Western Canada & Seattle

We are on the road again. After a year of back and forths between Stamford and Los Angeles (with detours to Florida and Antigua), we are doing another excursion with our friends, Esta & Jay Feinsod. This trip starts in Calgary (last seen when son Jed carried the Olympic torch in 2010) with a visit to the Lake Louise area; then we hop on the Rocky Mountaineer sightseeing train across western Canada from Banff to Vancouver. From there a helicopter ride to the Sonora lodge among the Discovery Islands of British Columbia and back to Vancouver. Then it’s on to Seattle (we’ve never been); San Francisco (minus the Feinsod’s) to visit Betsey’s sister and family; and finally to Los Angeles to celebrate granddaughter Lucy’s 7th birthday and pick up our new Cadillac Lyriq EV after an almost two-year wait. Whew! Getting a lot done.

Lake Louise/Lake Lorraine/Banff

We set out from what must be a brand new and large airport in Calgary for our first destination—Lake Louise. It’s about a two-hour drive through what starts out as rolling green hills. With forest fires raging through a large part of Canada in the last few weeks (which caused great smog distress in NY and CT last week) we didn’t know what to expect. The air started out pretty hazy but it didn’t seem fire related, and as we went further west the hills became pine forests and the Rocky Mountains emerged in all their glory. Also the sun came out and the skies cleared so we had a perfect backdrop for these magnificent peaks.

The Post Hotel in Lake Louise was our destination, and it turned out to be a very nice rustic-looking lodge. The big issue at Lake Louise is supposedly the parking or lack thereof. But when we took the ten minute drive up there at 5pm, we had no trouble parking as long as we were willing to pay the $21 parking fee. Whatever. It was worth it.The lake is a nice lake but what makes the place spectacular are the mountain peaks and glaciers that encircle the lake. Very awesome. We walked a bit around the lake and agreed we were happy not to stay at the 600+ room Fairmont Hotel that looms over the lake.

Dinner was at the hotel and was quite good with a good piano guy in the background and service that could be generously described as leisurely. Sunset wasn’t until 10:01pm so we could appreciate the mountains around us right up until the time we said good night after a very long day of traveling.

Lake Louise may have better marketing, but the “jewel” of the Canadian Rockies is Lake Moraine. Accessible off the same access road as Lake Louise, but far higher into the glacial mountains, Lake Moraine was stunningly beautiful with sharp, angular mountain peaks hugging a sparkling aquamarine lake. We hiked up a huge pile of limestone boulders from the mountain slide that created the lake for great views and then walked along the lake side to appreciate the lake up close. Canoeing is a top attraction, but we didn’t have enough time to wait on the long line to hop into one.

Back at our hotel we headed out towards Banff but stopped to buy some sandwiches for a picnic along the way. We took the old Highway 1A south in the hopes of spotting wildlife. One passerby reported a bear and another reported deer and elk, but we spotted nothing. We stopped for a picnic at Johnson Canyon and hiked up along river rapids to a waterfall. The water here is pristine clean. It was a short ride to Banff where we dropped off our rental car and checked into the Fairmont Banff Springs hotel, founded in 1888 and enormous as most Fairmont’s seem to be. The hotel chain was originally owned by the Canadian Pacific railroad and was designed to “bring the tourists to the scenery since the scenery couldn’t come to the tourists.”

We had an excellent dinner with a nice vibe at The Bison, and, indeed, we all had Bison of one sort or another. Betsey had Bison bolognese and Esta, Jay, and I shared a Bison Tomahawk Rib-eye, but I got to chew on the bone! All good. We had our first dose of rain this evening, and it turned chilly as we waited for a bus to take us back to the hotel.

The Rocky Mountaineer

We had to wake up the next day before dawn to get our luggage out to get to the bus to get to the train. Weather was chilly in the 40’s with intermittent rain. Glad we got our outdoor sight-seeing done. The Rocky Mountaineer train is quite an operation with 500 passengers on board.We are in a double-decker train car with our seats in the upper observation deck, and our dining facilities underneath. Each observation car has its own contained dining car under the observation deck. Very modern and clean. This is a 23-car train; our car is third from the end.

A while after getting underway we went down to breakfast, with half the car’s passengers dining at a time. Fortunately, we were in the first shift since we had had nothing to eat since getting up three hours previously. Breakfast was fresh and good.

