Thursday May 27th, 2010

Banff to Kamloops

The photo opportunites were abundant! Remember, you have to go to the bottom of the page to get to the beginning of the day.


At the end of the day we attended the Dinner/Theatre in Kamloops "Rhythm on the Rails" - it was a very enjoyable evening. 8 preformers put on such an energenic preformance it would have been a shame to have missed it.

This picture is dark because we are going through a tunnel

Allan's Breakfast Eggs Benidict

My Breakfast, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar

Leaving Banff Station on the Rockie Mountaineer Rail

This was our train coach

The Rocky Mountaineer coming into Banff Station

We are at Banff Station awaiting the Rockie Mountaineer

Banff Station

Wednesday May 26, 2010

These are pictures added to the May 26th post. The interenet is faster in Vancouver.

This is the vehicle that takes passengers to the Columbia Ice Fields - for info check out the following sites

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RrQYvzbUCqM&feature=related also look at

http://www.explorerockies.com/columbia-icefield/ Downtown Banff Downtown Banff

Banff is a tourist town and the cost of living here is expensive, as a result people trave by bus to

Canmore which is about 15 min away to purchase groceries and other items at less cost.

The Town of Canmore made us think of the Royal Canadian Air Farce and John Morgan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1lIhymngpI&feature=related also at

http://www.airfarce.com/indexjohn.html

Again, valley view from the back balcony of the hotel

This is the valley view from the balcony at the back of the hotel

This is the view from the other window in our room. - We are so happy that our tour rep at Sears recommended adding this to our vacation!

This is a view from one window in our room

Coming down the mountain from the hot springs to our hotel

The hot sulpher springs in Banff, Alberta

Double click on this pic to get a good look at Allan in his 1920 swim suit!

The water is 103 degrees F and the air is cool - my feet were tingling from the cold when I got into the warm water

What a view - can only imagine what a difference if the sun had been shining.

We were taken to Banff from Calgary by Greyhound bus to our hotel - then we took a short walk (about 10 minutes) to the hot springs on Sulfer Mountain

Allan got to see fighter jets at Calgary airport

and again - here the fields have been plowed in a horizontal direction and a virtical direction giving you a vision of plaid fields - interesting.

another aerial view of Calgary

We are now coming into Calgary

This is the first time we flew Westjet from Toronto to Calgary - nice trip - the attendants were very friendly and attentive to our needs. The plane had lots of room - a difference from Continental air which we have used to fly to Mexico.

From Banff, Alberta

The first day of our trip has brought us from unseasonally high temperatures in the 30's in Toronto to a chilly 12 degrees C in Calgary and Banff. It is cloudy but we are able to see the mountains, the cloud ceiling is still above the peaks - and they are beautiful even without sunshine! I have only been here a few hours and I want to return again one day. It was interesting to leave Calgary where the land was running from flat to rolling hills then as we came closer to Banff we could see the mountains.

The Rimrock Resort in our home for this evening - it is awesome! Here is the website if you are interested in taking a look http://www.rimrockresort.com/ . After checking in we went to the hot springs http://www.pleiadesmassage.com/banff/index.html where we took time to get into the pool. What a view while you soak in 39 degree C/ 102 degree F water. We rented swimsuits in 1920's style - what a hoot!

Later we took the local transit bus into the downtown area, did some shopping and sightseeing before heading back to the hotel. There is a 2 hour time difference between here and home, they tell us it doesn't get dark until 10:00.

I took several pictures today but the internet is rather slow and the pics are not uploading for me tonight. At a later date I will be able to update this page, so 'till then bear with me.

We will be leaving our hotel at about 7:30 in the morning to meet with the Rocky Mountaineer Rail Tour. I can hardly wait!

Bye for now

Anne

May 25, 2010

Lady went to the Puppy Spa yesterday, the Bow Wow Inn, she and Mary were happy to see each other again. They got along well on her last stay in Feb of this year while we were in Mexico.

We left home this morning at 5 min before 6. We do like to head out early

The day was beautiful - no wind, lots of bright warm sun; temperatures were as high as 30 degrees C at 11:30 in Barrie


The sun was just breaking the horizon outside of Manitowaning - you can see a light fog laying in the low areas.

