From East to West Part 2 - Winnipeg - Vancouver

So with Chris having finally reached his beloved Lays, (he gets them free now he models for them!!!!) He began another day of see how many Crisps I can eat in a 24hrs....fortunately before he turned into a Chip (Crisp) he quit....slacker!!!

As we continued through the plains of Canada's Mid Provinces it was announced that in 1 mile we would see the worlds largest Coke can....Chris immediately refrained from eating for a second to look at this amazing sight.

You will not that there is a lack of picture.....this is because it wasn't great!!! A) it was in the distance, and B) it was covered by other shopping mall signs etc....I wouldn't put anywhere close to the Coke bottle that Vegas had to offer....now that was big!!!

A little further on we had the opportunity to alight the train for some fresh air, woohoo. It got quite cold on the train so the sun was most appreciated!!! The window to the right of the Allen Manor sight on the first cart is ours! But this kind of gives you an idea of the size the train...yep you can't actually see the front and there are a further 3 cars behind us!! Impressive eh!!!

Whilst taking our breather we took the opportunity of meeting our neighbours, having overhead them talking during the journey we had actually worked out they were British!!! FLAG!! They were from Bath, they knew Brecon too, cool, Dad he immediately thought we had moved to Brecon because you were Army...ahh!! We corrected him and said no, it's because you wore dresses...and a pink one now too!!! Don't worry he got it!!! But they hadn't had the greatest experience of Toronto either, there son had been knocked over by a car, only injuring his leg though poor kid!!

Anyway we re-boarded the train and returned to the skycar for a little before dinner, what it was I have no idea all I can remember was lots of food!!! There were no great views that we hadn't taken photos of already, more plains, the occasionally river, some more plains and then as the sun went down it got interesting!!

Chris is beginning to take interest in sunsets....thank god it has taken me three and a half weeks!!!

It was a beautiful sunset actually, heading west we caught some lovely pictures and thanks to the clear day we got the whole experience! However the most spectacular picture we just couldn't capture, the reflection in the lakes....why??....because a freaking freight train!!! The long stupid annoyance that terrorises the Canadian (and North American) railways!!!

But we still caught pictures of the sun right up until the last of it went beyond the horizon and with that we crossed another timezone (-1hr again!!)

We hadn't remembered to take a picture of the bedroom so Chris completed that task for you...this is it beds down, however we still managed to forget beds up....durrr!

Look he can see himself sweet (it was just an excuse to take a picture of himself really...sorry Hannah, it's true he is vain!)

With that the end of day 3 (2nd full day) on board the Canadian came to an end.

The next morning, no wake up call with of the last call for breakfast!! Chris got his beloved lie in, Mongo however awaking for food headed to the dome car, managing to find some Hunny Nut Cherrios there, ooo nice; as I waited to go to what looked to be a very good brunch I settled in the Dome car with music, Sudoko, and Camera watching the scenery as it changed from plains

to forests (now full of evergreens), lakes

and the very beginnings of the Rockies. I took the opportunity to take a picture of the train threading its way through the trees just because I could!

And then we began it slow up the track went single to double and I knew exactly what was coming.....A freight, he is a picture of the evil monster! I think this one was just short of 120 cars!!

We had our next wildlife sighting next, well hopefully our hopes in the dome car were raised by the announcement that an osprey nest would be at roughly eye level for us and as there were babies in the nest both parents would be there too!!! As you can see no sign of them in fact mum / dad was flying above and there may be a wing visible that was it!!! One woman expressed her dissatisfaction out loud, which I thought was just rude!!

As we headed further up into the mountains en route to Jasper we start crossing huge rivers

And soon the Rockies were upon us!!!

The rock formations were just amazing, did our best to capture what we could!

There was still evidence of snow even on the lower parts of the Rockies.

Having come through the lower range we entered Jasper, on hour late meant we got just 45 minutes to explore. We quickly found what we wanted and were able to gaze at the amazing rock the surrounds this small town.