As we ate breakfast we rode through Lake Louise and a stone’s throw from our hotel of yesterday. Later on we rode through the famous spiral tunnels which were built in 1907 and which were (and are) a modern engineering miracle, tunneling through two mountains. The tunnels were dug from opposite ends and when they met they were only off by 2”. The rails are owned by the Canadian Pacific railroad, and so the Rocky Mountaineer, which is privately owned, has to give CP freight trains the right of way. We had to wait an hour in a tunnel while a freight train ahead of us unloaded or did whatever which is why our train has no set arrival times.

Rain continued off and on throughout the day which obscured to some degree the scenery we passed. I know Canada is famous for its Maple Leaf, but in this part of the country it’s all evergreens. The mountains and valleys are lush with them. But the most interesting aspect of this so far, to be honest, monotonous ride has been the rivers. We will pass seven rivers on this first day of the train ride, and their colors and intensity are varied. From aquamarine to almost pure white (caused by silt) to deep green, the rivers can be raging rapids or glass-like and range from a very large lake (peopled by houseboats) to thin braid-like streams converging and diverging, to tall narrow waterfalls. On one really humongous lake the train snaked around it, hugging the banks so close you felt you were in or at least over the water. We were passing a town on the lake called Canoe, and it was here where we first really saw the smoky haze caused by forest fires.

Most of this trip has been through wilderness so far except for a pass through Revelstoke, almost a city it seems, with gas stations, banks, apartment houses, and even a railroad museum (how many times have the residents been through it?) We haven’t seen any wildlife yet although there have been two claimed bear sightings which, of course, we haven’t seen. As we came closer to Kamloops, our overnight stopover, the forests gave way to rolling hills, grasslands, even sage brush, and more civilization. The pine trees were still there, but deciduous trees began appearing. Farms dotted the landscape as well. It took forever to crawl into Kamloops where we were to spend the night. After 13 hours on the train, we finally disembarked for the buses to take us to our motel for the night. Kamloops, with a population of about 100K, seemed like a pretty scruffy place dotted with trailer parks, gas stations, disorganized rail yards, and motels. We headed for a shower and sleep.

Next morning things were looking up. There was sunshine, albeit filtered by a smokey haze. As the train headed out of Kamloops the terrain changed. On the right were high desert mesas covered with sage brush and on the left was Kamloops Lake, a very large and very deep lake next to a flat valley dotted with farms and horse ranches. And lo and behold close by a bald eagle alighted on a tree overlooking the lake and right in front of us. Finally, wildlife! And later on we spotted big-horn sheep as we passed a long stretch of a pine forest burned by fire in 2021. The same fire burned down a nearby town, the second time this town had been destroyed. Ironically, the morning smoky haze from Kamloops had totally dissipated into a pretty gloriously clear and sunny day.

In Cisco the landscape changed again, the pine forests returned (with deciduous trees mixed in), and the mountains were back and the rivers and rapids. Today’s scenery is much more varied and interesting than yesterday. Even the rivers and rapids seem more interesting. Importantly, we are moving along at a decent clip unlike yesterday when we had many long stops or creeps to accommodate the higher priority freight trains. Here there are two separate rail lines on either side of the rivers we parallel. One owned by Canadian Pacific and the other by Canadian National rail. There are parts of the route where we switch over to the other line which seems to facilitate our movement.

We rode through a rain forest and into the Fraser Valley which is a major agricultural area with corn fields, nurseries, and blueberry orchards. We are moving close to Vancouver, our ultimate destination, and civilization is definitely emerging. Logs for export were tied up along the river, and we spotted a tug leading a barge down a river, not quite as wide as the Hudson but wide enough. We slowed down to pass a five mile long rail yard filled with box cars, tank cars, and containers stacked two high on flat rail cars. As we approached Vancouver, high rises loomed on the horizon. We pulled into the special Rocky Mountaineer depot after about nine hours on the train and boarded buses for our overnight stay.

Looking back at our Rocky Mountaineer experience. I’d have to say it was a good but not great experience. The first day suffered from the rain and too many stops and crawls, and scenery that was nice but not particularly dramatic, and more than anything else, monotonous. We all enjoyed our second day much more. The sun shined, the scenery was much more varied and interesting, and the movement on the train more consistently at a steady pace. The train itself was comfortable, the staff very attentive and friendly, the food very good although the menu was somewhat esoteric and repetitive.

