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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 13, 2009 14:30:33 GMT
Sackville, NB (Waterfowl Park)  I think this is the place in Quebec City, another AnyPort member said gave them vertigo... had the same effect on me!  Love the 40's of beer available in Montreal corner stores!  Had a picnic at the Canadian Parliment buildings in the rain.  A room we stayed in in Hamilton, ON. That backpack on the floor is my friend's, but with a similar one is all I had for my cross-migration across the country.  Anyone know what kind of tree this is? We stode and watched this tree blow around the street for a while in Toronto.  Part of the Art Gallery of Ontario.  Our only taste of China Town - Toronto.  Whoop - CN Tower! - vertigo again...  Down within a nickle mine in Sudbury, ON. 1500 ft below the earth!!  A break from the train, in the middle of nowhere.  One of the cool things we saw, on a train stop.  A junk yard we played in, whilst on a train stop (48 hours from Sudbury-Saskatoon).   Saskatoon - license plate says: "Land of Living Skies".    Grain elevator in the Canadian Prairies...  Wayne Gretkzy statue outside Edmonton Oilers rink.  Edmonton.  Trip across the Rockies...     Approaching Vancouver...  We thought this was kinda strange...  Jericho beach, Vancouver.  Leaving Vancouver... sad day...   Final destination in Nelson, BC. - before I made the unfortunate journy to Calgary, AB.  |
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 13, 2009 15:01:50 GMT
ExistentialCrisis!!!!
I am totally bowled over by your presentation. What a great way to tell a story. It's like finding a stash of post cards to pore over, each imbued with the traveler's joy in the journey.
And have you deliberately been hiding the fact that you're a fantastic photographer? These are wonderful, amazing pictures. Each and every one can stand on its own, simply as a piece of truly great photography.
Okay. Must stop writing now. I want to go back and look at everything all over again!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 15:14:42 GMT
This is mind boggling...fantastic.have a bunch of questions but have to organize them better in my head before I go blithering on and on.Fabulous photos! Thanks!
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Post by lagatta on Dec 13, 2009 16:02:34 GMT
I've never done that whole trip - certainly hope to one day. Those are splendid photos - not just the thrilling views but also the little odd angles on life in different places.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 16:46:50 GMT
I've always wanted to do that trip and now that I know that you can see cool junkyards and stuff and not just icky beautiful mountains, I want to go even more.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 18:42:00 GMT
Great thread!
My stepdaughter and her boyfriend, did a similar trip, Montreal > British Columbia by train. I've only done it by greyhound and car.
such interesting pics EC.
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Post by fumobici on Dec 13, 2009 18:43:16 GMT
Sweet, always wanted to do that. Except the prairies, I could skip them I think.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 19:23:41 GMT
Oh, I can become very zen when crossing prairies. I have a vivid memory of the boredom of crossing central Spain by train.
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Post by imec on Dec 13, 2009 19:27:07 GMT
Very nice post ec! Love the junkyard!
fb - there is a beauty to the prairies which - although perhaps not immediately obvious - is undeniable and unforgettable once realized.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 13, 2009 21:08:11 GMT
I think the blooming trees EC are either cherry or almond.(might be non fruit bearing variety,ornamental).
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 14, 2009 14:40:19 GMT
Bixa - I can't take credit for all the pics since some of them were taken by my travel companion. I actually had to steal them off his facebook because since I've moved, I haven't had my own computer and time/ability to upload my photos. My travel buddy, who now lives in Nelson, BC, has all the photos and footage on his computer. I say footage because we actually did more filming than photo-taking. Unfortunately, I don't have as many photos from the trip as I could. However, my friend made a full length feature film from all the videos we made. Such a perfect souvenir!
As for the prairies, I really wanted to see them because I had never seen anything like that before. I actually enjoyed them... the novelty wears off faster than fascination for the mountains, but I'm sick of the "icky beautiful mountains". I never get sick of the ocean.
Actually, I heard something interesting a little while ago. I heard that back in the day, they used to enlist prairie people as sailors on the Atlantic. Ocean people and prairie people are both used to wide open spaces, whereas hill and mountain people are more likely to feel anxiety while being out on the ocean. Sorta like how I feel anxiety when smothered by mountains.
