Train ride from Vancouver to Toronto

After the drive back and forth a few years ago, I thought this time it would be fun to take the Via Rail from Vancouver to Toronto: four days and four nights. It was a good experience of "slow travel". The route goes via Jasper, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and various stops at smaller towns.

Our train before departing from Vancouver station. The seat was with a berth. During the day it was a regular seat and in the evening the steward made up lower and upper beds. I had an upper bed which was comfortable despite the getting down and up during the night for bathroom breaks....

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were included in the price, and the meals were excellent quality. Each meal a steward seated me with different fellow travelers which was a nice way to meet a variety of fellow passengers. One of the train cars was for activities (card and board games available) with a hostess who also offered a beer tasting one evening and a wine tasting another evening.

The two dome cars offered 360 around view which was especially nice during the Rocky Mountains. One of the dome cars also had a bar and a relaxed seating area where I spend many hours reading.

This photo is from the brochure but it gives a good impression from the route through the Rocky Mountains. Below a number of the views along the route...

A frozen waterfall near the town of Jasper which is located in Jasper National Park. The train made a stop in Jasper during which we were able to stretch our legs with a walk in town.

The views from the train afterwards of Jasper Park were beautiful but I can never capture them well with my simple phone. Just a few pics....

And from Edmonton on it was a day and half of views over the endless Prairies followed by a day and half of views of northwest Ontario (still with quite a bit of snow on the ground). A very nice trip....

Another visit to Vancouver

Another visit to our daughter Hilary to join her during her 32nd birthday. We had a nice week together with a few nice dinners out as well as a few excellent home cooked meals, a look out visit at Cyprus Village, a camp fire along a river near Squamish and a good uphill walk in Deep Cove. Cyprus Village is a new building development with a beautiful view over Vancouver and its bay...

One of the meals Shayd was sweating over was homemade fish and chips. A first which worked out well. In Squamish Hilary and I had a huge sandwich after the stiff uphill walk which showed at my health app some 58 stairs....

The view after the walk was certainly worth it. It was Good Friday and we were not the only hikers that day. Busy foot traffic on the way up and the way down...

A different view was near Squamish in a nice little beach along the river. Shayd and Hilary made a fire and brought lots of snacks. It was a lovely afternoon...

I visited with Kelly, a friend from the years with MSF. Her husband Ben was my first hire when setting up MSF Canada in 1991. Ben was for work in South East Asia, but it was great catching up with Kelly, who made a meal from a special "no recipe recipes cookbook". I need to get that one....

Mild winter

It has been a very mild winter this year with only a few snow and ice days. Sitting in the sun at the porch in March does not happen often.... However, Mary always loves her heating blanket...

I completed another jigsaw puzzle; a challenging one in black and white (a photo of the first Canadian Tire store in downtown Toronto).

Nice dinner (with a view over the Niagara Falls) in The Keg celebrating Tom's 70th...

Opa Vandenboom birthday

Jos Van den Boom (Mary's Dad) turned 94 today (my Dad would have turned 104 if he were still alive yesterday). Brought him a coffee this morning during my walk along the local hills. Mary had bought the balloons for the lunch we had last Saturday at Sue & Ralph. She asked me to put them on his chair in the dining room.

Oops...., the 4 turned on me when I got ready for this photo... In the afternoon we had some cake with Opa at Sue & Ralph's place. Karen - Mary's friend who takes Opa every Thursday afternoon for an ice cream - brought Opa a funny hat + an ice cream cake.

The two sisters who look so amazingly well after their father every day of every week. Opa regularly comes over to our house to spend some time. He either does a sleep in one of our comfortable chairs, watches some TV or we play some rummikub together. He loves getting some "haring" (herring) and then his smile is great....

On that same table I put out every now and then a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle; doing a black and white one at the moment. Because of the mild winter so far, I walk almost every day. To the local community center (to play pickle ball, play bridge or watch some hockey games) and along several of my favorite walks in the area.

Christmas 2023

This year we had our family Christmas dinner together again at the home of Susan and Ralph. Mary and Hilary also contributed with a few delicious dishes. Shayd and Parker were missing because of their jobs this time, and we celebrated early because Hilary also had an ER work shift on Christmas Day. We all had a full plate of wonderful food in good company...

After dinner we had fun with poems and gifted Christmas ornament gifts. Spencer outdid us all again with a very smart poem. This year he had my name, but he managed to roast everybody. Parker and Shayd were present on-line. The ornaments gifted to Joe (creative handiwork from Ralph) and to Opa (his favorite bacon) were just a few examples of everybody's creative spirits.

The next day Opa spotted a Christmas car (fundraising activity for local foodbank). All of us spend two hours in the morning being active in the gym of our local community center playing pickle ball).

And after the family sports event, soup and sandwiches at our place, everybody went home again, including Hilary and Poncho back to Vancouver. A few very nice days together!