The North Channel was laying in wait for the first of summer's sailing vessels

Lecloche was just as beautiful

Here is the Mandarin in Barrie - we try to stop here on our way to Toronto for lunch - today was no exception. They have great food!

When we arrived in Toronto today at about 2:30 it was 32 degrees C - I hope we get more of this great weather - at least until we leave Vancouver. I expect Alaska to be a bit cooler - and the cruise cooler still for the first few days until we get further South.

Our hotel here in Toronto is the Double Tree by Hilton, if you are interested and want to check it out their website is:

http://doubletree1.hilton.com/en_US/dt/hotel/YYZIPDT-Doubletree-by-Hilton-Toronto-Airport-Ontario/index.do

After a swim in their pool we went out to Montana's for dinner. The rest of the evening is a mystery at this point, if anything exciting should happen I will definatley let you know. I really will!

Tomorrow we will be leaving here at about 6:30 a.m. - I will attempt another update after we get to Banff.

Bye for now,

Anne

ITINERARY FOR OUR SPRING 2010 VACATION

Itinerary for our Rocky Mountaineer Vacation and Alaskan Cruise Tour 2010

We are having to do a reality check often because it is difficult to imaging going on vacation and no snow on the ground!

It is my plan to keep this blog updated on a regular basis, if I get short of time it will definately be updated once I get back home - so keep checking in from time to time.

May 25th – Toronto – Doubletree by Hilton

May 26th – Westjet WS 0685 Toronto (09:00 a.m.) To Calgary (11:08 a.m.)

May 26th - Coach Transfer Calgary Airport to Banff

May 26th - Rimrock Resort Hotel Banff

May 27th - Banff to Kamloops Rocky Mountaineer – GoldLeaf

May 27th – Kamloops – Dinner and Show Rhythms on the Rails

May 27th – Kamloops – Four Points by Sheraton (Hotel)

May 28th -Kamloops to Vancouver Rocky Mountaineer – GoldLeaf

May 28th – Vancouver – Sheraton Wall Centre

May 29th – Vancouver - Quality Hotel Airport (South) Richmond, BC 3051.

May 30th - Alaska Airlines AS 2265 Vancouver, BC (08:50 a.m.) to Seattle, WA (09:45 a.m.)
Alaska Airlines AS 0123 Seattle WA (12:55 p.m.) To Fairbanks, AK (03:33 p.m.)

May 30th - Sophie Station Hotel, Fairbanks, Alaska

May 31st - Fairbanks, AK – meet Tour Director – Sophie Station Hotel

June 01st - Fairbanks, AK – Fairbanks City Tour, includes a cruise on the Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler and a tour of the El Dorado Gold Mine. Stay the night in Fairbanks – Sophie Station Hotel.
In the evening we have dinner and attend the Palace Theatre Golden Heart Review.

June 02nd - Travel on the Wilderness Express – a glass-domed train car to Denali. Tour Denali National Park then we stay the night in Denali – the Grande Denali Lodge

June 3rd. - We will be going on the Denali Park Tour Adventure. That evening we attend the Cabin Nite Dinner Theatre and spend the night in Denali – at the Grande Denali Lodge

June 04th - In the morning we leave Denali for Anchorage where we have some time to ourselves to explore the city and have lunch. Later we travel to Seward where we board the Celebrity Millennium to begin our cruise. We depart Seward at 09:00 p.m.

June 05th - We are cruising the Hubbard Glacier

June 06th - We dock at Juneau, AK and do the Mendenhall Glacier and Whale Quest Tour

June 07th - We dock at Skagway, AK and go Horseback Riding

June 08th - We are tendered at Icy Strait Point, AK, here we chose to go Kayaking

June 09th - We are docked at Ketchikan, AK., where we see the Ketchikan Highlights and attend a Lumberjack Show

June 10th - We Cruise the Inside Passage

June 11th - We dock at Vancouver, BC at 07:00 a.m.

June 11th – Westjet WS 0468 Vancouver (01:30 p.m.) to Toronto (08:48 p.m.)

June 11th - Toronto – Doubletree by Hilton, 655 Dixon Rd.

June 12th – Heading home.

Monday March 01, 2010

We are heading home today - our flight leaves Cancun at 9:00 a.m. and arrives in Toronto after 4:00 p.m.