Day 10: Traveling Home and Final Thoughts
Traveling, especially home, is not much fun anymore. So as we left the Canadian Rockies with a couple of last pictures to take advantage of the very early light, we headed out with some trepidation..
Wendy finally got a couple of pictures— the “ Three Sisters” mountain range considered the end ( or beginning) of the Rockies, and one of the animal “ overpasses” being continually built to protect to herd the animals crossing over highways.
Both our American Airlines flights were delayed— a good thing for our layover in Charlotte or we wouldn’t have made the connecting flight. Finally arrived home at 12:40 am.
Final Thoughts
Every single person we had told about this trip said it was the most beautiful scenery and we would love it! It is, and we did. Nature gives us wonderful peace of mind, serenity and beauty and this part of the world lived up to its reputation. One gorgeous view after another inspired us to take the same picture over and over, to imprint it in our minds!
We were incredibly fortunate with the weather. In a word, it was perfect . Daytime temperatures were in the 70s and 80s and sunny — hence all of the gorgeous pictures. We were told that it was the best week weather-wise all summer.
Tauck Tours also more than lived up to its reputation. Our tour director, Tanya Miynarczyk was among the few we can call outstanding. All Tauck guides get a budget, at their discretion, for little bonuses to pass out. Her choices were so thoughtful, delicious and interesting, they made each and every day full of delightful surprises— even to giving us a recipe for one of the cakes, then providing us a specific ingredient (custard powder) that is needed in the recipe!
She also took care of every single detail on the entire trip (a Tauck specialty) and was a wealth of knowledge about all things Canadian. And she has to be the most organized person I have met. She not only gave us timely updates about what was coming next, but constantly made sure every small need was met. We loved her!
Our hotels, with the exception of Many Glacier, were outstanding. That one, although having incredible views was not run as well and we had several problems, especially waiting to get into the dining room. With that said, it was the best option available in the area. The Fairmonts are all exquisite and definitely first class.
Our chief complaint, is kind of funny— too much food and too long to eat. Dinners were all two or more hours long, and even breakfasts, while mostly outstanding buffets, took a long time because of slow service. We tried to decide if this is a Canadian thing, a Fairmont thing, or whatever. No rushing allowed here, you’re on vacation!
We all complained about way too much time spent on the (pretty comfortable) bus, but if you look at a map, distances in this part of Canada are huge. Especially going down to and back from Glacier (which was one of the main reasons we chose this trip) was many long hours spent on the bus. The simple reality is there are no better other options.
The activities — boat rides on lakes, tours around lakes, the “Red Jammers” tour on the Going to the Sun Road, the Icefields Parkway and trip to Athabasca Glacier on the Ice Explorer, and extras like the Arts wine and cheese reception were incredible.
We were limited (well, Wendy was) in our hiking choices because of minor injuries, but nonetheless, managed to do a good bit of easy hiking to see the best sights. And our other choices during our free time, a mixture of seeing the sights and R&R worked out well too. It was also fun to be with Patti and Bob on this trip and to share all these experiences.
This trip was a ten, and we’re really glad to check it off our bucket list. We’re also really glad to be home and finished with traveling for awhile. The last two trips were too close, although getting out of the Florida weather in the summer is a big bonus. On to planning our next adventure!
