I’m taking a diversion from the sort of things we usually write about and posting this information in the hopes that it will help some future traveler on The Canadian. One thing I learned ahead of time is that berths are the only accommodations on the train without their own outlets. As a pretty connected family that was bringing many devices, I spent a lot of time searching online, trying to figure out the locations of various outlets that we could use to charge them. In particular, I read that there was an outlet in the hallway of the sleeper cars near the bathrooms that might be reachable with an extension cord, but the description of exactly where was pretty vague, so I had no idea how long of a cord would be needed to actually make reasonable use of it. If you’re like I was and trying to understand what you’re in for as a berth passenger with charging needs, here’s my best description of all of the charging options I saw on the train.

The Bathroom. I know it seems weird, but the reality is that there are only a handful of other passengers likely to use the bathrooms at the front of each manor sleeper car. This is because all of the single and double cabins have their own toilet and sink inside those compartments. So you’re really just sharing with the other berth passengers. Of course there’s nothing stopping other passengers walking through from using these bathrooms, but I suspect most people are going to be charging at night when that sort of traffic will be minimized.

When facing the front of the train, the bathroom on the right is larger than the one on the left. This larger bathroom is best option in my opinion. Opposite the toilet, it’s got a small stool with a shallow shelf under a mirror on the wall. That shelf is plenty close to the outlet, making it the perfect place to set your devices while topping up.

There is one potential caveat, though. We took two different trains due to a stopover during our trip. The first one had both bathrooms marked for use by anyone, while the second train had the larger bathroom marked for women and the smaller for men. I doubt the labels matter much in the end, but it’s something to keep in mind.

There is also an outlet in the smaller bathroom, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You can see in the picture that there is a small shelf nearby, but it’s actually the drip tray for the soap dispenser. It’s certainly not ideal for a phone, and likely too small to hold a tablet or more than one device.

Hallway Outlet. This is the primary reason I decided to write this post. There is indeed an outlet in the hallway near the berths in every manor car. It’s at the very front of the car on the same wall as the smaller bathroom, so it’s on the left side when facing the front of the train. I decided to buy a 10 foot extension cord (about three meters) and hope for the best. Mine turned out to be just long enough to be functional, but not quite ideal. The end reached just to the edge of the nearest berth, so a typical three foot (~one meter) charging cable would reach the rest of the way onto the seat. A 15 footer (approximately four and a half meters) would have been ideal. You’d especially want that if you were on the opposite side of the car behind the larger bathroom. And if you’re in the third birth, you’d probably want a length of at least 20 or maybe even 25 feet (six to seven and a half meters) which might be getting too large to be worth packing into your luggage.

I did use this option a few times when I wanted to charge a device during the day without babysitting it. Under those circumstances, I was more comfortable leaving the device amongst our other stuff on the seat in the berth over sitting unattended in the bathroom. If you think this is a good option for you, I would highly recommend an extension cord with a flat plug so it won’t stick out from the wall into the already narrow hallway. I bought this one from Anker and got lucky that the plug was actually installed upside down so that the direction of the cord coming out of the plug was correct to maximize it’s reach. This was not true for our sleeper car on the second leg, though, so an even better option might be one with a flat plug that also rotates 360° so direction doesn’t matter.

Skyline Car. There are two viable options in the Skyline car, both on the lower level. The first and most likely to be available is in the middle of the activity section with tables and chairs. We spent a fair amount of our time here playing cards and other games, so this was actually a pretty good option for us. This outlet is centered between two tables, so you can reasonably use it from either of them. At least one of these tables was open pretty much every time we walked through the car, so I was always able to plug in at least one device here every time I tried.

I thought this was the only option in the Skyline car until close to the end of our second leg. I happened to be nearby when the activity coordinator pointed out a second option to another passenger. It’s in the lounge area between a booth and the bathroom. This one is really only a viable option if you’re sitting in that specific booth due to the relatively heavy traffic through the Skyline car.

Park Car Bullet Lounge. This is a great option with a caveat. On one hand, the Park car is the nicest and comfiest spot on the entire train with a single receptacle for every seat in the lounge on the lower level. However, the Park car is only available to berth passengers after 4pm each day. Prior to that, it is reserved for the use of prestige class passengers only. It’s also the last car on the train, so depending on the placement of your sleeper car, it’s a bit of a commitment to get all the way back there. I only visited twice over our four days, and didn’t think to grab a picture. I did find this video from Adventures with Todd that clearly shows the outlets, though.

