Carolyn's Flight of Fancy: Visit with friends in Jasper

Friday, July 8, 2011

Visit with friends in Jasper

I spent the Canada Day Weekend visiting friends in Jasper

This past Canada Day weekend, I spent the time visiting friends from the UK. We met in Jasper, Alberta. I thought that it would be a nice place to meet up. I haven't seen them for 6 years! It was nice to show them where I live.

I took the Via Rail train from PG to Jasper which runs every second day. It's a bit slower then going there by car, but it's a nice way to travel! You can also catch a train to go in the other direction to Prince Rupert. I'd like to do that one day.
Before I boarded the train, I noticed this touring bike in the waiting room. It's a Surly Long Haul Trucker with Ortlieb bags on it. I befriended the owner of the bike, who's name is Lee. I ended up chatting with him for most of the 7 1/2 hr train ride to Jasper.

Lee

He biked up from Victoria to PG, then took the train to Jasper. It was very easy for him to put the bike on train. As the station had no boxes, all he had to do was take the bags off and they'd load it on to the luggage car which was not that full. The only thing is that they wouldn't be liable if the bike got damaged during transit as there was no box to protect it. But, it came in one piece!

He then planned to bike to the Waterton National Park after spending a few days in Jasper. It would be cool to do a bike trip with him one day...it's neat the people that I meet while travelling.

When we arrived early in Jasper, the train did a loop to turn around. I guess that Via wanted us to get our whole time's worth of journey as when they completed the turn around, we arrived at the station, at the proper arrival time! I had fun explaining to my UK friends what that was about as I don't think that happens on the trains in the UK. Ours in Canada are nothing like the ones in Europe, but I am grateful that there is even train service where I live.

I had a great time visiting with my UK friends. I shared a campsite with them all weekend. Unlike the weather in PG, we hardly had any rain. You might recognize the lake below, that's where I biked past last Summer during Tour De Jasper.