semifreelife: day two into three

Sunday, July 17, 2016

day two into three

so we left Vancouver and the Capilano Suspension Bridge behind and headed north along the coast - a stunning drive in the direction of Whistler BC. But our next stop proved to be more interesting than we expected so after cross hatching Squamish "downtown" we followed the tracks to the West Coast Railway Museum.

Almost the minute we got out of the car we spied the miniature train and went right over to find out when the next one was leaving. LOL this is Canada and so the guy said - whenever you are ready - tickets are right across the lot... so a guy and his maybe four or five year old son and the two of us took the mini train around the perimeter of the museum grounds.

we let the kid sit in front LOL even though the dad offered to have us sit in front one way LOL- we decided to be Canadian like and be nice...LOL

if you didn't see Jim standing next to his train you would think it was a regular train- LOL

and even though these "passenger cars" were covered - this was at least the second time I had been on this configuration of transport- see additional old photo from 1993 trip into the salt mines of Berchtesgaden, Germany...

in order - me, my cousin Chris, my Aunt Phyllis, and my mom--- on our way underground to "work" the salt mines...LOL - May 1993

and here is another train trip TB and I took on one of our first trip together way back when - at some little train museum in LA...

back to our most recent train ride-

having completed the minirail ride we headed to the museum and the rail yard of interesting cars-

inside a railroad maintenance car the workers traveled in-

this one gives an idea of how huge this engine was-

the inside of the rail car shown above - the British Columbia-

then we were on our way to a late lunch in Whistler- a manufactured ski resort not unlike many others in the world- the one Jen and I stayed in on a trip to Bregenz for the opera festival -or the one we stopped in on our trip through Greece- or even more recently in Bulgaria--- there is a "sameness" to ski places (maybe even more so when you visit in better weather) - and I was so unimpressed by Whistler this is about the only photo I took LOL

oh no- found one more-

we had lunch so late it was really an early dinner (4PM) so we went to the market and bought snacks to munch on figuring it was unlikely that by the time we made the roughly three hour drive to Lillooet anything would be open. It is a small town and despite being located centrally in the grand scheme of BC - is still pretty much in the middle of nowhere.

here are all my photos from Lillooet- both from this day and the next morning when we planned a train trip of sorts on the commuter train from Lillooet to

the view from our hotel rooms - over the RR tracks and we did get to see a train come by that evening right below us-

the video was too long to post here but this is a link where you can view it and it was pretty impressive! I got to 47 cars before I had to stop -

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42626458/00062.MTS

and here is the "train" which we did not make it on to because they could only take 12 passengers due to reservations for the reservation...two cars - very small - and honestly not too train-like more like the el or a subway car without being on a lowered track like subway cars are--- LOL- anyway- we didn't go and so we left town...LOL - I guess I should explain that this train service is a commuter train that takes people from this "big town" of Lillooet to the smaller reservation town of Seton Portage.

here is the wikipedia blurb on the train-

The Kaoham Shuttle is a diesel multiple unit (DMU) passenger service on CN's Squamish Subdivision near Lillooet, operating as a partnership between the railway and the Seton Lake Indian Band, whose communities it serves. The train was started by BC Rail after the end of its passenger service in 2002 between North Vancouver and Prince George via Squamish, Lillooet, Williams Lake, and Quesnel. The train runs daily between Lillooet and Seton Portage. After BC Rail was sold to CN the Kaoham Shuttle kept BC Rail logos but was recently painted in CN colours. Currently this is the only train that operates between Lillooet and Seton Portage (trips to D'Arcy are no longer available). The Rocky Mountaineer does pass through the area but does not stop until Quesnel. According to a report in the BBC, the Kaoham Shuttle is "Canada's greatest hidden rail trip". In 2014 only costs $10 Canadian dollars for a two-hour return trip.

but that of course would only be if you actually got on the train after calling and emailing two months in advance for a reservation LOL

so we left town late morning and headed south on the same route we had taken in our last trip through the area in 2011 so here are two photos from that trip- LOL

so to round out the day we did have a late late lunch again in a town on the way to Vancouver where we would spend the next two nights- and by the way the lunch was terrific- a place to go out of your way for- fresh food - all made there and large portions!