Travel Blog: First Day on the Train - Vancouver to Whistler

This morning was an early start to get us to the train for an early departure. Being Sunday morning there was very little traffic so our trip to the train station in West Vancouver was quick and easy.

The train is very comfortable and the staff are all very pleasant, knowledgeable and witty. We will post some photos of the train tomorrow as we will be on board from about 7:15 A.M. until the evening, when we reach our next stop at Quesnel (that's Que-Nel if you want to get the pronunciation right).

A brief overview of the observation level. This is only in
the Gold Leaf service. The Red Leaf service is a single-
level car with no outdoor observation area.

The Gold Leaf service is in the double decker car at the end of the train. The observation level is on top, with windows that also cover much of the roof to give expansive views of the mountains. The seats are very comfy leather and there's more leg room than your average business class airplane seat. This car also has an outside observation area at the end on the lower level. The rest of that level is taken up with a dining room that seats one-half of the car's passengers at once, and the galley. This means that meal service is split - when the first group goes down for breakfast, the other gets coffee, tea, and scones to tide everyone over. So far, we've only had breakfast, since we arrived in Whistler right around noon, but it was different from the ordinary and quite delicious. We're looking forward to tomorrow's lunch already!

We've already seen quite a bit, but the train has been climbing from sea level up into Whistler's elevation of 2,215 feet. Lots of trees so far, and our train hosts who give us commentary as we go (and point out the best photo ops!) have said that things will start looking different tomorrow. Here are some photos of what we've seen this morning.

Looking back on the Lion's Gate Bridge as we leave Vancouver

Howe Sound - that little house on the point, a real fixer-upper, is
for sale for $18 million, but it comes with quite a bit
of land and that glorious view!

Porteau Cove

The Cheakamus River

The train's engine is just about to enter that tunnel ahead

We had decided that, since we had already done the Peak2Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb Mountains, we would take another seaplane tour instead and get a view of the mountains from another angle. The day was looking quite nice until Monica started composing this blog post. It got windy and the clouds darkened down. Just as the phone rang with the news that our flight would not be going, the first raindrops fell and the first thunder rang out. Oh, well...good thing we had made reservations for dinner at Sidecut, the hotel's restaurant, and wouldn't have to go out in the rain to get anywhere.