my ticket through a Greyhound referral.

Leg 13—Edmonton to Calgary: May 12, 2006

I was previously instructed by a Greyhound agent to purchase a ticket from Edmonton to Banff with a stopover in Calgary. The ticket is less than purchasing two tickets: one from Edmonton to Calgary and one from Calgary to Banff. Greyhound Canada does not take reservations so I need to be in the station 40 minutes prior to the bus departure. I get to the bus station in time to catch Bus 1189 at 8:30 a.m. The bus travels in and through the following cities: in Alberta, Edmonton, Edmonton South, Leduc, Red Deer and Calgary.

When I arrive in Calgary and enter the Greyhound station shortly after noon, I look for an ATM. The station ATM will not accept my card. Only Bank ATMs seem to accept the debit cards. I use my last four dollars to store my luggage in the lockers and search for a Bank. After asking several people for directions to a Bank, I finally locate one about ¾ mile from the Greyhound station in downtown Calgary.

It’s a nice day for a walk. I take several pictures of the distinctive Calgary skyline. The skyline glitters with skyscrapers, which suddenly arose as the result of an oil boom in the 1970s. The city is located in the foothills of Alberta’s Rocky Mountains at the junction of two rivers, the Bow and the Elbow. Calgary, the largest city in Alberta and second largest municipality in Canada, is famous for its annual Calgary Stampede.

I walk past Shaw Millennium Park, which is situated immediately west of the Mewata Armory and the Calgary Science Centre. The park provides an environment for the skateboard subculture to demonstrate techniques and share experiences in a public space.

On the way to downtown, I stop at an office supply store and ask several clerks where I can find a bank. One clerk directs me to a bank a few blocks away. I spot a pub on the way, but decide to get cash first. I try to maintain $100 in cash to cover any surprises.

After getting my money at the TD Canada Trust Bank, I walk back to Dickens Pub, which is the one I passed on the way to the bank, for chicken wings and refreshments. I need a break from this long walk.

On the return trip, I pass the Mewata Armory, which houses a reserve military unit and the meeting place for the Regimental Pipes and Drums of the Calgary highlanders. The band is comprised of pipers, drummers, and dancers who perform in a number of venues.

Upon returning to the Greyhound station, a cab is waiting in front. The cabbie takes me to City Centre Riverpath Bed and Breakfast, owned by Paul and Arlene Roberge. The B&B is my lodging for the night.

The B&B is located in Downtown Calgary on the Elbow River. The dining room picture window frames the skyline of beautiful downtown Calgary. The patio deck, which has a spa, overlooks the Elbow River that has a pathway connecting to over 500 kilometers of pathways throughout the city. Since I am traveling alone, I reserved a bedroom in the loft with a shared bathroom and cable TV.

Arlene shows me my room, the bathroom with a whirlpool tub. The room is comfortable and just the right size for me. We sit in the kitchen and dining room area talking about how she likes owning a B&B. She thinks that I and a professor who comes to the B&B on occasion would get along famously. She is very much into Astrology and guessed that I was a Gemini. She says that I would probably like to have dinner at the Hose & Hound and gives me directions on how to get there.

Paul arrives, shows me the computer to check my email, and helps me with my luggage up several flights of stairs. I have become accustomed to climbing stairs. I rest awhile, take pictures from the patio area and walk to the Hose and Hound for dinner.

The Hose and Hound, one of Calgary’s top ten pubs was one of the town's fire houses. The pub is crowded when I arrive with customers watching the Edmonton Oilers and San Jose Sharks in the Stanley Cup playoffs. There is plenty to do: there's pool to play, darts to throw, and beer to drink. For dinner, I eat soup and salad. I enjoy the Hose and Hound--great ambience and a lot of fun.

Walking back to the B&B, the clouds are spitting drips. I throw the hood of my jacket over my head and reach the B&B before the rain descends heavily.

I go to the computer, check my email and head for a good night’s sleep.

The City Centre Riverpath Bed and Breakfast serves a continental breakfast. There are plenty of hot and cold cereals, breads, fruit juice, toast, peanut butter and jelly, and coffee. I recommend this Bed and Breakfast. It is one of the best B&Bs I stay at on my trip.

I will use the second half of my ticket to go to Banff.

Leg 12—Toronto to Edmonton: May 9, 10, and 11, 2006

In excess of two days and nights, VIA Rail’s Train 1, the Canadian, travels across Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, through the following cities: in Ontario, Toronto, Sudbury Jct. and Sioux Lookout in Manitoba, Winnipeg; in Saskatchewan, Saskatoon; and in Alberta, I detrain in Edmonton. The Canadian crosses the lake lands of Northern Ontario, the western plains of Prairies and through the Canadian Rockies. I travel the entire route except from Edmonton to Jasper. Leg 13, 14, and 15 are bus trips for a closer view of the Canadian Rockies. On leg 16, I rejoin the Canadian.