Sonora

We had dinner at our hotel, the Fairmont Vancouver, walked around the block, and headed to our room for a hopefully good night’s sleep. We had that decent sleep and then had a very good breakfast at a small restaurant around the corner before doing a circuit around the block. All the high-end brand stores at our feet but fortunately not opening before 10am. We had all been to Vancouver before so didn’t plan to spend much time here. We headed out to the airport, checked in for our helicopter flight and had a good lunch nearby at the Flying Beaver.

Forty five minutes after take off we arrived at Sonora lodge on Sonora island about 100 miles north of Vancouver on the Georgia Strait leading out to the Pacific Ocean. The resort accommodates 88 guests and looks to be very comfortable. We are sharing a two bedroom suite with the Feinsod’s overlooking the pool and the ocean. Rustically nice. We took a walk around the place to acclimate ourselves to the various facilities. I took advantage of the gym after a long slog of eating and not exercising and did a 30 minute Peloton and a hot tub soak. Dinner was very good and very slow.

Next morning the sun shined brightly, the air was crisp with a solid breeze. After a very good but slow breakfast the four of us took a hike along the waterfront and inland. Sonora is one of the outer islands of the Discovery Islands at the eastern end of Johnston Strait and is 64 square miles big. This whole area is full of Pine-forested mountain islands with strong ocean currents swirling around. We were told to be conscious of bears but none appeared on our hike.

After a good but slow lunch we had a date with a boat. We suited up into warm weather-proof parkas with built in life preservers and waterproof pants and set off to explore the area. Almost immediately we encountered a slew of harbor seals swimming around the rocks and sunning themselves. The real surprise was the bald eagles which were pretty much everywhere in the trees. Up here, they seem the equivalent of our seagulls back home. We were glad to have the warm jackets as it got pretty chilly when the boat sped up. The currents here are very strong and we actually maneuvered through some minor rapids. Back on dry land we had a drink, and I headed off to Peloton. It rained briefly, and as we were headed to dinner we encountered a stunning double rainbow over the mountains.

I was up at the crack of dawn because Esta and I were going salmon fishing. Neither Betsey nor Jay took the bait. We headed out at 7am on a 25 foot boat with great expectations. People have been catching a lot of salmon the last few days. It was cool but calm and the scenery is pretty awesome. Well, four hours later we returned empty handed. I had two bites but no catch, and Esta caught a small dogfish shark which is unusual out here but not very rewarding. I felt that Norman was along with us at least in spirit because there were no fish to be had from our boat anyway. There are fish out here because we were told that a few days ago they had a fish jamboree and the guides caught 3,000 pounds of salmon which they all threw back. Obviously the fish caught on and have avoided the lures ever since. We returned to our dock to be met by Betsey and Jay expecting us to ship back pounds and pounds of salmon to Stamford and Los Angeles. No such luck. However, a couple came in a short time later with two 12-15 pound salmon. We smiled weakly as we congratulated them.

After lunch the four of us took a vigorous almost three-mile hike. We hiked up some very steep trails into a deep forest accompanied all the way by the resort’s sweet golden retriever. He would run ahead of us then double back to make sure we were ok and on the right track. We saw evidence of bears (they actually do shit in the woods) but no actual bears. The Boston ferns were everywhere in impressive arrays. The hike was marred by frequent attacks of May flies who obviously ignored the calendar. Back at the resort we chilled and then enjoyed a Dungeness crab dinner.

Next day was sort of at leisure. We have concluded that three nights here is sufficient, especially since our helicopter return flight doesn’t leave until 4pm so we get almost a full day on departure day. Anyway, after trips to the gym we did a leisurely walk around the resort and then settled down to reading. Activities after lunch focused on massages for all which were appreciated. Our last dinner was very good and very slow.

I don’t honestly know whether I or Esta gets credit for suggesting on our last day we take one more shot at fishing, but we decided to roll the dice and take a shot. I tried and failed to get a “make good” from Sonora, but I did insist that they get us the best fisherman guide they have. Joe Harper was the man. We set out at 7am with Jay aboard as official photographer (we were that confident) and headed in a totally opposite direction on the water than the last time. Good sign. It was a beautiful morning with sun breaking through the clouds, moderate temperature, and no wind on the glass-like water. Esta struck gold first and pulled in all by herself what turned out to be an 8.5 pound Chinook Salmon. Time passed, and I was getting a little nervous, but then lightening struck and I pulled in a 10.5 pound fish. These are quite beautiful silvery scaled fish. And then we trolled on and waited. And waited. Esta got another bite but no catch. And then it was over. Five minutes of excitement on a four-hour excursion.

