Enjoying the Train

August 6/2017

We woke early and after trying to figure out what time it was we decided we could head for breakfast. We went to the dining room and we were seated with a very nice couple. They were East Indian, born in Tanzania and living in London. His name was Amish and her name was Renee. They are traveling with their teen aged daughters and are really enjoying Canada. I had the porridge and toast and Ken had the omelet. It was very good and the service was great.

After breakfast we went to the observation car to enjoy the views. We are in central Alberta and so the landscape is more varied. Not as mono chromatic as the southern prairie.

At one point when the train was experiencing one of its many stops to allow a freight train to pass I decided to walk all of the way to the back of the train. At this point the train is a quarter mile long.

Later when the train was in Saskatoon both Ken and I walked outside and I did the entire length of the train twice so that was a half mile. It is clear that I will not be getting my 10,000 steps in during these train days. I did real well during the excursions in the Rockies but it is so hard to walk on the train. I expect to be very bruised by the time this trip is over. I keep banging into doors and windows and walls when I attempt to walk while the train is moving.

There is a staff member who does commentary about the geography and the history of the area while we are traveling. She is quite informative and we have learned a lot. Did you know that a town in Saskatchewan has a lake that is very much like the dead sea? It is the the second most saline  body of water on the planet.

We had early lunch and we also had early dinner. For lunch we had the shrimp and scallop and it was very good indeed. For our evening meal we had the halibut. It was a bit dry but it was still a treat. So all three main meals have been seafood. Yummy!!

During the afternoon there was a beer tasting and that was indeed different. They served a Grandville Island ale that we both enjoyed. We were not fond of the dark beer. It was not as strong as Guiness but neither one of us enjoyed it.

By evening both of us were tired and ready to call it an evening. So around ten o’clock we called it a day. At this point the train is six hours late so who knows when we will arrive in Toronto?