No Outlet! I would be remiss if I didn’t mention this option as well. Even though I knew there would be charging opportunities using outlets somewhere, I also came prepared with a backup plan in the form of two power banks. Something like this 10,000mAh option from Anker will recharge a phone up to three times, and it’s small enough (about the size of a phone) to carry it with you and top up anywhere.

I hope this helps someone out there! Thanks for reading.

Sunday, June 25, 2023.

1:45am Pacific: Wake up and get ready for a looong day. Finish the last bits of packing.

2:15am: Say goodby to the airbnb and start the drive to the airport. 

2:57am: Arrive at the airport and return the rental car to en empty garage.

3:10am: Check in at the American Airlines counter.

3:15am: Get in line for baggage drop.

4:00am: Baggage check actually opens and everyone realizes we’re lined up going the wrong direction. Remind me: why did we need to be here three hours before the flight?

4:10am: Pass through security where they scrutinize my backpack and it’s content for at least 15 minutes. I fully admit there’s a lot of random bits and pieces in it, but this is excessive. The bag is literally empty and they are still separately running individual pieces back through the scanner. Explain to the security staff that, no, there is not a hidden blade inside my multi-tool because I specifically bought it because it doesn’t have one so it can be carried on for air travel.

4:25am: Finally leave the security checkpoint and get in line at US Customs. Vancouver International Airport offers customs pre-clearance, so once we pass this checkpoint we are considered to be in the US and everything is handled as a domestic flight from that point.

4:30am: US Customs is supposed to open. Tell me again: why did we get here three hours early?

4:35am: US Customs actually opens.

4:45am: Pass through US Customs with no fanfare whatsoever. Still no stamps on the passports. 😕

5:00am: Find a coffee shop and grab chocolate croissants and a yogurt parfait for breakfast.

5:05am: Arrive at our gate.

5:15am: Boarding begins for the flight.

6:00am: Our flight departs on time.

11:45am Central: Arrive in terminal B at DFW and hop on the airport train heading toward the gate for our connection in thermal C. The train does not visit the terminals in letter order, so it’s a bit of a ride.

11:52am: Exit the train at terminal C and start walking toward Dickey’s BBQ for lunch. Notice an Auntie Anne’s and make plans for a post-lunch snack.

11:53am: Get a notification on my phone that they’ve changed our gate. No big deal, we have plenty of time.

11:55am: Another notification that they’ve changed our gate. OK, at least it’s in the same terminal.

11:55am: One more! Really‽ Back to B we go. Let’s deal with that after lunch.

12:15pm: Finally get our food from Dickey’s BBQ. It’s pretty good.

12:50pm: Our gate hasn’t changed in a while, so we feel safe heading back to B. Despite the indirect train route, there is an easy way to walk there. It’s hot in the sky bridge; the first half anyway. (Ooo, foreshadowing!)

1:03pm: Pass another Auntie Anne’s. You what that means! Ellie and Amber both choose cinnamon sugar pretzel bites, while Mackenzie and me go with original pretzels with cheese. 

2:45pm: We should be boarding, but instead they announce that the plane is too hot. It’s 100° outside and nearly as hot inside the plane. They need to cool it down before we can board.

4:15pm: The staff at the gate announce they’re ready to board us, but they need our help. They can’t cool the plane during boarding, so we need to go fast before it heats up again. We start boarding immediately and the plane is thankfully a very comfortable temperature.

4:35pm: It’s only been 20 minutes, but we’re fully boarded.

4:40pm: The plane pulls away from the gate. It’s already starting to heat up.

4:45pm: We make it airborne and it starts to cool down again. A delay of about an hour and fifteen minutes.

6:30pm: Arrive in Madison just over an hour late after an uneventful flight beyond the delay.

6:50pm: Grab our bags from baggage claim and blow that popsicle stand!

Saturday, June 24, 2023. We felt like we didn’t have enough time at Granville Island yesterday to really do it justice before everything started to close, so we decided to head back today. We debated about breakfast, and eventually chose a place on the way that had good reviews. Unfortunately they were up to a 45 minute wait by the time we got there (20 minutes after they opened), so we ended up going around the corner for ol’ reliable: Tim Hortons.

