VIA Rail - Canada 2022!!
I’m deviating this week from sharing the magnet stories chronologically to first bring you a message regarding my most recent trip involving rail travel.
If you happen to be a rail buff then this story is for you.
My husband Pete and I recently took a trip to the Canadian Rockies first booked in 2019. Finally, the Canadians let us Americans back in!
There is one part of our journey I am mentioning now because rumor has it, this train experience may not be available in its present form much longer.
When I first looked on the internet for train trips to the Canadian Rockies, I stumbled on Fresh Tracks Canada, an online travel agency based in Vancouver, British Columbia. I very much wanted to travel by train through the Canadian Rockies but didn’t know much my options.
I first discovered that taking the well known Rocky Mountaineer was much more expensive than I wanted to spend. Also, this train offered no sleeping accommodations (still true today). I very much wanted to sleep at least one night on a passenger train during this particular trip.
After reading the itinerary offered by Fresh Tracks Canada, I made contact with the company and discovered they offered an 8 night trip that fit perfectly with what we wanted to see at a cost we could afford (warning: this trip is still not inexpensive). Most of the journey is done by rental car but enticingly enough, the package included one overnight in a VIA Rail sleeper.
Travel Tip: If you love traveling by train, consider taking any VIA Rail long distance excursion sooner than later.
Here’s why—-
When we first entered our room in train car 213, I took note immediately of the two heavy chairs sitting in the middle of our hotel room on rails. Definitely designed in another era, these chairs were covered in heavy, but soft leather in a calming light brown color, complete with chrome accents on the arms. The chairs alone weighed easily at least 50 pounds each. Taking a further look around our room, I knew immediately that despite everything looking clean and fresh, this sleeper car was built well before my time. And I’m no spring chicken!
Somewhere between the Vancouver train station and stepping aboard our train headed East, we became time travelers. Excitedly, I told Pete, “I feel like we’re riding in a moving train museum!” Everywhere I looked, there was stainless, lots and lots of stainless, and shiny too. I felt I was desperately in need of a hat, white gloves, and a close fitting suit with matching kitten heels. Retro—yet 21st century; there were ample places to plug in our cell phones.
In our room, we had our own sink, half hidden by a folding counter and enough space to store carry-on sized suitcases and personal items. Best yet, we had our own lavatory with a door! The mid century utility switches seemed original. Cleverly hidden during the day, our two twin sized bunk style beds appeared out of nowhere when we enjoyed dinner in the dining room. I’m a fan of Amtrak but seriously—on this train, you could easily become lost in your own romantic time travel fantasy.
Visiting the observation car at night became its own surreal experience. As we sat on the upper level of the domed car watching the shadows of the mountains and trees whir by in a blur, it became easy to let all the cares of the world fade away. Ahead in the distance, we could make out the bright illumination of the train engine's headlight when we entered a curve, giving an eerie and mysterious element to the experience.
The Domed Observation Car
To top off the blast to the past, when walking to breakfast, we passed by a multitude of bunks on either side of the aisle in a forward rail car. Each bunk had a curtain of heavy tent-like material for privacy with a ladder hanging down from each top berth. I’m not kidding you, I thought at any moment Marilyn Monroe and a dressed in drag Tony Curtis would appear from behind one of the curtains and invite us to join them in some sort of comedic antics straight from the movie Some Like it Hot.
I’d only seen such rail cars at train museums, where you look through the plexiglass at a vacant, run down looking compartment wondering what it would have been like to be a passenger on such a train.
Our room was almost exactly as this one, photographed in the mid-50's
Oddly enough, when cleaning out some items from the attic this week while in the midst of writing this story, Pete stumbled upon a book titled Louisville and Nashville Railroad 1850-1959 by Kincaid Herr, published by L & N Magazine in 1960. While flipping through the pages, I stumbled upon photos on page 203 capturing the almost identical accommodations we enjoyed in 2022 as photographed in the mid century book. You have to give the Canadian VIA Rail a lot of credit. A tremendous amount of maintenance, money and care must go into keeping their passengers cars in such great condition so we can enjoy retro travel seventy years later.
I was informed by a VIA rail employee before we arrived at our destination in Jasper that VIA is systematically replacing these iconic sleeping cars in the coming years. So—-if you have ever wished to experience train travel as it was back in the 1950’s, you still have the opportunity! Btw —the food and service onboard VIA long distance trains is fantastic!
Travel Tip -I highly recommend taking an overnight VIA Rail passenger train trip anywhere across the beautiful country of Canada.
And now, —time to return to 2007 I suppose. (Personally, I could “stay” on that VIA train remembering a great "Blast to the Past" for a while longer).
Cape Cod Anyone?
When you have high school aged children who are driving or nearly driving, it may be a challenge to come up with a vacation that your kids will want to partake in with their “old” parents. We ran into such a challenge in the summers of 2006 and 2007. We were saving for the boy's upcoming college expenses. Also, I was only working two days a week and my income wasn’t going let us afford rooms at the Ritz. Working as a medical assistant in a doctors office, my take home pay was less than $9.00/hr.
