We’re midway through our spectacular two day journey aboard the Rocky Mountaineer —
Canada’s most luxurious train.
We got on in Jasper, Alberta and stopped for the night in Kamloops, British Columbia
with the rivers, waterfalls,
and the scent of fresh pine hanging in the air.
Join us for day 2 of this incredible adventure through the Canadian Rockies.
Good morning from Kamloops!
It’s bright and early.
The bus is here as you can see behind us.
We’re going back to the Kamloops train station
and we’re going to head all the way to Vancouver today and continue our journey west.
We’ve left our bags tucked just inside our room — we said goodbye to them.
They’re going to meet us in Vancouver so let’s head to the station.
Thank you.
Run, Marc, run.
Run!
Thank you!
We got the epic shot!
Okay!
You can see the whole train. -Let’s go…get on the train!
Alright.
Time to go, Marc.
Okay. -Good morning.
Take your time.
We’re on the train.
Welcome back to the Rocky Mountaineer.
This is our second day and it will be an amazing journey that we have ahead of us
into metro Vancouver.
Thank you so much. -Enjoy.
Thank you…woo! Our first meal has arrived.
A couple muffins to tide us over until breakfast.
We’re picking up speed as we head further and further west
and one of the nicest things this morning
has just been reconnecting with all of the people that we met yesterday
because we’re spending a lot of time together on this journey
and so waking up and saying ‘good morning, how are you…did you have a good sleep?’
And we’re making a lot of great connections and new friends so that’s been really lovely
and we’re all looking forward to what awaits us today.
Our first tunnel of day two.
I know, I love it.
I think there’s going to be a lot more of them today.
I hope so. -Yeah.
I love going through them. -So fun.
Got our coffee.
Best part of the day.
It is.
And we are in the second seating for breakfast today.
So, the way that it works in the GoldLeaf carriage where we are
is that they split the carriage into two different seatings for your meals.
So breakfast and lunch, which you have downstairs in the dining car.
So yesterday, we were in the group that was seated first
so we went down for our breakfast right away when we got on the train
and the other group stayed upstairs and then on day two, we reverse.
So we are now having a coffee and pastry upstairs while the other group is starting their breakfast.
And it’s actually maybe a good time to tell you about the two different ways
that you can take the Rocky Mountaineer because
this is the GoldLeaf carriage and there’s also a SilverLeaf carriage.
And they're two different ways of booking
The SilverLeaf is one level so it looks more like a regular train car with oversized windows
and there, you have your meals — your breakfast and your lunch — at your seat.
So instead of having a dining car, you would sit in your seat and be served your meals there.
And in the gold carriage, they are the two level carriages
that have the glass dome on top and then the dining car underneath.
So two different ways of booking and taking the train.
Both spectacular.
-Both spectacular.
And as our hosts were coming through with coffee,
they were also telling us about some of the wildlife that we can see
and it’s funny that…and they always have a microphone on them.
It’s in their pocket, it’s on the cart…they are always within arms reach of a microphone
because you never know when there’ll be something that you’ll spot or something that you want to share
and the engineers who are in the front of the train
are constantly in communication with the hosts in the different carriages.
So they will get a heads up because they’re at the front of the train…
’oh there’s bighorn sheep over here’... ‘there’s an elk over here’...
‘there’s an eagle flying overhead’...
and they can tell you where to look
so that all of the passengers behind them in the train
are ready to take a picture or get a good look.
And so we were…they were telling us about some eagles as we were making our way.
Now, we are pretty much at the front of the train.
We’re in carriage 6, which, there’s only one carriage between us and the engineers
so I think the people behind us will have a little more notice
but that’s just the luck of the draw.
But pretty cool that they have this system in place
to maximize the amount of wildlife or things that you can see along the way.
And one cool thing being up at the front of the train
is that we have expansive views all the way to the back of the train,
especially as we go around corners.
Absolutely, so on curves, especially now that we’ve got so many more carriages
now that we’ve joined with the Banff train,
when you go around a curve, you just get that beautiful look
going to the very back of the train with all of the cars, it’s beautiful.