Because leg 12 lasts two days, I try to purchase a lower bunk rather than sleep on the seats, but all lower bunks are sold. I don’t mind the seats—they are wide and have plenty of leg room. During May, the cars are not as crowded, making it more comfortable to sleep in the seats.

Out of Toronto’s Union Station, we back up 16 miles before going forward. When we start forward, the train guide says, “Look out to the left of the train, a man will be standing by a group of apartments and waving at the train. He has been waving at the train for the past 20 years. Wave at him and make his day.” Sure enough, we pass the apartments and there he is waving and smiling. Most of the people on the left side of the train are waving back.

The Canadian has service similar to Amtrak with dining for coach passengers and no car service by attendants. For lunch, I eat a Bison burger out of the train's snack bar.

May 9 is a beautiful day, not a cloud in the sky. I enjoy the scenery rolling by my window. Occasionally, I watch the landscape from the dome car. We enter Washago, the gateway to the Muskokas lakes. The trees have more green leaves than in the Atlantic region--partly due to the days are nearing the summer months.

Parry Sound marks the eastern edge of the Canadian Shield, a region of billion-year-old exposed bedrock that covers half of Canada and part of the United States. Parry Sound is the home of Bobby Orr, hockey great. Parry Sound is the 150-mile marker from Toronto. It takes 4 hours 15 minutes to get to this point, which is about 35 miles an hour. Patience is a virtue in train travel.

Sudbury is blessed with an abundance of mineral resources. The city is known as the nickel capital of Canada. Alex Trabec was born here. Many of the trees were killed by acid rain, but many were replaced by a group of volunteers in a campaign to plant trees. Most of the trees are less than 20 years old.

The sky gets cloudy later in the evening as it begins to darken about 9:15 p.m. Four of us retired gentlemen have dinner together—two from the railroad, an executive and me, a banker. We can see a few patches of snow out the train window. This is a fun part of riding the train: relax, eat, drink and talk.

One of the gentlemen told a joke I couldn't forget. If I remember right, it went something like this.

A zebra died and went to heaven. When he stopped at the pearly gates, he asked St. Peter if he was black with white stripes or white with black stripes  St Peter said, "You are what you are. Go on in"

He didn't understand what this meant so he asked someone else what St. Peter meant  The angelic being said, "St. Peter is intimating that you are white with black stripes."

"How do you know this?"

"Well," he said, "if you were black with white stripes, St. Peter would have said, 'You is what you is.'"

On May 10, I awake at 4:00 a.m. to shave and to beat other passengers before they occupy the bathrooms. There are only two bathrooms available in this car. Amtrak has several bathrooms in their Superliners. While riding coach, it is a good idea to plan ahead for bathroom in the morning. The Canadian has entered the Central time zone during the night. I have gotten my eight hours sleep. The sky is cloudy. Lakes, lakes, lakes: This part of Canada is full of lakes.

When I eat breakfast, I again sit at a table with four gentlemen. One gentlemen seems to dominate the conversation. When asked what his job is, he responds bullsh___er. Come to find out, he sits in the same coach car I do. You can hear him talking throughout the coach talking with people, getting their name, address and telephone number (in case he wants to send them a birthday card). Amazingly, many people give him their personal information. He claims he will get a contract with VIA Rail to turn the company around. He puts on a suit and barges into the sleeper cars and diner cars that are off limits to coach passengers. I later learn that he is a salesman.

The train stops for about forty minutes in Sioux Lookout. The passengers detrain to breathe fresh air and smoke if they so desire. About one hundred yards is a drug store where many of the passengers buy goodies. I buy a package of trail mix. I learn there is much history in this city.

Legend claims that late in the 1700s, a decisive battle was fought between the Ojibway and the Sioux at Pelican Lake (one of the many lakes near this town). The Ojibway reached the high peak of land above Pelican Lake and camped there and posted a lookout. One summer morning, a young scout spotted several war canoes in the distance and ran down the mountainside to warn the camp. The Ojibway ambushed the intruder Sioux tribe and all of them were killed. The Sioux boy became an Ojibway chief. When the railway bridge was built over Pelican Narrows, downstream from Sioux Lookout, many skeletons and skulls were found and identified as Sioux remains—thus, substantiating the legend.

