Rocky Mountaineer : Days 3 and 4
At 7.10am we were leaping onto our mighty steed after our night at Quesnel. And slowly we were rolling on our 534 km journey. The countryside changed considerably as we progressed northward to Prince George. We had an unexpected hault as one of our group collapsed and needed hospitalization . It was of particular interest to Peter and me to watch the whole process after what we went through a couple of years back. Oh my, what a difference. That team was trained!!!. And when finally the patient and his wife were taken away in an ambulance, a supervisor went with them to look after the wife 🖒👏❤ All the customer care in the world. The rest of us were all offered iced water and counselling afterwards . We certainly wrote up our praise in the survey as we left the train.
In due course the mighty beast started to move again and we were on our way through the Rocky Mountains, plied with delicious cuisine and treats until we got through to our destination in Jasper at about 8.30pm. There was a great reception to greet us and we were aided to our respective coaches .  The Gold Class tourists were driven to the Fairmont  Jasper Park Lodge which was about a 20 minute drive on the shores of the magnificent Jasper Lake.
We discovered a malfunction in our bathroom plumbing so rang the charming enthusiastic reception team as we couldn't use the bathroom until it was fixed. One and a half hours later a charming effusive plumber arrived at our backdoor full of excitement because of the elk that had been standing there. Oh really??? No we hadn't seen it. We didn't  even know we had a back door let alone an elk.

This morning I put on all my merino plus my down jacket and crept out on an elk hunt being careful not to disturb the slumbering Peter. I made my way down to this magnificent lake realising I was just the luckiest gal in the world. At 6.30 not another soul was around.All I got was Mama crow tearing her live prey apart and feeding her raucous demanding teenagers. There was not enough to go around and the kids were still fighting, so off she flew, caught some other hapless creature which she proceeded to shred to satisfy the big chicks. Not quite what I'd arisen early to watch , but it was what I got. A mum's got to do what a mum's got to do. It reminded me to return to our Lodge, pick up Peter and go for our breakfast.
Our coach departed at 8.50 and so began our awesome tour of Jasper. The coach driver was superb with his commentary. Just one piece of information is that the Canadian trains are up to 5km in length and use two engines at the front, one in the middle and one at the back. Of course the goal of the morning was to spot a bear. Well we did. A huge black male quite close to the road and not even slightly interested in us . If you want a photo, turn to Google. Peter and I were both too gob-smacked by the bear to even try to photograph him. Later on I saw a coyote but not as close. Apparently there are major bear jams in the area caused by traffic just stopping to look at a bear .Our bus certainly did. Bears reign supreme.
We went to Pyramid Lake, a walk around the Maligne Gorge where we were deafened by the roar of the water, and Medicine Lake which is only full in the Spring thaw. In the Summer and Autumn it drains into its underwater cave system and is buried in snow for the winter. All sooo different from anything we have experienced . Most of the others were returned to our Lodge but we stayed on to be taken back into the township.
Tonight are the 4th July celebrations at the Lodge here so I'll go and enjoy those.