While we were eating, I noticed that we were close to the Vancouver Public Library which is styled like the Coliseum in Rome, so we walked over to check it out. We would have gone inside (and probably done the Adventure Lab), but it wasn’t open yet.

Part of the reason to return to Granville was for the Kids Market. It’s an entire building of shop’s with kids as the target audience. While that is pretty cool in concept, it turned out to be a little underwhelming. The first shop we stopped in was basically a toy store…and so were 75% of the other shops, most of which carried basically the same thing you can get in just about any Target or Wal-Mart. The items for sale also skewed pretty young, so much so that Mackenzie got a little pouty because there was nothing that interested her.

Luckily we did find one gem on the second floor tucked between a hair salon and the arcade. It was a magic shop, and one of the staff wasn’t shy about showing off his wares. The girls weren’t really very impressed at first, but then I saw that they carried a whole selection of wands for various characters from Harry Potter. He eventually showed us a trick box for making candy or money disappear. That one got the girls attention (because it was really cool!), so Ellie decided to buy one.

Once we were done inside the Kids Market, we continued exploring and picking up Adventure Lab stops and a few physical caches as well. One set of Adventure Labs was setup as an I Spy game where you had to find the item of interest from a distance, then approach to get the needed answer. The girls enjoyed that one more than most.

It started raining as we found the last physical cache in the area, so it was time to go. We decided we had two things on our agenda for the afternoon: finding some old caches and getting gelato. But first, we needed to pick a spot for lunch.

Based on the direction we were headed and Amber’s directive of comfort food, I chose Burgoo. Amber got a pulled pork sandwich with tomato soup, Ellie had a fancier than usual mac and cheese, Mackenzie got a grilled cheese sandwich, and I had chicken Parmesan sandwich. The girls were their typical picky selves, but that just gave us the opportunity to clean up after them, so I wasn’t really complaining.

After lunch it was time for a few more caches. Geocachers like to come up with challenges to keep the game interesting. One well-known challenge is the Jasmer. To qualify, you must find a cache hidden in each month since the game began in May 2000. Since there weren’t very many caches in the early days and even fewer of them have survived today, the older months are the most challenging. We’ve been slowly chipping away at it over the years, but we’re actually getting reasonably close to finishing. We’ve already picked up a few months on the trip, so we went for another one that took care of May 2001.

We still had time before we wanted to head back to the airbnb, so I looked around the map and spotted a park that held a collection of highly favorited caches. One was a newspaper box in the woods, one required calling a phone number to get the final coordinates, and another contained a miniature replica of the trans Canada highway.

At last it was time for Amber’s top priority for our time in Vancouver: La Casa Gelato! They are famous for having a world record number of flavors, with over 500 created and 238 available in store at any given time. Each of the girls got a single scoop cone, while Amber and I splurged for two scoops each. Peanut butter Oreo for Ellie, mint chocolate chip cookie dough for Mackenzie, caramel Oreo + pistachio for Amber, and salted caramel fudge brownie + pistachio for me. (Amber and I were thinking of all the pistachio gelato we enjoyed in Italy back in 2010.) The store can get so busy that you’re only allowed inside while making your purchase, but they have a nice outdoor seating area with benches across the street where we sat and enjoyed our flavors of choice.

Gelato was really the last interesting part of our day. Due to an early start the next morning, we planned an early return to the airbnb, then worked on getting packed up and ate most of our remaining snacks with a McDonald’s supplement for dinner. The girls were in bed relatively early, and even Amber and I were in bed by 9:30.

Wednesday, June 21, 2023. Something a little different for today.

Written by Ellie:
We woke up around 6:30 and got packed up and headed to breakfast at Bear Paw bakery. Once we got breakfast we brought back the car and went inside the train station, then we waited to board the train. We boarded around 9:15 ish and found our seats in the train car 113 and our berth numbers are 2 and 3.

We put our bags at our berths and went up to the skyline car and played cribbage and card games. We had mimosas and kiddy cocktails and Ellie and Carson went back to berth to get the Switch then we went back up to the skyline. 

Written by Mackenzie:
When Mackenzie and Amber finished there game of cribbage, Ellie, Carson and Amber played a three player game of cribbage while Mackenzie  played on the iPad. When it was time for brunch they headed to the dining car. 

After brunch we went back to the berths and we talked with strangers about Oregon. (the strangers were from Oregon as well). Then we went to the game car. Eleanor and Mackenzie  played chess. Then Amber and Carson came and Ellie started to work with Amber a 300 piece puzzle. While Mackenzie worked on a 210 piece puzzle.

