Category: Railways

A day of discovery in Vancouver

On Monday we had a broad overview of Vancouver, yesterday we visited a few of the many attractions to see the details. This was the view from our 9th-floor room at the Westin Bayshore. A local we chatted with yesterday pointed out that while the downtown areas of many...
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A day on the White Pass & Yukon Route railway

Every Victoria Day long weekend, the White Pass & Yukon Route railway offers Yukoners discounted rides on the railway, and on Saturday Cathy, my nice Bobbie and I joined hundreds of other Yukoners on the trains. We chose to drive to Skagway and take the longest trip available, from...
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My introduction to Ontario

I’m on the road again, this time about 3,200 kilometers from home, in southern Ontario visiting Cathy’s parents. This is my first trip to Ontario since a school trip in 1968, and my first real look at any of the province. I found researching what to see and where...
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Fairbanks to Denali National Park, Alaska

Yesterday the people in my group had a somewhat different day than I did. While they traveled to Denali National Park in a glass-domed railway car, I went ahead with the bus. We don’t normally do early starts on these tours, but there are two – we had to...
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Skagway 1949

The 4-minute video posted below is from a 16mm film shot in 1949 by a woman on an Alaska trip. The 55-minute reel I have is probaby the second of three films covering her cruise from Seattle or Vancouver to Skagway, week-long trip down the Yukon River to Dawson...
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A Fall colours weekend

The Labour Day long weekend is a rather manic time in the North. Everyone is doing something outside, knowing that this is the last good-weather long weekend we’re going to see until May. Whether it’s berry picking, hiking, boating, camping or just getting out for a scenic drive, it’s...
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A Carcross weekend

This is the Yukon’s holiday weekend – Discovery Day – and it’s a beauty, with sunshine and record-breaking temperatures. We spent the first couple of days of it at our cabin in Carcross. This was our first overnight there since I moved completely to Whitehorse 3 years ago, and...
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Arriving home (almost) by cruise ship and train

It’s a few minutes after 04:00 am, and we’re about 2½ hours away from picking up the NPS rangers at the mouth of Glacier Bay. It’s looking like a decent day, with a cloud ceiling at about 3,000 feet but no rain. I had a ball yesterday. I think...
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Trains, ships, bears… and angels

I had to go to Skagway again yesterday – oh gee darn, one more day avoiding reality 🙂 We actually had a very good reason to go this time – the in-floor heating system I ordered for the kitchen reno was sitting at the Skagway post office. Even though...
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