I go home to Nova Scotia in a week for Christmas! Can't even describe how excited I am. Hopfully I will have lots of pictures to post from that event.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 14, 2009 14:59:34 GMT
Yaaay ~~ home for Christmas! There is nothing like it.
Gad, thank you so much for figuring out a way to present this magnficent travelogue. It's not just the pictures, which are brilliant, but the way you put the whole thing together.
I'm going to my mother's for Christmas, too, and already have the twitches thinking about being away from my own computer.
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Post by hwinpp on Dec 17, 2009 4:51:31 GMT
I'd love to take that train as well.
How long did it take you, EC? And when did you travel?
Those cars in the junkyard would be worth a fortune for somebody who's into restoring.
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Post by existentialcrisis on Dec 17, 2009 8:35:39 GMT
Took the trip this past May. It took us the whole month, stopping here and there. So it's hard to say how long the actual journey would take. We met some people going from Toronto - Vancouver and I think they had 3 nights on the train, so add that to the trip from Halifax - Toronto which is probably 2 more days. We had to take a few Greyhounds as well because the month train pass ($650 in the off-season!) was good for 10 "travel days" ... which meant any over-night trips counted as 2 days. Also, the train doesn't come through the prairies every day. We didn't want to spend 4 days in Saskatoon, so we took a Greyhound from there to Edmonton (where we stayed for 4 days). Once in Vancouver, we backtracked on the train to Kamloops, cabbed it from the train station to the bus station - took a Greyhound to Kelowna where we stayed a couple days before using a ride-share program (via internet) to find a drive to Nelson, BC. I stayed there for 2 weeks before taking a 10 hour over-night bus ride to Calgary. The train does not go through Calgary.
Our longest train ride was from Sudbury, ON - Saskatoon, SK and it was roughly 48 hours. The thing about the train is that it is slow. It creeps through certain areas... especially residential areas and through the mountains... it rips through Quebec and the Prairies though. It stops on sidings quite often, since the CN and CP freight lines have priority over passenger trains. We stopped in Winnipeg for 3 hours for cleaning and refuelling ... and also stopped in Jasper for an hour or so.
It's not for people who want to go from point A to point B. It's about the journey. We spent much of our time in the observation car and the beveridge car (which were actually the same car in two levels) drinking beer and meeting new friends! We thought that 48 hour long ride would kill us, but we were actually very reluctant to get off the train. A special breed of people tend to take the train, and also staff the train ... so there was something magical about it.
When a bear was spotted (2 or 3 times), you'd see a train employee emerge into your car and shout "Bear sighting to the right!" ... there was especially a lot of enthusiasm going through the Rockies. The train people would slow down the train when we were about to pass a majectic waterfall, and announce to us when we were passing important glaciers, mountains, etc. A bunch of us were playing a boardgame on the beveridge car and we had hooked up someone's Ipod to someone's speakers and were blasting some tunes and getting a little tipsy. A woman in uniform walked by and said "Hi, I'm the train manager", and we thought she was going to tell us to turn off the music and slow down on the booze, but instead she said, "I love your tunes! Where are you all from and where are you going?" She said she first got on a train 20-30 years ago and never got off. This is nothing like a Greyhound!
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 17, 2009 17:32:03 GMT
A special breed of people tend to take the train, and also staff the train ... so there was something magical about it. Boy, you really captured the beauty and reason for slow travel in that wonderful explanation of your train trip. That's the kind of thing that makes the reader want to throw some stuff in a bag and just take off. Really, I am jealous. That's an immensely cool story. |
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Post by traveler63 on Dec 18, 2009 15:18:02 GMT
Wow, I love your narrative and the pictures are the icing on the cake. Mr. T63 and I have talked about doing a train trip in Canada. I think your post has helped me decide that this is a must do for us. We have been to Vancouver, BC, Lake Louis in Alberta and Jasper. Oh, yes Victoria, several times. We have a hankering to see Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Winnipeg, so maybe a train trip would be the way to go.
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