Fortunately, my dear friend Kristin saved the day! She suggested we rent an available house close to her own parents home on “the Cape of Cod” as Pete affectionately calls the island. It seemed like a great idea. We could drive our own car and save money by cooking most of our meals. In addition, we knew friends also vacationing on or near the cape who had invited us to visit.
Cape Cod is an especially fun summer vacation destination for any family. You will find tons of things to do such as kayaking, taking a sailing lesson, riding bikes on the 25-mile long Rail Trail, banging around on bumper boats, crashing around in go-carts and there’s lots of mini-golf.
In 2006, we ventured on the Atlantic for a day trip. Having friends, the Alexanders, who have a house on Nantucket, we easily hopped the ferry out of Hyannis for a pleasurable boat ride to the island. Bringing our bikes with us, the four of us enjoyed a spectacular afternoon exploring and hanging out on the rocky beach.
That same year, I made an ill fated decision to ride a “torpedo” (which actually looked like two giant bananas tied together). Pulled by a speeding cigarette type boat the experience looked way more fun on shore than in reality. Take my advice, unless you love having gallons of saltwater assaulting your face like a water cannon, let the younger generation “enjoy” this activity. In contrast, the four of us quickly discovered the joys of shelling on a quiet beach at a nearby tidal pool and mini golfing for pirate treasure at a nearby Pirates Cove.
We still get a chuckle from the religious/English lesson of 2006. We told 12 year old Henrik that we would take him to the Sundae School during our week-long visit. The adorable ice cream shop was close to our rental. The mile long line streaming from the shop seemed a pretty good indication that the ice cream must be darn good. About mid week, Henrik asked , “Can we go get ice cream after Sunday School today”? Pete and I looked at each other and laughed good naturedly after realizing that Henrik truly thought he had to attend “Sunday School” before earning a dish of ice cream. Straightening out his confusion over the homonyms, we made a special trip to the Sundae School in Dennisport, where we all enjoyed a cone.
Henrik enjoyed his sailing lessons both years. Phil enjoyed a different type of “sailing”. In late July of 2006, Phil started flying lessons at the Brandywine Airport in West Chester, PA. Flying has been Phil’s passion for practically his entire life. When he saw the sign for sailplane rides at the Cape Cod Airport, he quickly asked if he could take one.
We found the pilots standing in a rather tired looking grass field near a beautiful and very shiny red and yellow sailplane. A sailplane is initially pulled by a small propeller plane. When the altitude is just right, the cable connecting the two planes is disconnected allowing the powerless plane to literally fly (glide) noiselessly on its own back to earth.
Phil eagerly jumped into the glider that first year. Away he and the pilot "took off", being towed by a small single engine aircraft. We watched both planes go higher and higher, until we couldn’t hear the engine of the prop plane any longer. Suddenly, we could detect more distance between the two planes, the connecting cable now obviously detached.
Those of us on the ground watched mesmerized as the tiny looking plane in the sky effortlessly glided through the air, often going around and around in large circles as it gained altitude for quite a while. Eventually, we could see the sailplane’s long wings grow larger and larger in the sky as it made its gentle descent. After the pilot's smooth landing on the nearby grass, Phil hopped out saying how much fun he had. The pilot had let him take over the controls for quite a while it turned out.
When we returned to the Cape in 2007, Phil, Pete and Henrik took their own flights with me holding down the fort as ground crew. Remembering my issues fighting dizziness and nausea while going round and round on the Eiffel Tower steps in June of 2007, I played it safe keeping both feet firmly on the grass. The soft spoken glider pilot informed us that he was moving on from Cape Cod at summer's end. He wasn’t the only pilot moving on soon.
Phil was weeks away from achieving his private pilot’s certificate and planned to pursue a commercial pilot program in college. His flight instructor at Brandywine, Ryan, told him while we were on the cape in August of 2007, he had been hired as a commercial pilot and would be leaving the flight school soon. Big changes were coming for our family, but our time on Cape Cod was relaxing and full of good old fashioned family fun.
If planning a visit to the Cape, keep in mind that during the busy summer months, the communities are jam packed with tourists. If you plan to go by car, the traffic alone can easily put a dent in everyone’s good vacation mood. During the height of the pandemic, Kristin said she made the trip in a record time of six hours from Philadelphia. In contrast, in pre-pandemic times, it once took nine.
The summers we visited on the cape, we left our home outside of Philadelphia around 5 am and were rewarded with an arrival time of 1 pm including a lunch stop in Mystic.
Travel Tip: Consider leaving really early in the morning (pre 6 am) or later in the afternoon or early evening when driving into or around Northeast cities to reach nearby vacation spots. Your passengers will especially thank you.
Upcoming college expenses were going to put a big restraint on the family vacation budget in the coming years. Not necessarily glamorous, the next magnet stories revolve around a pretty important group of people. We covered thousands of traveling miles to be together but then, after a pandemic, isn’t being able to be with family the most incredible destination of all?
Respects go to the family of Queen Elizabeth II and to all of the United Kingdom as we learned of the Queen's passing yesterday, Sept 8, 2022. The entire world will miss an incredible monarch who for 70 years gave her life to the service of her country and to promoting peace throughout the world.
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