We pulled into the dock and they took the fish and weighed and cleaned them. We elected to send our catch home and filled out the necessary forms. Then they cryovac the fish right on the spot and freeze them until the shipping company boat comes, takes them away, cuts them up the way we ordered and ships them home to us. Quite a process.

We hit the showers, had lunch, packed, and checked out. Our helicopter heads out in late afternoon. We enjoyed our stay at Sonora—a different experience with breathtaking scenery. That was further confirmed on our helicopter trip back to Vancouver. Sonora Island is in the midst of hundreds of islands in the Georgia Strait. From the air they look like pine-covered mountainous disjointed jig saw puzzle pieces. We landed safely in Vancouver and took a long ride to our hotel, Fairmont Pacific Rim.

We chilled briefly and then walked along the very nice promenade on the waterfront, past some mega yachts, to Cardera for dinner. I must say the group was in full BC mode. Three out of four of us ordered salmon. I had the tuna. All good. We walked back for an after dinner drink and cookies at our hotel. It seems we got $100 credits against food or spa from our travel agent, and Jay and Esta had another $125 credit because there room hadn’t been ready when we checked in. We couldn’t possibly spend it all. And then to bed.

Seattle

We set out the next morning having left some credit on the table and flew to Seattle. The weather in Seattle was balmy and sunny, not what we anticipated given its reputation for clouds and rain. We are staying at the Edgewater Hotel. It was designed by the same architect who did the Space Needle and built at the same time. It sits right on the water next to the cruise ship dock. It’s alleged to have the best location in Seattle.It was made famous because the Beatles stayed there when the more staid hotels in town said they weren’t welcome because of the anticipated crowds. As a result Edgewater became the preferred hotel for all the famous rock stars of that era—Rolling Stones, Supremes, Roy Orbison, Righteous Brothers, etc. There is an iconic photo of the Beatles taken of them fishing from the windows of the hotel room. It actually happened. Seattle has a big rock reputation. Jimi Hendrix was from here and put it on the map, but Pearl Jam and others came out of what came to be called the Grunge scene. In fact, Paul Allen, who was a Hendrix fanatic, ultimately built a Pop Music Museum in the shape of what he described as a smashed guitar because Jimi Hendrix once smashed and burned a guitar on stage.

We walked to dinner at Place Pigalle which is at the top of Pike Place, the famous market area. Many flights up the stairs to this small restaurant which used to be part of a hotel that was a notorious brothel. No current activity witnessed, but the food was sophisticated and really superb. We walked back to Edgewater and an earlier than usual bedtime because we have an early breakfast before meeting our “Tours by Locals” guide in the morning.

I never knew that Seattle has steeper hills than San Francisco. It’s true. Rem, our guide, picked us up in his Range Rover and off we went. We drove into the Amazon part of downtown. It is projected that by 2025 Amazon’s buildings will comprise 80% of Seattle’s city center. Tall skyscrapers that are offices on the bottom half and luxury apartments on top for employees who pay no rent for them. The quid pro quo is that those apartments are wired into the Amazon computer systems so these employees can work 24/7. Apparently they get out of college, are paid $275K a year, get free rent, don’t need a car and burn out in 2 years and then, according to Rem, go off and open artisanal bakeries. When Bezos was starting out selling books out of his car, he tried to get city funds to help him open an office. The city turned him down. Later on Seattle lured .coms to come to Seattle by granting them tax free status. So they now have a low tax base and seek voluntary donations from these .coms. Bezos refuses to make donations because they turned him down years ago. He holds grudges.

Anyway, back to Seattle. We headed to the Space Needle which was built for the 1963 World’s Fair (remember those?) and was supposed to be temporary. It took 370 days to build and is pretty impressive. Great views of the city and Puget Sound. One of the two observation floors has a moving glass floor. Norman and Shelly take notice. Next door is the Chihuly glass museum. It is a must see. Spectacular Chihuly’s in dramatic settings with interesting descriptions of his motivations for each phase of his work. We love Chihuly and have seen his work in different settings, but this one both in the galleries and in the outside garden was very special.

From here it was over to the Pike Place Market. It’s a beautiful sunny Thursday, and Rem said we were lucky because it wouldn’t be crowded. It was mobbed (he insisted this was sparse) so we worked our way along the stalls of fresh vegetables, fruit, seafood, baked goods, tsotchkes, and trinkets and trash. We grabbed a quick sandwich and cookies and moved on.

