The brochures and the websites rave about the food,  here is a photo tour of our meals on board.  White tablecloths and real China are part of the meal experience, included with your train fare if you are in the sleeper class accommodation part of the train. Passengers that just ride in the regular seats have a little train Cafe they can buy food from, but otherwise are not allowed into the fancy dining car.

We boarded the train in Vancouver on a late Monday night evening, so there was no dinner service upon departure.

Scene from the dining looking to the outside

Cream cheese stuffed French toast

Lunch menu, day 1

I went with a chicken sandwich

Lisa went with the pulled pork

For dessert, your choice of a black cherry ice cream

Or a delicious, to-die-for chocolate brownie

Wine list

Dinner menu, day 1

Chicken with wild rice soup

We both ordered the grilled salmon

For dessert, white chocolate raspberry cheesecake or a slice chocolate cake

Continental breakfast, day two

We went with the oatmeal and toast

Brunch, day 2

They ran out of the "brown" bread (Multigrain), so I got stuck with the white bread

Eggs Benedict

This tomato and herbs omelette was much better than I thought it would be

Feta, tomatoes and herbs

Dining room

Dinner setting

Dinner, day 2

Starter salad

We both went with the halibut

Dessert, lemon layer cake, delicious

And so concludes our culinary tour of our meals for our first two days on the train.  All the food was done very well the portion sizes were perfect. Desserts were definitely a strong suit!

A short one hour stretch break picturesque Jasper. This is one place that we will have to go back to to enjoy the Hot Springs, Lake Louise, Banff and more

And so today began the first segment of our adventure to explore our northern neighbor.  It was a sudden 4:30am alarm awakening, followed by a one mile walk to the MAX station and into Portland by 6:00am.  Our Bolt Bus picked us up and then it was an eight-hour trip to Vancouver, with stops in Seattle and Bellingham.  We were able to check into our hotel by 3:30pm and spent the rest of the early evening enjoying an incredible happy hour and strolling around Robson Street.  Finally, we splashed around in the hotel pool and finished with a nice hot tub session as the sun set.  It was definitely a long day, but it went without incident and the weather was beautiful.  Okay, enough with the basics, onto the photos!  One of the best parts about traveling is the discovery of things that we haven’t seen before, or that we think is kinda odd or funny.  Here is what our first day brought us:

Whenever we are about to embark on a trip, I usually have a to-do list a mile long that I always think that I have enough time to complete.   From packing, doing last minute travel research, and closing up loose ends there never seems to be enough time.  Procrastination can also be a hindrance, as I have neglected to mow the lawn and take care of the yard for the last several weeks.  So today was the day that the battle had finally arrived.  I toiled out there for two hours – mowing, pulling weeds and weed whacking — serious strain under the hot sun, sweat pouring down my head, these old bones achy and sore.  But as I struggled to keep my pace, I was reminded of a Netflix episode featuring Morgan Spurlock documenting his temporary job of picking oranges and living with people that do this for a living.  The work was a lot harder than he thought.  He couldn’t keep up with the quota and he was thoroughly spent and exhausted by the end of the work shift.  As I finished my own laborious work, I acknowledged just how tough this is and how much respect I have for people that do this for a living.  Often unrecognized or forgotten, there are so many people that help bring food to our table.  This simple Native American blessing is one that I often recite before I have a meal:

“We thank the Great Spirit for the resources that made this food possible.
We thank the Earth Mother for producing it, and we thank all those who labored to bring it to us.
May the wholesomeness of the food before us, bring out the wholeness of the Spirit within us.”

If you are interested in learning more about the Morgan Spurlock episode I watched, here is a short clip from CNN.