Finally, my long overdue post about our train trip:
Van and I flew to Seattle on September 24 and took a bus to Bellingham where we visited relatives and friends for a couple of days. We got on our first train, to Vancouver BC, on the 26th where we met up with Van's sister Lea and her husband Jack. In Vancouver, we boarded the Viarail "Canadian" late in the afternoon. We had bearths which were quite comfortable, but the movement and noise didn't make for a whole lot of sleep. We awoke the next morning in the Rocky Mountains and the foliage was beautiful.
I painted this from when the train stopped for a few minutes. We arrived in Jasper mid-day and got a ride to the Robinson Guest House. (we had places booked along the way before we left home.) This was a very comfortable place and the host (a watercolor artist) and hostess were friendly and helpful.The town of Jasper is small and we walked around all afternoon. The next morning we rented a car and drove down Highway 93 to Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls and rode up the Jasper Tramway for great views of the country, then to the Fairmont Jasper Lodge where there was a wonderful art gallery.
Doreen, an artist friend from Olds Alberta, and her husband met us in Jasper and she and I spent the part of the next afternoon painting at Jasper Lodge. I painted this looking across the lake in front of the lodge.
After 3 nights in Jasper, we boarded the Canadian again and started the 2 night trip on to Toronto. We were out of the mountains and on to the prarie before dark the first day. People had said that after the Rockies that the scenery would be pretty boring. I found it gorgeous!
I painted these from the moving train second day on the train....
and these 2 the third and last day before arriving in Toronto. Van and I thought this part of the trip was one of the most beautiful... lakes and forests of many colors.Meal time on the train was a grand event... wonderful food, lots of choices. I was amazed that they could produce such meals on a train.
Always a pink table cloth....
and alstromerias on the table.In Toronto we stayed at the Admiral Saint George B and B, a lovely old home in the Annex district full of antiques. We spent our one full day there walking and ended the day tired with pizza on the porch when I had some time to myself to paint.
From Toronto we went by train to Quebec City. We stayed in a small hotel within the old walled city 2 days. Much walking, seeing the sites and eating fine meals. Too busy to paint.
This writing is taking too much time...I've been at it for several postings now, so from now on its going to be short.
Then on to Halifax Nova Scotia .... a wonderful 6 days in N.S. where we rented a car and drove the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton Island and saw a bore tide from the Bay of Fundy and experienced gale force winds in Peggy's Cove. Didn't paint much as I was driving much of the time.
I painted these in Sherbrooke Village, the house across from where we stayed and trees in the yard.
And this from Fisherman's Cove where we spent our first and last night in N.S.
Back to Montreal overnight on the train with a comfortable room and a long day , beautiful scenery on the Amtrak Adirondack to NYC where we changed to a train to Washington DC.
Enjoyed a busy 4 days seeing the sites there, concentrating on the galleries and Smithsonian.
An overnight Amtrak to Chicago and then 2 more nights on the Empire Builder to Seattle and flight home.
These four pages of my journal were done on the train, the first near Rugby, ND, the geographical center of North America...I got the lucky bamboo in DC and got it home in good shape. The last 3 were done the last evening as we neared Glacier Park.
Whew! Glad that's done; now I can get back to the present soon with something new.
