Wed 4/10 - Rocky Mountaineer (Day 2) - Kamloops to Jasper

I think I already remarked on how slick and professional the Rocky Mountaineer operation is and today was no exception. We were picked up from our hotel and bussed back into Kamloops and the buses all congregated in a large car park. I could see a RM employee nearby with a clipboard and walkie-talkie and I could hear her over the bus radio. She called the buses one by one and they performed a kind of bus ballet so that they drove in convoy alongside the train and we ended up parked alongside our train carriage - no point making the guests have to walk further than a few yards!

Lots more of the same amazing scenery today as we travelled from Kamloops to Jasper and lots more photo opportunities like this one ..

and this one too ..

One thing that was explained early on yesterday was that sometimes freight trains take priority. Yesterday we hardly got held up at all but today there were a couple of occasions when we stopped to let some freights train pass. And what freight trains - the comprise several hundred wagons and in some cases can be over a kilometre in length.

We were on the first sitting for breakfast and lunch today so no scone & jam or cheese & wine to keep us going! You don't have any reserved mealtime tables so you end up sitting with whoever happens to arrive at the same time as you. However, as we were last to arrive for lunch we ended up sitting by ourselves.

As I said in the last blog, in amongst all the eating and drinking the scenery just keeps on coming. A couple of highlights today were Pyramid Falls ..

.. and towards the end of the journey, the highest mountain in the Canadian Rockies, Mt Robson ..

Unfortunately good things don't last for ever and our journey ended as we arrived in Jasper. Our hotel (Whistlers Inn) was across the road from the station and we had almost reached it when we checked who had the bag of merchandise we had purchased earlier in the day - turned out we both thought the other one had picked it up. I left Margaret to check-in while I ran back to the station. And as I ran alongside the train it dawned on me how long that train was and I had no idea where 'our' carriage was. A RM employee saw me running and asked what the problem was - I told her my name, carriage number and what we had bought. "This one?" she said as she handed our bag over - it turned out they had already found the bag left behind and she was on her way to our hotel to re-unite us with our goodies.