The "All Aboard" ceremony was just a little different at Jasper. With a Rocky Mountaineer with only one Gold Leaf dome carriage and five other carriages this was a small affair. Nevertheless the passengers were just as excited and expectant. The gentleman from the passenger list who tooted the train whistle to get us aboard was an Englishman who had waited since he was a child to board the Mountaineer so this was a very emotional moment for him.We were very surpr...

The alarm was set for 5.15 am but really it was superfluous because our internal alarms had us awake on the hour at 1, 2, 3 and 4. The 1am wake up was the best because Mac was waving the torch around in the room - he was sure someone was in the room taking the luggage! He was dreaming!The 15 minute trip to the Rocky Mountaineer Station from The Fairmont took about 45 minutes because of the stops at various motels. Naively we thought this was the full complement o...

So now that I have your attention - we finished a grouse day (at Grouse Mountain and The Capilano Suspension Bridge) with the best drinks of the trip....a Brazilian - a white rum with kiwi fruit, lime and soda.This was a very late start for us with a 10 am pickup in the foyer by the appropriately named "Gray Line." It seems as if there was an overflow on the official Rocky Mountaineer Bus and fourteen of the passengers were moved to a local bus tour company. This...

Really, there should have been an alert issued today to warn the locals that we were going to be loose on the road. At the very least, we could have been advertised as a comedy duo to provide free entertainment! The bike shop was on the waterfront so we were "right there" on the Seawall and with a few quick instructions on adjusting the seat, the helmet and locking the bikes up we were on our way. Would have been handy to have any sort of instructions about the b...

Blue skies at last and it certainly brightens up all things Vancouver. We didn't start the day that way, in fact it was a predicted high of 15 so we did begin our adventures under overcast skies rugged up against the cold.The first visit was to the dizzying heights of the Vancouver Lookout for a bird's eye 360 degree view of metro downtown Vancouver, the suburbs of the Southtown ever present mountains of the north and the bustling harbour including the ra...