Editor’s Note: Somehow they both forgot to mention that we also saw some bears right next to the train, passed a waterfall, and took a goofy picture at Kamloops North station!

Tuesday, June 20, 2023. One of the things on our list for our time in Jasper was to explore Malign Canyon. Based on my research beforehand, I knew there were trails and a series of bridges back and fourth across the canyon, so we could kind of choose our own adventure in terms of how far we wanted to go before heading back to the parking area.

After surveying the geocache map, we decided to go to at least as far as the third bridge, which would be far enough to get an EarthCache and a traditional. The latter was exciting because there weren’t a lot of physical caches available in this stretch of the trip and I was ready for something to actually find.

It was quickly apparent before we even left the parking lot that the area was going to be a sloppy mess. There was still snow on the ground, but the temperature was well above freezing so everything was melting. The parking lot had several large puddles, and the trail was no different. There was also quite a bit of tree damage here, too, some of it affecting the trails.

Despite the mess, this was a pretty fun area to explore. There are several theories about how it was formed, but my favorite is that a glacier scraped the top off of an existing cave. It is very deep in some parts, and each of the bridges we crossed was marked with it’s height above the canyon. The highest was 51 meters, or about 167 feet. We timed how long it took to drop a snowball to the river below; it was nearly 4 seconds!

The EarthCache we were working on asked for quite a bit of information, and I couldn’t find one of the signs I needed. After we were well past it, I realized that a tree had fallen right on top of it. Luckily there was a fence behind it to hold it up just enough that I could duck underneath and still read the sign.

Once we got past the third bridge, we decided to go a little bit further and continued to the fourth. It was a little less exciting than the others, but the hike was still beautiful despite the tree damage.

On our way back, we took a different path to get to the traditional cache. This one was not paved and involved a lot more elevation changes and tree dodging. When we got to the coordinates, I realized it was a micro (about the size of a film canister) and the snow was going to make this search difficult if it was on the ground as the hint implied. We spent quite a bit of time with the four of us looking, and tried to use pictures from previous logs to help us find it but didn’t have any success. Everyone was ready to give up, but I decided to check one more spot…and there it was!

The rest of the walk back to parking was more of the same. Despite the weather, the area was pretty crowded and the parking lot was even more full than when we arrived. We considered getting lunch at the restaurant there, but the girls didn’t see anything they would eat on the menu. We realized as we left that the parking lot was so full in part because a second parking lot next to a viewpoint was closed due to downed trees.

As we got back to Jasper for lunch, we decided to redirect from our original choice because it looked more expensive/fancy than we were expecting. Instead, we ended up at Famoso which turned out to be a great choice. They serve pizzas made in a wood fired oven. The girls weren’t overly thrilled with their cheese pizzas (they’re boring), but Amber and I got a really tasty chicken and pesto pizza.

So, uh, anyone reading probably noticed that the posts from our Canada trip stopped before the trip did. I promise we really did write about the remainder of the trip, and even did it during the trip this time. I even have proof!

But when it came to posting, let’s just say it takes almost as much time as the writing part to choose photos, properly format, upload, and everything in between. Then when we got home without having finished, life just goes on, you know? Anyway, it pretty much took from then until the next vacation (Thanksgiving!) to finally have a block of time to hammer the out the rest. Post dump incoming…

Sunday, June 18, 2023.

6:00am: Wake up! Grab a brush and put a little make-up!

6:45am: Leave the hotel and walk to the local IGA grocery store in light rain. Pickup breakfast and lunch supplies for the day.

7:25am: Arrive at the HopOnBanff meeting point at Moose Hotel and eat breakfast while we wait. HopOnBanff will take us to the most interesting places in Banff National Park without the drama of driving ourselves. One of the locations is now only reachable by licensed shuttles like this one.

7:40am: Meet one of our hosts, Tyler and get some early details about the day before boarding a big yellow school bus.

7:45am: The bus leaves Banff and we immediately spot an elk at the side of the road. Take some silly selfies.

8:20am: Arrive at our first stop of the day, Johnston Canyon. We have just under two hours to see as much as we care to see. Take a quick bathroom break, then hit the trail through the canyon. It’s nicely paved, but we have a long way to go. It’s also raining steadily and we’re all getting soaked. We reach a fork in the trail and choose to go to the further upper falls first and possibly catch the lower falls on the way back.