We’re back in the dining car for our breakfast.
I’ve got my grapefruit juice.
I’ve got a slightly new coif
because I’ve been standing out on the outdoor platform because we were going all along the Thompson River.
And we saw an osprey nest on top of a bridge over the river
and they believe it’s over a hundred years old
because they have photographs showing it in the exact same place on that bridge.
There were also a ton of eagles.
So people were calling out ‘eagle right’…’eagle left’... so that we could all get a good look.
And we have an eagle on the left in the tree there
and I also think there’s one flying straight ahead over the water.
Bald eagles flying near the water beside us on the left.
Our breakfast mains have arrived.
It’s the same menu as yesterday so, of course, we had to pick something different
so that we could try as many of the menu options as possible.
Marc got the cheese and chive scramble,
which has double smoked bacon, smashed potatoes, and citrus-dressed greens.
I went for the BC farmer sausage and roasted red pepper skillet,
which has over-easy eggs, smashed potatoes, and arugula.
I have to be a little careful I don’t get too used to getting spoiled
because after two days, I already am.
Normally I have my coffee with cream and sugar.
Not with osprey and eagle sightings.
What is life?
We’ve just passed through Rainbow Canyon
and it’s called that because the minerals in the rock reflect a rainbow of colours
and it gives the whole canyon a kind of painted look.
When it’s oxidized, copper turns green and purple, while iron turns orange and red
and the yellow is due to sulphur deposits.
The village of Lytton is the place to see two rivers meet.
The Thompson and the Fraser
and at certain times of year, you can see the muddy waters of the Fraser
push up against the clear waters of the Thompson and get a fantastic view from the train tracks.
Unfortunately, there’s a very sad reason why many people know Lytton and that is that in 2021,
there was a fast-moving wildfire that destroyed most of the structures in the village
but the community and other supporters across Canada are now working to rebuild.
By far one of the most spectacular views on this entire train journey is Cisco Crossing.
This is where you need to be looking outside the window
or come outside to this outdoor platform with your cameras and your eyeballs
because you do not want to miss where the CP and CN Rails both have bridges that cross the mighty Fraser River.
The orange arched bridge is the longest single-span bridge on the CN line.
It’s 812 feet long with a 425 foot arch span.
The original CP bridge here was the first cantilever-type railway bridge installed in all of North America
and the black bridge that currently stands in its place was built in 1912.
One of the most renowned landmarks along this route is called Hell’s Gate.
It’s the narrowest part of the Fraser River.
It was named Hell’s Gate in 1808 by Simon Fraser who thought it reminded him of the gates of hell.
Today has been so interesting because we started out in basically a desert.
Now we’re travelling through parts that are so lush and green
and as someone that grew up in Alberta and travelled these roads many times from Alberta to BC,
just getting to be on this train and experiencing this is such a special opportunity.
Makes me feel all teary.
Just like breakfast, the lunch menu is the same as yesterday
so if there were a couple of things you were trying to choose between,
you get another opportunity to order something different so that’s what we have done.
I went for the feta and fennel polenta with roasted artichoke hearts, baby greens,
power seed blend, and roasted bell pepper sauce.
Can’t wait for that.
Marc, being an Alberta boy, had to order the Alberta beef shank ragout.
It’s IPA-braised with local wild mushrooms and polenta
and I just love the emphasis placed here on local ingredients and local producers.
What is different on the menu from yesterday is the starter
so we get to try something different to start.
It’s smoked pacific albacore tuna, poached prawns, pickled root vegetables,
local artisan crackers, eggplant bruschetta, and fresh horseradish.
I’ve been dreaming of a steaming cup of hot chocolate.
The dream has come true as you can see.
We’ve just entered the Fraser Valley looking out seeing lush fertile farm fields
but such a contrast to where we started out this morning in Kamloops in that semi-arid climate
and then we passed through these tall lush green mountains
with the rushing rivers — the Thompson and the Fraser.
And it just is such a privilege to get an up-close look
and be able to encounter all of this in a single day.
