By Karen Quinn-Panzer
Travel Matters
Karen Quinn-Panzer
After spending two lively days exploring Vancouver, the morning we boarded Rocky Mountaineer started off on a high note. Whisked away by taxis (some by bus), we arrived at the impressive Rocky Mountaineer station. Accompanied by bagpipes, we made our way to our goldleaf double decker train car where we found our seats – complete with heating options, leg rest and lumbar support.
We were greeted with a “preview” mimosa to toast to our train adventure: First Passage to the West, Vancouver-to-Calgary direction.
Goldleaf service means you sit upstairs with full panoramic windows up to and including the roof of the train, with a dining car below that has an outdoor viewing platform. Silverleaf is one level, and you are served meals at your seat. In total, there are 23 cars including locomotives and luggage cars, with 15 cars. In our goldleaf car, there were 68 guests. The total number of passengers on our trip was 904. That is about the same size as a Viking ocean ship.
Breakfast and lunch were served in two seatings and all food and drink was included. Lunch is a three-course affair replete with British Columbian fine wines. In between meals, a server comes by with canapés and savory treats offering a full bar located in the front of the car and served to you in your seat.
On day one, the tracks led us from the rainforest in Vancouver to Fraser Canyon Hell’s Gate and the town of Hope in the Cascade Mountains, where the gold rush began in 1858. From there we went to the arid desert canyons of Kamloops, our first overnight hotel stop.
On day two, we experienced a dramatic change from desert hoodoos to the greenery and tranquil Shuswap Lake as we entered the Columbia Mountain landscape on our journey to Lake Louise. As we ate lunch in the dining car, we went past Stoney Creek Bridge and the Columbia River (that ends in Astoria, Oregon).
The most dramatic mountains were on our final stretch as we traveled from British Columbia to Alberta and crossed the Continental Divide. The coup de grâce was the spiral tunnels that took us up into Cathedral Mountain in Yoho National Park.
The trip is much more than the dramatic scenery, top notch service and gourmet food and drink. Over the course of two days on the train, you learn the history of how Canada became a nation that expanded from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast with the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway (the same tracks traveled by Rocky Mountaineer).
Our trip package included two nights in Vancouver, two nights at Lake Louise (at Fairmont Chateau Laka Louise), a tour of Banff National Park and a night in Calgary, home of the Calgary Stampede and the largest mural in the world.
Rocky Mountaineer also operates a train trip between Moab, Utah and Denver from the Red Rocks to the Rockies in Colorado. All trips include stays in hotels each night.
Karen Quinn-Panzer is the owner and vacation specialist at Dream Vacations Quinn Panzer Travel in Milford.