Mom and Dad's update about their Canadian Train Trips

We got off the ship on Wed., July 8 and have been in Canada ever since. We spent the first day driving to Prince George, B.C. and we have spent the next four days riding the train back and forth from Prince George to Prince Rupert, and then Prince George to Jasper and back. Tonight we are finally done with our train trips. The first one was 14 hours long and when we got there our hotel wasn't anywhere near the train station like we thought it was. Since the train was 2 hours late there were no cabs. They said they only have one cab company. So as we're all standing there wondering what to do they called the cab company. We decided after waiting a while that we would walk like some other people were doing. Bad Idea!!! Our hotel was a long ways away. We walked for at least a half hour. :We got to our hotel at 11p.m. Then we got up the next morning early and started all over again for another trip back to Prince George. This time we got back early. Hallelejah!! Today we just got back from Jasper. It was a beautiful trip with great mountains in the background. Do my children remember going to Jasper as kids? Dad and I were trying to remember if we took Ashley and we think we did. We went to the Sawridge Inn today where we thought we stayed with you, Ashley. And I know we took Angie and Craig. Do you remember going up the gondola and seeing the Columbia Ice Fields?? We didn't have time to do any of those things this time. We tried to rent a car but they didn't have any to rent. It's still a very busy place. We stayed in a house that rents out rooms last night. Apparently a lot of people do that in Jasper. We only paid $75 compared to at least $175 at hotels here. The housing market is very inflated also. A house just like our neighbor, Jim and Diane, goes for $800,000. That was the house we stayed in. We got the best bedroom in the house I think. We got the master bedroom. We're the only ones who had our own bathroom with a jacuzzi. The jacuzzi didn't work, but it was really comfortable to lay in and relax. You know how I love a bathtub. By the way we took VIA trains and we don't recommend it. For instance they have classes-- first class and second class service. The first class people have to pay $200 more and they get the car with the big windows and get to go in the dome car. The rest of us have to stay in one car and can't move around the train at all except from seat to seat within that car. They bring your food which is microwaveable on a cart to your seat like an airplane. The food is awful. We figured out after the first day we had to get something else before we left or along the way. Today the train broke down right as we left Jasper and we had to wait for a mechanic to come and fix it. We were 2 hours late at one time so we had to make up time which meant we got no breaks. Yesterday we had a half hour break one place and 15 minutes another which was much nicer. We had a chance to stretch our legs and get some food. We also got very upset when they let 25 bicylists go on the train ahead of us. We were already in line but they let them go ahead of us and we were all crammed into one car. Fun! Fun! It was actually fun to hear all those Canadians talk. I love their "heh" or "aye" they say at the end of evey sentence. Sorry Brenda! Actually it was much better than the day before when we heard French most of the time. Practically everyone on the train spoke French and even the conductor had to say everything in English and French. We'll be in Canada several more days and I found out I have to pay $1 a minute for every phone call so I won't be calling anyone. Hopefully we can get internet service again soon.