Wednesday, September 11 – Quesnel to
Whistler, BC
The
train left a little later this morning and our baggage was picked up after
we left so we got to sleep in until 5:45, what luxury. Our destination today will be Whistler, BC, a
ski resort and home of the 2010 Winter Olympics.
It was
overcast and drizzling when we left Quesnel so our days of sunshine are
definitely behind us. Since this was
9/11, before any of the usual onboard activities started, one of the train
managers who had been living in New York on that fateful day gave a short, but
emotional speech on how it affected him, and then there was a moment of silence
in remembrance of the tragedy of that terrible day. A very nice gesture by our Canadian friends.
After
that, it was the usual routine on the train, except today we were on the late
seating so after getting our hot towels to freshen up, we were served scones
and juice while the other half of our train car went down to the first
seating of breakfast. Soon it was time for our
breakfast and we went down and as usual met and had a nice conversation over a
delicious meal.
The rest
of the day was typical as we spent it either relaxing in our seat, snacking and
having a drink, or outside on the viewing platform. Most of the morning was spent going through
forested land, but during the afternoon we traveled through some beautiful and
dramatic canyons.
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| We were the first Gold Leaf car so we could look out the front window at the front of the train. |
At lunch
this afternoon, we ate with the couple we had stood behind in the line to check-in in both Vancouver and Jasper. We have
really enjoyed talking to them and really like them. The Rocky Mountaineer advertisements all say
you will meet and become friendly with your fellow passengers and it is really
true. We have met some great people
and everyone is very friendly as there is a sense of camaraderie especially with
those of us doing the full circle route.
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| When going through any particularly scenic area, the outside viewing platform became very busy. |
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| One of the many lumber mills we saw, you can see the huge stacks of logs and this wasn't even one of the biggest. |
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| The weather wasn't the greatest today, but we certainly couldn't complain about the scenery. |
We
wouldn’t be arriving in Whistler until almost 9:00 so the car attendants said
they had a surprise snack for us so we wouldn’t go hungry 😃. It was quite a snack as we had a pesto penne pasta
with chicken that was very good and much more than just a snack. To top it off, we were served a large,
freshly baked cookie for dessert. Every
seat has its own table (like on an airplane), so everyone was served together in their seats. There was no reason for a late dinner in
Whistler as we were full when we arrived.
We
arrived in Whistler and it was raining quite hard. We were quickly on the buses and brought to the hotel and were in our room just after 9:00.
We are staying at the Whistler Four Seasons and it is very, very nice. We did have a little delay as when we went up
the elevator to go to our room, we couldn’t find it, our room was 645 and the
numbers ended at 641. We called the
front desk and they told us we were in the wrong wing and had to come back down and
across an enclosed bridge to find the elevators to our room. We were tired and frustrated and wondered why
that wasn’t pointed out earlier, but when we saw our room, all was forgiven.
We were
given a very roomy mini-suite which was very comfortable and had every amenity
you can imagine, including a fireplace. We only had a view of
the hotel courtyard, but it really didn’t matter to us as this was the nicest
room we have had so far on the trip. It
was getting late and we were tired to we settled in and were soon in bed. Tomorrow is our last day on the train as we
will be in Vancouver tomorrow night. We
have a free morning in Whistler as the train doesn’t leave until 2:30 PM.
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