Jasper, AL 1

Tracks of the StoneBear  BNF = Banff, BC/ Alberta journey

ROF = Ring of Fire journey

British Columbia/ Alberta, Canada

Saturday August 23, 2014  BNF 8  

Jasper, AL 1  

... that's Jasper, ALBERTA... NOT Jasper, Alabama; Big difference. 

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

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Driving the Icefields Parkway the 1st time.... can't take pix fast enough... the Canadian Rockies... beyond description. 

Late in the afternoon we come into Jasper, Alberta... Canada... what a grand place!  

Up, under the RR bridge and into town... along the main drag.  A PetroCanada station on the right that has a line of RVs to fuel.

Along the main drag...  the train station on the right... park.

 A lucky spot as it's full... the Viarail train is in the station.  Get out and start tacking pix. The hustle and bustle of a train station is always exciting to me. I can hear the whir of the AC compressors on the individual passenger cars.  

The wrought iron fence along the tracks are here at the end car.... walk up towards the station.  

Beautiful Jasper , Alberta RR station distinct roof line and Jasper  3,484 Elev and the mileage sign -- Vancouver 534.9 miles west-- Toronto 2,408.8 miles East.  Many people outside the gates... ready to board...   

Black suit jackets, pressed white shirts with crisp collars, black tie Professional gate agents and conductors checking  passenger tickets and manifests... AC car compressors whirring before boarding... 22 silver aluminum rail cars waiting in the station... it is exciting.  I love trains!  

It's 5;45... 1745 hours... this it the Eastbound train heading to Toronto, Canada.  I've got to come back and ride this train across Canada... across the Canadian Rockies... THIS is the train to ride!!!  

West to East... Vancouver to Toronto, Canada... that has got to be one of the bucket list train rides of all time!!!  ...And... the backside trip... East to West... Toronto to Vancouver, BC ... through the Canadian Rockies... I will ride it one day.   

You can have your airlines.... the long lines... the baggage checking/ measuring... the x-ray machines.... taking your belt off... taking your shoes off... so some high school dropout can wave you through... trust me, Amtrak and Viarail are the way to go.

And it's more fun too!!!!  Riding the Amtrak Crescent #22 from BHM to WAS ... eating breakfast in the dining car... with white tablecloths .... watching the sun rise on Virginia farms... crisp bacon and eggs with toast,... and OJ - of course- ... trust me... rail travel is the way to go. 

ViaRail at Jasper , Alberta Canada... snow cap mountains in the background...hard to beat...

You never drink twice from the same stream. 

StoneBearTracks Copyright MMXV ALL blog posts and photographs  ALL Rights reserved

Choices

Tracks of the StoneBear  RT BNF = Banff, BC/ Alberta journey

ROF = Ring of Fire journey

RT British Columbia/ Alberta, Canada

August 2014  BNF 14  

I thin this pretty well sums it up.

 *****

While tracking through the back roads of these journeys the paths come across many and varied things; some spectacles of wonder like the previous RTs on the Cabot Trail on Cape Breton... or on this RT- Road Trip - Jasper, Alberta, Canada via Icefields Parkway,... some the most plain, non - eventful places.  There is an amazement in both places.  It's simple to say - you just have to look for them.  True enough; easily said. So simple. or is it?

I wondered at times why there was no one else-- very few-- at these places. Most places were off the beaten path / the road less traveled. Saw people in the big RV bus thing sitting inside watching CNN & thought WTF! ; saw a lot of people in a hurry going nowhere. Each to his own...

What I observed was most people don't know what to look for. Some do.  It also seems that most don't even care.... could care less. ... there just seems to be a hollow spot where curiosity could live; maybe it's strangled out of their psyche.  Maybe it's the anchor pulling the rope around their neck into the depths of indifference. Most don't know how to look at places and things,.... to see places and things,... because they don't know how to look.  How to be curious.... ?How to find a fossil,... simply for the sake of knowing that something took place.... maybe something significant... right there in the place you are seeing / experiencing/ standing.

Primitive man hunted, tracked, stalked, and killed their game using every sensory / curiosity skill for their survival. Our modern day zip into Hardees at noon for a burger seems to have muted if not erased those natural inborn survivor instinct skills.

The most overlooked, everyday , interesting things / places are often right in front of you; you have to discover the knowledge in them. When you experience the parts of the puzzle,... the history, geography, archaeology biology, economics, culture, ect... ... the picture of some of the most mundane and ordinary places become alive,... and unique.  Don't worry about the hordes driving by without a thought. Let them go by in their SUV; they wouldn't get it anyway.  

You never drink twice from the same stream.