9:10am: We make it to the upper falls just before the halfway point of our allotted time, and take it all in. The trail ends on a little platform out over the river with a great view of the falls. As we leave the platform to make our way back, Ellie realizes we have to do it all again in reverse and has a bit of a breakdown. Amber decides to distract her with the alphabet game, which does work after a little while. We reach the fork to the lower falls and Amber and Ellie decide to skip it. Mackenzie and I check it out, snap a few pictures, then hustle to catch up.

9:55am: We make it back to the pick up point and do a little shopping in the Johnston Canyon resort shop.

10:10am: Meet our second host for the day, Dominque, and depart Johnston Canyon on another yellow school bus. Learn some fascinating facts about bears, their diet, mating habits, and delayed implantation.

11:15am: Arrive at Lake Louise. It’s still raining, but not as heavily as it was earlier. We head into the gigantic Fremont Chateau Lake Louise hotel and feel very out of place walking through this posh place in our wet hiking gear (at list it wasn’t muddy). We go through the hotel and toward the lake then start down the trail on the northwest side of the lake. We work on some EarthCaches as we go and learn (again) about rock flour and how it affects the perceived color of the water. After the caches, we eat our packed lunch as we walk, and are pleasantly surprised that we all chose something tasty. As we return to the hotel, Amber and the girls head inside to find a place to rest while I do a bit more exploring.

1:40pm: Meetup with Tyler again and Depart Lake Louise. Start learning about the Valley of the Ten Peaks, and note that the weather has cleared up reasonably well to see it all.

2:05pm: Arrive at Moraine Lake. Start by heading up the rock pile for what Tyler described as the million dollar view. Explore the top of the rock pile and take some great photos. Then head back down for the $20 view (the Valley of the Ten Peaks used to be on the Canadian $20 bill). Two more EarthCaches and a little shopping at the gift shop.

3:15pm: Depart Moraine Lake. Admire the scenery on the drive back to Banff.

3:45pm: Our driver spots two black bears at the side of the road!

4:55pm: Arrive back in Banff. Start the walk back to our hotel.

5:05pm: Arrive at Charltons Banff to drop our stuff, change our shoes, and choose The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner.

5:30pm: Learn it’s a 30 minute wait even though it’s not really dinner time. 🙁

5:55pm: Get seated for some tasty food.

7:30pm: Get back to the hotel so we can change and hit the pool. The girls have almost waited patiently.

9:00pm: It’s bed time for Amber and the girls.

9:30pm: I go back out for some caches! But I only find one out of two, and spend so much time looking for the second that I decide to call it a night without attempting any more.

10:25pm: I return to the hotel and write some stuff for the blog.

11:30pm: The longest walk is finally over. I finish the day with about 29,000 steps and nearly triple my move goal for the day. I’ll probably still wake up at 6am.

Saturday, June 17, 2023. Despite the delay scare yesterday, the train made it to Jasper within a few minutes of the scheduled time of 6:30am. We made sure we were up a bit before then so we could pack up the last of our things, then disembarked into light rain. We hung around the station waiting for our checked bags which appeared without a problem despite the initial tagging oopsie.

We had about two hours to kill before we could pickup our rental car, so we grabbed breakfast at Tim Horton’s again and planned to go for some caches and adventure labs. The breakfast part went off without a hitch, but we only made it through one cache and one AL before Amber decided she wasn’t interested in tromping around in the cold and rain with all our stuff (totally reasonable). So she took the girls back to the train station to wait inside since it was also the rental car location, and I continued with the original plan. I found a couple more in the rain (including one near Jasper the Bear) and learned some interesting Jasper history before my time was up and I headed back to the train station, too.

Once the National counter opened, they gave us a Honda H-RV which they classify as a compact SUV. It’s definitely compact, but it holds a surprising amount of luggage in the back and was roomier than I expected. With the key in hand, we loaded up and hit the road for the roughly three and a half hour drive to Banff. Since it’s only a few hours from Jasper, we decided when planning the trip that it was too close to pass up the opportunity to see both. There’s really only one logical route to get there, and that’s via the Icefields Parkway. We planned to take our time and make several stops along the route. We had a list of options so we could hit some of them today and some of them on our way back to Jasper in two days.

