Vancouver to Toronto by Rail - Part 3 - Cities

Thursday, 18 September through Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Aside from starting in Vancouver and ending in Toronto, we had a short amount of time off the train in Winnipeg.

Vancouver

Thursday, 18 September and Friday, 19 September
Before getting on the train, we had a city tour of Vancouver.

Reflection of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in a nearby skyscraper.

Close-up of the hotel gargoyles in reflection.

Downtown Vancouver at low tide as seen from Stanley Park.

Three of the Stanley Park totem poles. Each one tells a story.

Vancouver's busy seaport as seen from Stanley Park.

A raven mask in the Bill Reid Gallery.

Who knew that cement silos could be works of art? These "Giants" can be seen at the Heidelberg Concrete plant on Granville Island.

Winnipeg

Sunday, 21 September 
We got to Winnipeg at 10 PM on Sunday night and went for a short walk to the Red River pedestrian bridge.

The Human Rights Museum in downtown Winnipeg.

The Red River pedestrian bridge is lit up at night.

Another view of the pedestrian bridge.

Toronto

Tuesday, 23 September 
We arrived in Toronto about 3:30 PM, and had a short time to walk around the downtown area. We had to leave at 6 AM to go to the airport, so we really didn't have much time here!

A mural in Toronto's Union Station.

Looking east on Front Street between Union Station and the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

A sky clock in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York Hotel.

Vancouver to Toronto by Rail - Part 2 - Landscapes

Thursday, 18 September through Wednesday, 24 September 2025

Each morning we woke up to a new landscape as we traveled through the four western Canadian provinces.

Western Cordillera

Friday, 19 September and Saturday, 20 September

Three mountain systems make up the Western Cordillera. The coastal range and Columbia mountains are volcanic, while the Rockies are made of sedimentary rocks.

While not seen on the train, Mt. Rainier near Seattle was prominently visible as our flight neared Vancouver.

Another volcano, Mt. Baker was visible as we made our way out of the Vancouver area.

There were many cedar log rafts making their way down the Fraser River.

North Thompson River

Sunrise in the mountains.

Burned-out gas pumps in Jasper - a result of a devastating wildfire in 2024.

At Jasper, the Rockies go from colorful (above) to gray (below).

The Rockies south and east of Jasper are shades-of-gray limestone.

We leave the Front Range of the Rockies and enter the foothills. No more mountains.

Prairies

Sunday, 21 September

Eastern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba are Canada's prairie provinces. While there is some mining and fossil fuel extraction, agriculture dominates.

Canola harvest.

Potash mining leaves huge mountains of slag.

There's a grain elevator along the tracks every 5 to 10 miles.

Prairie sunset.

The Canadian Shield - Trees & Rocks & Water

Monday, 22 September and Tuesday, 23 September

The Canadian (or Laurentian) Shield exposes the basement rock of the North American continent. These are some of the most ancient rocks on earth. Ice age glaciers have carved lakes into the rock. This is the land of the beaver. While we saw many beaver lodges (up to 5 in one pond!) and dams, and 2 or 3 swimming, I didn't get a photo.

Sunrise in far western Ontario.

Lake reflections.

Rain in the dome.

Sunset

Maples enter the forests east of Hornepayne, so now there is fall color on the landscape.

Foggy lake.

Vancouver to Toronto by Rail - Part 1 - "The Canadian"

Thursday, 18 September through Wednesday, 24 September 2025

We recently finished a trip with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, traveling from Vancouver to Toronto on VIA Rail's The Canadian. It was luxury first-class travel - private room and bath, dedicated lounge car with dome, and fine dining. This is a straight-through 4-day train ride, stopping only to change crews and re-provision.

The train had 2 engines and 22 cars. "Prestige" class (first class) had the last 4 cars on the train - a dining car, two sleepers, and a "Park Car" - a lounge car named after a Canadian national park, with dome viewing, a bar, and a "bullet" lounge at the very end. In all, the train was over 1/3 mile long. While we were taking a break in Jasper National Park (Alberta), I took this photo looking to the end of the train from about the middle.

Stairs from the Park Car lounge up to the dome. A snack and beverage bar is behind the stairs (under the dome), and a coffee station is to the right of the stairs.

The rounded end of the "bullet" lounge.

The dining car.

Lon sitting in our cabin set up for daytime use. At night, a murphy bed pulls down from the wall and completely covers this area. Moving around the room at night is a challenge.

Washing windows was a priority. In Jasper, two of these lifts were used to wash the dome windows on the four dome cars.

Looking to the front of the train from our dome car. There were three other dome cars (aka "activity cars") on the train.

We spent a lot of time stopped, waiting for freight trains to pass. Here, we're switching to a siding to give way to the freight train.

Cicada Molt

Yesterday we watched a cicada nymph shed its exoskeleton and emerge into an adult cicada in Naperville, Illinois.

9:59 AM - As my sister was weeding her front landscaping she noticed a weird-looking plant. Looking closer, she realized it was a cicada in the process of molting. The wings looked like crumpled green leaves. Here the cicada is just starting to unfold its legs.

10:02 AM - Now looking more like a cicada, it has fully emerged from its former exoskeleton, holding on to it tightly with its legs. The wings have started to elongate and stiffen.

10:10 AM - Wings are stiffening and pulling back.

10:13 AM - the body is darkening and the wings are changing shape and position.

10:30 AM - Wings are slowly coming back along its body.

12:11 PM - The adult has moved away from the nymph exoskeleton and has the shape of an adult.

1:05 PM - Not much change.

At our next check, about 2:00 PM, the cicada was gone.

To me, this cicada best matches online images of the Green-winged Cicada (Diceroprocta vitripennis), but it could also be the Dog-day Cicada (Neotibicen canicularis). I'm not an entomologist!

Grand Canyon National Park - North Rim

Sunday, 25 May, and Monday, 26 May 2025

Only about 10% of visitors to the Grand Canyon make it to the North Rim. It is 1000 ft higher in elevation, so is considerably cooler, and the road is closed during the winter (December 1 to May 14). It is a different perspective than the South Rim.

View from Lodge terrace. The San Francisco Peaks are visible in the distance.

Sunset illuminates the far rim.

A wider sunset view.

Sue on the Bright Angel Point trail. There's a reason that Grand Canyon tops the national parks list for fatalities - there's very little protection from stupid moves.

A vintage photo from 1988. This is the South Rim, but you can see how easy it would be for a toddler to slip beneath the rails. (That's why Lon is carrying 2-year-old Christy.)

The view from Bright Angel Point.

On our way out of the park, we took the road to Imperial Point - the highest point (elevation 8803 ft) on the North Rim. If we had had more time we really would have like to have seen the remaining overlooks on the Cape Royal Road.

View from Imperial Point.