Travel Day and a Day in Jasper

Compared to previous trips it was relatively easy to get Das Bike and all of our stuff to Jasper.  The airport at Redmond is always easy -- we just walk in with our two huge boxes and they put them on the plane.  Never any complaints or comments about our monstrous boxes.  Just pay the toll and away we go.

We flew into Vancouver with one short stop in Portland, and our boxes were out of the oversized baggage kiosk by the time we cleared customs.  Now to huck all that stuff across town to the train station.  We grabbed a luggage trolly and made our way to the Skytrain station.  Only knocked a few innocents over with the bike box but no harm done.

It was a fairly easy trip across town on the Skytrain, one mis-step when we transferred trains but we fixed that quickly had the boxes checked in at the ViaRail station in no time.  We had 6 hours until the overnight train to Jasper departed, so we headed back downtown Vancouver to have a beer or three.  We've always loved Vancouver and enjoyed some time wandering around.

It is such a beautiful and cosmopolitan city; it has its issues like any big city but it seems to do it pretty well.  Located in such wonderful setting probably helps.

The ViaRail night train to Jasper left the station on time and we found our huge seats in the cheap section and settled in.  We left in the late evening so there wasn't much to see except dark.  It looked like the train was completely full, though they wouldn't let us into the fancy dining car in the "comfort class" -- we were in the lower caste seats and we were told to not bother those who have earned comfort status.

The train follows the Frasier River northwesterly toward the mountains and the views are spectacular (though our photos are not).

Sunrise over a lake on the Frasier.

We arrived on time to Jasper at about 1500.  The hotel we booked was about 1 km from the train station.  Too far to huck the boxes.  So I borrowed a luggage trolly from the station and we headed down the busy, tourist-filled streets.

Jasper is situated within the boundaries of Jasper National Park itself.  It is ringed by enormous mountains but surprisingly, there is only one ski area that is close (Marmot Basin).  There are some pretty big and active wildfires in the area.  The town is tidy and touristy, and really has a nice feel.  On the way to the hotel we passed the Jasper Brewing Co. and made a not to return shortly.

Once settled into the hotel we decided to put the bike together to justify the visit to the brewing co.  We're getting pretty good at assembly, disassembly of Das Bike and had it in good shape in short order.

Beer time.

The beer is really very good -- the best that we've had in Canada (sorry Howe Sound!).

We'll go out for a warm up ride this afternoon to make sure the bike is in working order.  The weather forecast is looking dismal for the next few days, and maybe even snow up on Bow Pass.  We have good rain gear and warm stuff.  Should be fun.