We had noticed last night that the city was very quiet at night with very little traffic and few pedestrians. Rem says that Seattle is almost totally a commuter city. It has become unaffordable unless you work for Amazon or another .com and then you’re working 24/7 and not out on the streets. A studio goes for a minimum of $3500/month, so most people go to outer neighborhoods where they can get a little more living space. Queen Ann Hill is the most exclusive one with wonderful views of the city and surroundings, but the hill is so steep that the main thoroughfare going up closes in the winter because of ice and snow. The other interesting neighborhood we visited was Fremont. They call it the Center of the Universe for some reason and it is very artsy. They took pride in being counter culture and putting spontaneous art projects out on the street. One we saw was a giant concrete troll.

Rem dropped us at the Rem Koolhaas designed Central Library. A jagged layer of glass and steel floors, the building is very cool inside and out. We walked back to our hotel enjoying the sunshine and balmy temperature which is very much a rarity here. Ice cream and iced coffee awaited. For dinner we walked to the Pink Door which our guide said was a landmark restaurant. We had an 8pm reservation, and it was remarkable how deserted the core city was. That’s the down side of being a commuter city. Nevertheless the Pink Door was pretty crowded, and we had a very good dinner there.

If yesterday was mostly modern Seattle, our last day here was devoted to historic Seattle. The city came into being in the 1850’s when the federal government was giving away land to settlers who would ensure this part of the country remained US territory not Canadian. Logging became the lead industry and then the Klondike gold rush brought an onslaught of people who stocked up in Seattle on the way north. By 1889, It was a city of 20,000 built on mud flats with buildings entirely of wood. Two crises converged that year—the primitive sewage system kept backing up because it was built too low to the incoming tides and the entire city burned down. As a result the city fathers gave two dictates: every building had to be built of either brick or stone to prevent fires, and every building had to be no less than two stories, with the first story underground. Why? Because they had to raise all the streets but couldn’t do them all at once. So each building would have a door to the outside on the second floor which would be the eventual height of the new streets with the new sewers under the new streets. While people waited for the new streets to get to them, they had to use ladders to go down from their second story front doors.

How do I know all this? We went on a tour of the underground tunnels, many of them still in existence which resulted from the new sidewalks at the new street levels covering the old alleys. In these tunnels you can see debris from the 1889 fires and other stuff like old bed springs, toilets, etc. It was actually very interesting.

Another interesting fact. The city had one of the first lumber mills down by the water. Loggers would bring their logs down a street they called Skid Street because they pulled the logs down the hill on skids. The area became rather disreputable with beggars and prostitutes, and it eventually came to be known as Skid Row. To be honest it could still be known as Skid Row because it is a gathering place for the homeless of Seattle (I can’t speak to any continuation of prostitution). This is around the historic Pioneer Square neighborhood which is where Seattle was started.

A lot of the Pioneer Square area has been preserved thanks to the outrage that was caused in 1970 when under the guise of urban renewal, the city demolished a historic hotel and put up an ugly, really ugly parking garage smack in front of the Smith Building, an historic 1914 43story “skyscraper” which at the time was the tallest building west of the Mississippi. We visited the Smith building which had interesting historic details about the building and its tenants and went up to the observation tower of this still very attractive granite and terra cotta white landmark. As a result of the brouhaha, many handsome buildings have been preserved and the character of the neighborhood is intact, including the Skid Row aspects unfortunately.

We enjoyed a good lunch at a local bar-McCoy’s- that was recommended by another bar tender we encountered, did our underground tour, and walked back to our hotel. Incidentally, we have walked all over the city to all of our restaurants and landmarks, never succumbing to a taxi.

For our last dinner in Seattle we felt we ought to acknowledge the strong Asian presence in Seattle, indeed on the entire west coast. We chose Umi Sake House, recommended by the hotel. Betsey and I aren’t sushi people so on first blush the menu was very intimidating. However, we found many items on which we could all agree and had a very ample and varied dinner while doing “Bests & Worsts” for the trip. The evening was topped off with some ice cream back at the hotel.

We concluded that this had been a very enjoyable and interesting trip that went off without a hitch. The weather was perfect—our only rain day occurred while we spent 13 hours on a train, and Seattle’s balmy temperature and sunshine were ideal. We bid farewell and good night to Esta and Jay. They head back to Stamford while we head down to San Francisco and Los Angeles for family time.