As we have been all the way through the trip we departed bang on time...Amtrak can you here this!! Only thing that seems to delay us are the freight!! As we pulled out of Jasper so we left the last of the sun! Bummer

Yes the rain started and as this picture shows, it was going to be here for a little while yet!!

What we found a little entertaining (Mongo more so) is that the when we returned to the sky car we sat at the back as the 2 sets of front seats had already been taken! One set by the women who was so rude about the Canadian wildlife early...and it was raining!! I wouldn't normally wish such bad luck on someone but i was somewhat slightly satisfied.

As the rain was hitting the front of the car we actually could get some pretty decent photos from the rear! The Picture below is moose lake, we followed this for about 8 miles, the Jade Green colour was so beautiful

As we continued to climb so the rain continued, and then the announcement....if you look behind you, you will see Mt Robson....hummm....can you!!

Yes that is the bottom of Mt Robson, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies stands at 12,500ft (or something like that!) ah well we can say we saw it!!

Soon however the sun began to break through and with that opening up some more stunning scenery

The rivers we passed and crossed were so shallow and so clear, the photo shows the rock formation of the right bank, this is about 1 ft under the water!

So having cleared the rain completely we were extremely lucky, Kate had spotted in the guide a nature note, that said at mile 113 Pyramid falls will come briefly into view on the right, counting down the miles to 112 we were ready, the train manager also announced their appearance also saying the driver will slow the train for a photo opportunity. Chris having taken so many photos (at this point easily 200 in the day) had given up photography leaving Mongo in charge of the camera oh no! But I am pretty proud of the result as this is through a window on a moving train (OK slow moving but still!!) Ma the investment is most definitely paying off!

Beats the coke can from yesterday!!

As we moved out of the Rockies the scenery became more docile and Chris resumed his arty farty ponces attitude towards photography.

As you can, like, see from this, like, photo the tracks, like, continue into the distance, like representing the, like, ongoing nature of our adventures and the like, unending bond that exists between us.... see I told you he was a prat!

Back in the Skycar we as the daylight began to fade we took the opportunity, while everyone else was on a fresh air stop, to take and hold the fort.... sounds familiar.... for a period of hours. Front seats were taken and held despite the constant onslaught from anoying children, the elderly and the Irish!

Quick aside...Whilst in the Skycar Chris noticed ( a little too late) that he'd spent the last 10 minutes whistling the tune to the British Grenadiers, his Birth right as holder of a British Passport, a personal gift from Her Majesty's Government. Nevertheless he realised that he'd been whistling away whilst seated to his left were the aforementioned Irish people and behind him were Indians... not Native Americans but proper full scale 'What kind of rice would you like with that?' Indians... eeep. The customary war broke out.... Chris as a British man was customarily victorious and peace was returned to the carriage.

Then we went through a tunnel which was nice... made everyone forget about the War... Don't mention the War...

Yah... this was. like, sooo spiritual and cultural, it sort of reperesented the tunnels of strife that we must pass through on our journey of life..... I really am sorry about him, we'll try and stop him from returning.

The tunnels were very impressive, though, the skill required by men to have carved and blasted their way through mountains to keep this track going was really a testiment to how we as humans are trying our best to make the beauty of the planet more accessible to people.... or just how royally we are screwing it up usig explosives... you decide.

A quick photo op(portunity, DAD!) of the dedicated bloggers Chris looking a little worse for ware after 3 days without hair gel or razor....disaster.

Then it was time for more sunset. seriously i bought a new memory card in Denver, twice the size of my original it can hold over 2,000 photographs and thanks to the 'beautiful sunsets' it has already used 1/4 of its space, bear in mind we still have Mt St Helens, San Francisco, LA, Washington D.C. and New York to do.... and they'll all have sunsets too!

I must admit they are very pretty though...

Really pretty...

The world darkened around us the blind was pulled down and we settled down for some more CSI:NY. We went to bed ready for our arrival into Vancouver in the morning, and the next leg of the journey, to Vancouver Island.

The adventures of Mongo and The Boy written and experienced by

Kate 'me can takey pic-eee-tures too' Davies
and

Chris 'taste my chips... you'll never want to bite anything else' Davies