Dessert has arrived and big surprise, I’m having the berries and cream again.
And I can’t resist telling you that these are Fraser Valley berries
and we just so happen to be travelling through the Fraser Valley at this very minute
and I just appreciate so much the way that they incorporate the landscape into the menu.
We got to watch the chef as he was plating the desserts
and it was so satisfying to see him sprinkling the salt
and the toasted coconut on top of the chocolate torte
and as for mine, seeing him sprinkle in the berries and then put in the cream with a flourish
and so I’m thinking of how satisfying that was watching him prepare it with such care for us.
We just wrapped our day two lunch and we were talking about our favourite meals
and I think without a doubt, it has to be, for me,
the bite of Eileen’s eggs benedict that I sniped off her plate.
It was so good with the runner-up being my smoked salmon.
I think that was also excellent and also the dessert.
The berries and cream and the chocolate torte were both amazing.
With nonstop food and beverages,
I think it’s a fair question to wonder what the bathroom facilities onboard are like.
I know I was wondering that.
So I wanted to give you a little tour.
The dining car is behind me — we’re on the first floor of the two floor carriage.
There are two bathrooms and I want to give you a little tour.
This is the accessible washroom so it’s the larger of the two
and the sink area with automatic water and actually a really lovely-smelling soap.
And, hello, this is the mirror with lots of lighting and every time I’ve been in here,
it has been fresh and spick and span.
Lovely to use because they are constantly cleaning them.
I was really happy to see this elevator so if you’re mobility-impaired
and you need to get a lift to the top of the carriage, under the glass dome,
this is where you can take the elevator up to the top.
You do have to be able to transfer and they are trained to help you with that
and then your wheelchair or your scooter can be stored in the dining car.
You want to admit what you thought that was?
I got really excited because I thought it was an amusement park.
Like a rollercoaster.
He was like ‘oh my god, there’s a rollercoaster!’
I thought it was such a picturesque rollercoaster.
When Abba plays over the speakers...
I am feeling very at home on this train.
I see that.
Clearly.
Well, two days I mean…
This is home now.
It’s looking a little different behind us.
We’ve said goodbye to the mountains and we’re getting towards the city now.
Distinctly urban background now as we get closer and closer to Vancouver —
our final destination.
We have come around 900 kilometres over the past two days.
Around 450 kilometres each day.
That’s incredible.
And we’re in the final stretch!
We've just crossed the Fraser River for the last time on this journey.
It was so cool to look back and see our long Rocky Mountaineer train curving along,
crossing that bridge and I also saw a Skytrain so we are definitely in Vancouver now.
We are pulling in to the train station in Vancouver.
What an incredible two days this has been.
The service,
the meals,
the journey,
the scenery…
five stars all the way.
We feel so lucky that we are now one of the more than 2 million passengers
that have been on Rocky Mountaineer since they started in 1990.
We got to do it!
This has been a dream come true.
We’ve been pinching ourselves all the way through the Rockies.
We’re a bit sore.
No, it has just been incredible.
We really hope that you guys have enjoyed seeing this whole experience from start to finish.
Let us know what you think in the comments.
Would you love to take a two-day luxury train through the Canadian Rocky Mountains?
Yes.
I want to see a lot of yesses.
Or if you have any questions…just ask away. -If you have questions, let us know.
If you enjoyed this video, which we hope you did, please give it a like.
Subscribe if you haven’t already.
We’re going to get off this train. -Reluctantly.
You might catch us in another video if we just decide to go back.
Check in later.
But we’ll definitely see you in our next video.
Bye.
It was so nice meeting you!
It felt like it was meant to be.
Don’t make me tear up.
I know, I feel the same way!
I feel like I need to give you a hug too. -Yes please!
I really do hope you enjoyed it.
Thank you so much.
You guys were awesome.
Welcome to Vancouver!
I think they’re waiting for us in this little golf cart.
We’re the last people off the train.
That would be quite nice actually. -In typical fashion.
Bye Rocky Mountaineer!
We love you!