Stop number one came pretty quickly: Athabasca Falls. It’s not the widest or tallest waterfall, but it was pretty impressive all the same. The girls helped me find the answers for an EarthCache by reading all of the information signs. It was only sprinkling by this point, so we had fun exploring the area and it’s various observation points. We found a physical cache on our way out, then hit the road again.

After climbing up several thousand feet and coming through the Sunwapta Pass, our next stop on the list was the Parker Ridge Trail. It was quite a bit colder by this point due to the change in elevation, but the rain stopped shortly after we hit the trail. This hike goes from the Icefields Parkway and climbs up the side of (surprise!) Parker Ridge. The first half of the trail is a series of switchbacks through a gorgeous forest of fir and spruce trees, while the second half tops the tree line.

The parking area sits at around 6600 feet of elevation, and hiking all the way to the top of the ridge requires climbing another 1100 feet or so. We figured the girls wouldn’t get that far, so we targeted a bench just below the halfway mark instead. The sun came out for a while as we walked through the trees, which translated to lot of removing and re-adding layers as we alternated between shade and sun. Once we reached the bench, we decided to keep going a little further. We ended up clearing the tree line and stopping right around 7200 feet of elevation. Let’s just say there was a fair amount of huffing and puffing from Amber and me, but it was worth it.

When we were about halfway back down, it started raining lightly. We were mostly prepared for that, but got a surprise when the rain turned to graupel which continued for the remainder of our walk back to the car. We really are getting a little bit of everything in terms of weather (unintentional foreshadowing).

I think my planning for this stretch was pretty good overall, but I neglected one thing: lunch. The Icefields Parkway runs through Jasper and Banff National Parks which are mostly wilderness with relatively few places to stop for food or supplies. We were pushing mid-afternoon when we finally reached The Crossing. This facility is basically it’s own small town since it has to be fully self-sufficient. For us, it was a welcome spot for a late lunch before we hit the road again.

Our third and final stop before reaching Banff was Peyto Lake. We took a paved, but sometimes very steep trail up to an observation platform for great views of another blue/green lake. Then we went off the paved trail to a higher observation point that was much less crowded. I grabbed the details for an EarthCache and a virtual, then we moved on.

In our last stretch of driving, we came upon a bunch of cars stopped at the sides and in the middle of the road. What the heck is going on? Oh, of course there’s a black bear at the side of the road. And people are the worst.

We finally rolled into Banff around dinner time. We got checked into our hotel, Charltons Banff. It’s got a strange indoor/outdoor layout, but it was pretty nice overall and we had a view of the mountains.

We finished off our evening with dinner at Alberta Wing Shack. We were looking for something simple, and this fit the bill nicely. Amber got the Toronto Maple Leafs flavor (apple butter mesquite), while I went with Smokey Blue, and we got Honey BBQ for the girls.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Our home away from home for the next three days is the Via Rail train The Canadian. Here’s a breakdown of the 21 cars on our train from front to back.

• Two engines do the work.
• A baggage car holds all checked bags. We do not have access to them during the trip, so we had to carefully plan what to pack in carry-on bags. (No mistakes so far!)
• One or two economy class cars offer the cheapest tickets. You get a seat with an outlet and access to a Skyline activity car. Neither Amber or I was interested in sleeping for three nights in a reclined seat, so we knew we needed to go up at least one level.
• The first Skyline activity car is reserved for use by economy class passengers. Each one is a two-level car. The lower level has a game room with tables and chairs, an area for snacks/drinks, and a lounge area. The upper deck is an observation dome with seating for 24, including two tables.
• The first set of sleeper plus class Manor cars. The front of each sleeper car has two bathrooms, followed by three berths and a shower. Each berth section has two benches that face each other, and the section gets converted into bunk beds at night. Next is a section of double cabins, then a few single cabin roomettes at the back.
• Sleeper plus Skyline A car, the first of two available for sleeper plus class.
• Dining car A with a full kitchen and seating for 48.
• Another set of Manor cars.
• Sleeper plus Skyline B car.
• Dining car B.
• Another set of Manor cars.
• Two prestige class Chateau cars. These have larger luxury cabins and a personal concierge. For a hefty price tag, of course.
• One Park car containing a bar, a “bullet lounge” with wrap-around windows at the end of the train, and an upper deck observation dome similar to the Skyline cars but with nicer finishes. Use of this car is reserved for prestige class passengers during the day, with sleeper plus passengers having access after 4pm.