Soon after leaving Sioux Lookout, a sign on the north side of the steel rails denotes the Ontario-Manitoba border. I thought we would never leave Ontario—it is huge. On the Manitoba side of the border is the undeveloped forest and lakes of Whiteshell Provincial Park, well known for its canoeing and fishing. Some of its 200 lakes were formed by meteor craters and offer some of the best northern pike, perch and lake trout fishing in Western Canada.

Originally, I scheduled a stay in Winnipeg, which is the next big town on my trip but could not find much to entertain me. If I would have had time, I could have taken a train to The Pas and Churchill. I have been told that this is beautiful country to see.

Winnipeg, Manitoba’s capital was originally the hub of Canadian fur trade, given its strategic location at the junction of the Red, Assiniboine and Seine Rivers. The forks has been a meeting place for thousands of years. The Forks includes Restaurants, shopping and entertainment. The train station is within walking distance from the Forks. One of the passengers suggests I eat one of the hot dogs at the Forks. I shop: I buy a key chain, brandy and a hot dog. It was a nice break from the train ride.

As we cross the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border, The Canadian is near the mid-point of it transcontinental journey. We make a stop in Saskatoon, named for purple berries that are found along the banks of the Saskatchewan River. The train does not go through the capital, Regina.

During the night we pass the Saskatchewan-Alberta border, which also marks the division between Central and Mountain Time Zones.

In the morning, the Canadian stops at Edmonton, where I detrain. Edmonton is Alberta’s capital and is regarded as the gateway to the north, given its role as the staging point for explorers and adventurers from the early days of fur trading to the Yukon gold rush and the Alberta oil discoveries of 1947.

In each of the cities, I look for transportation to the hotel or Bed and Breakfast. When I arrive early in the morning, I look for a place to leave my luggage. On this particular morning, many of the Canadian passengers detrain. I wait until most of them have gone before I call a cab. The cab driver has been a cabbie in Edmonton for 33 years. I ask him if he had ever driven for Wayne Gretzky, Hockey Hall of Fame Inductee for the Edmonton Oilers now the General Manaager with the Phoenix Coyotes. He had and he had transported several other hockey greats including Mark Messier and Grant Fuhr.

I stay at the Glenora Bed and Breakfast Inn. This 1912 Victorian era, City of Edmonton landmark has been renovated to reminisce of times past. Each room is furnished with antiques. The B&B is located in the heart of the Glenora district, within a neighborhood that offers art galleries, restaurants, and upscale shops for a variety of tastes. It is 12 minutes by car to the famous West Edmonton Mall and a ten minute walk to the Alberta Provincial Museum. I learn that one should ask how many blocks from the point of destination since each of us walk at a different pace—mine is slow.

There are twenty (21) guest rooms, suites and apartments with queen or twin beds. The Inn is smoke-free and caters to tourists like me. A full breakfast is served on the first floor at the Glenora Grill. Thank goodness, coin washers and dryers are available once housekeeping has completed its daily duties. It’s time for me to wash clothes. I take enough clothes to last a week before it is time to wash again.

Since I arrive early at the B&B, the desk clerk cordially places my bags in the manager’s office until time for me to check-in. I look around the Inn and head for an Internet café, The front desk clerk directs me north about seven blocks away from the B&B. I check my email, write more on my blog and walk back towards the B&B. It’s time to have lunch. I walk to Rosie’s Bar and Grill and eat a Pepper Jack Bacon Burger and a salad a couple of Canadian Beers. I return to the B&B and launder my clothes.

I have depleted my cash and need to locate an ATM, but there are very few banks in the area. Many of the businesses have ATMs, but these ATMs do not accept my debit cards. Hopefully, I will be able to find a bank before I leave in the morning.

I return to Rosie’s Bar and Grill for dinner and eat a Philly dip with a salad and a couple of Canadian Beers. I sit at the bar and strike up a conversation with a young male customer. It turns out that he is the chef for the Glenora Grill. I told him that I was staying at the B&B and will see him in the morning. I do not have a ticket for the next leg of my journey so I go to bed early tonight.

The bar customers are watching a hockey game. Edmonton is the only Canadian team still in the Stanley Cup playoffs. One of the customers will be going to the game tomorrow—Edmonton vs. San Jose. (Eventually, the Edmonton Oilers make it to the finals but lose to Carolina Hurricanes.)

In the morning, I have breakfast at Glenora Grill, see the Chef that I met the night before, and walk out into the rain to wait for my cab. He takes me to the Greyhound station.

I arrive in time to purchase my ticket and try to get cash out their ATM but with no luck.