Amber and I had no intentions of sleeping in a reclined seat for three nights, so we agreed to splurge for sleeper plus class. But the cost of private cabins combined with the fact that we’d be split into two anyway convinced us that our best option was upper and lower births. The girls were thrilled to get to sleep in bunk beds, and we were happy to take the lower berths with window access.

For this leg of the trip, we ended up in berths one and two, opposite one another and right behind the bathrooms. We met our car attendant Sidney as we boarded the train. She sets up our beds each night and takes them down in the morning, and is available to answer questions if we need it (we haven’t).

It took each of us a while to get used to the motion of the train. No one ever really felt sick, just a little off. The early route has lots of trees right next to the tracks, which makes it difficult to focus on anything when looking out the window. Dramamine helped us feel a bit more normal.

Our first experience in the dining car was pretty amazing. They offer four options for each meal, and do have separate kid options available as well. We opened the first menu to see shrimp and scallops looking back at us. Three of us said, “Yes, please!” It turned out to be served over an Asian salad which was super tasty. Even Ellie agreed. Mackenzie decided to go with kids chicken tenders and she seemed to enjoy them as well despite them having a different breading than what she’s used to having. Dinner options were tasty as well. Mackenzie chose broccoli stir fry, Amber chose chicken in a mushroom sauce, Ellie went for PB & J, and I picked beef tenderloin. Yum!

When we weren’t in the dining car, we spent most of our time in the Skyline playing games or reading. We decided to get a kids Kindle before the trip, and the girls have been trading on and off, burning through way more books than we expected (not exactly a bad problem to have). Mackenzie re-taught me how to play cribbage, and crushed me in the process.

By the end of the day we were all more than ready for bed. So, the girls and Amber embarked on the next adventure of train life: Showers! I decided to wait until morning, but I can imagine it was a challenge to shower while the train was in motion.

About 8 o’clock we asked Sidney to make up our beds for the night. It was pretty interesting watching her climb all over the births to set everything up. Once we were each cocooned into our own space, I wrapped up the evening writing blog posts and playing Zelda before finally giving up and calling it a night.

Wednesday, June 14, 2023. Today we started the leg of the trip that Amber and I have been most anticipating: the journey across the country by train. This leg will take us from Toronto to Jasper over the course of three full days. I did my best to research ahead of time what this part of the trip would be like and even played some YouTube videos for the girls to give them a better idea of what to expect. But nothing is ever quite the same as seeing things in person.

Before we got to the train, though, we had a morning of silly maneuvering in front of us. You see, we had to get from our condo rental to the train station. It sounds so simple until you start putting all the pieces together. Since we flew into Pearson International Airport, we of course rented our car from there as well. And I setup the rental car to be returned to the airport without even thinking about it (I don’t actually know if there were any other options anyway). However, the airport is not close to our condo nor the train station. They are both mostly downtown, but not really close enough to walk with all of our luggage.

So with all this in mind, I previously planned out the early morning to go something like this: 1) leave our condo and “check out” by returning the key to it’s hiding spot outside of Tim Horton’s, 2) drive to the airport, 2) return the rental car, 3) find the UP Express terminal, 4) ride the UP Express train from the airport to Union Station downtown, 5) check in for the train, and finally 6) board the train for our 9:55 departure. After I initially wrote it all out and backtracked to figure out when we should leave, I came back to double and triple check this plan to be absolutely certain I had allowed ample padding for Toronto traffic or any other unforeseen circumstances.

Luckily we got out of the condo right on time, and I’m happy to report that everything went pretty well according to plan. I thought we were going to end up being a bit early, but it turned out to be just about perfect given the steps we had to go through to check-in for the train. We did end up adding 1a) grab breakfast from Tim Horton’s to eat on the way to the airport, and our lone mistake was 5a) realize we told the staff at the train station handling checked bags the wrong destination (Vancouver instead of Jasper – yes, we want those bags during the stopover!) so our bags needed to be retagged. They had already disappeared into a baggage area, but the attendant assured me she’d get the tags switched. Hopefully that one won’t come back around to bite us in a few days…

The remaining check-in steps involved heading to the business lounge to meet the service manager for the first two days on the train, then meeting the meal coordinator for our dining car to choose whether we wanted the first or second sitting (first please!). Then we were shuffled down a ramp to stand in line for an escalator to take us back up to the platform where we could finally board the train!