A World Apart: Touring The Canadian Rockies

By Jan Howard

Four Newtown residents have returned from a trip to Canada they have described as “magnificent,” gorgeous,” “awesome,” and “overwhelming.”

Beatrice Piskura, Emma Pavao, and Bill and Jeanne Honan spent July 5 to 12 in western Canada, viewing the Rocky Mountains, rafting on a river formed by a glacier, walking on glaciers, and riding a tram or gondola up a mountain, among other activities.

The seven-day trip, which they learned about through the Newtown Senior Center, took them to Calgary, St Louise, Jasper, and Banff. The four, part of a tour group of about 42, flew from Boston to Chicago, and then to Calgary, arriving in the evening of July 5.

“It was great!” Mrs Pavao said. “I don’t have words to describe it. The mountains are just magnificent. I’ve been to Switzerland, and I’ve seen the Alps, but they are as different from the Canadian Rockies as an evening gown is from sporting equipment. The Canadian Rockies are so strong and sturdy.”

In Calgary they viewed a parade and visited the Calgary Stampede, an event similar to the former Danbury State Fair and the Big E, but with a few variations. Electric cars took people to the Stampede and a gambling casino, and the Stampede offered a variety show and a fireworks display at night.

Events included calf roping, bull riding, trick riding, wagon races, amusement rides, agricultural exhibits, refreshments, games of chance, and an authentic Native American village, among others. “I think they have races there all summer long,” Mr Honan said. “The first evening we went to a stage show for an hour and a half.”

“When I heard about the Stampede, I thought it was horses running around,” Mrs Pavao said. “It was quite a treat. It is a worldwide attraction.”

A four-year-old girl sang the Canadian national anthem during the Stampede. “That was remarkable,” Mrs Pavao said. “The whole trip was a Class A experience. I loved it!”

The weather was warm, much like early fall here, Mr Honan said. “It was cool in the morning and the evening.”

“The countryside is gorgeous,” Mrs Piskura said. “A couple of places we went were so high it was hard to breathe. Everything is so beautiful and clean.”

The people were great, too, she noted. “Everyone was very friendly and polite.”

“The tour director was excellent and very accommodating,” Mrs Honan said. “The people on the tour were very compatible.”

The highlights of the trip for Mrs Piskura were white water rafting and walking on the glacier.

“The mountains are glacier formed,” Mrs Piskura said. “Emma and I marveled at one, Cathedral Mountain, that looked like a place to worship.”

She and Mrs Pavao took a 15-mile, one and a half-hour, white water rafting adventure on the Athabesca River, which is formed by the melting of the glacier. “Oh, was that water cold!” Mrs Piskura said.

Mrs Pavao was not as enthusiastic about the river ride. “The ride on the raft I could have dispensed with,” she said. “But we made it.” She said the rafting was more “ferocious” than what she had previously experienced in Alaska. “The water was colder, and we really got drenched.”

The group walked on a glacier and viewed several different gorges. “The ice fields were magnificent,” Mrs Pavao said. “With all that ice, it wasn’t cold. Some people didn’t have jackets on.”

“We climbed two mountain summits and saw dozens of glaciers and waterfalls,” Mrs Honan said. “The mountains were just awesome. We had a wonderful time.”

For Mr and Mrs Honan, the highlights of the trip were the Columbia ice glacier at Calgary, and the Stampede. “We enjoyed those very much,” Mr Honan said.

The mountains are different than those in the United States, Mr Honan said. “There’s no granite in them. They are of a soft texture, sedimentary. There are a lot of ice glaciers on them.”

The highest mountain, he said, is 11,500 feet. “We took a tram up a mountain in Jasper, and went to the top and enjoyed the view.”

During their stay, they traveled to different lakes and mountains in Alberta Province. The roads were very well kept, Mrs Piskura said. “We crossed the great divide.”

The highest lookout was at 5,000 feet above sea level, she said. “The lakes were so blue and so clear you can see rocks at the bottom.”

The group also stopped at the site of the 1988 Olympics, which is now used to teach children how to ski.

A herd of elks, mountain goats, and ground squirrels were among wildlife that was seen during their travels.

The accommodations and meals were given high marks. “We stayed in five-star hotels, and the food was excellent,” Mrs Honan said.

“It was planned nicely,” Mr Honan said. “We had the best hotels and bill of fare. The dinners are the best we ever had.”

Throughout the trip, they could choose their meals from the menu, rather than special selections as on some tours. “You could get prime rib, or filet mignon, or whatever you wanted,” Mrs Piskura said. “It was very nice.”

Not everything went perfectly, of course. Mrs Piskura’s luggage went astray in Chicago on the way home. She considers herself lucky it didn’t happen on the way to Canada because prices were a little high at the stores in the hotels.

“It was a very nice trip,” Mrs Piskura said. “It was educational, too, as well as being enjoyable.”

She has visited eastern Canada, but said, “It’s more fun on its western side. It’s more relaxing. Everyone was geared up for the Stampede.” More English was also spoken on the western side.

One thing Mrs Piskura and Mrs Pavao wanted to see was a Canadian sunset, but they were so tired at night they never did. “It didn’t get dark until 10 or 11 at night,” Mrs Piskura said.

“They have long days,” Mrs Pavao said. “I would have had to stay up to midnight. We were so exhausted.”

Mrs Pavao said she has taken some nice trips in the past, but the planners for the Canadian trip “outdid themselves. We didn’t know what to expect. It was a rugged trip, but it wasn’t an impossible trip. It’s not for the faint-hearted, but we could have done more climbing and roughing it.

“I’ve always wanted to see the Canadian Rockies,” she said. “It was like my trip to Israel. It was something I’ve always wanted to do and see for myself.”

The scariest part of the trip, she said was when, on one occasion, the tour bus had to back down a mountain. “That was pretty rough, with a drop-off on the side.”

The high point in the trip for her was, she said, “when we entered Jasper, and got the full force of the massive mountains before us.” As members of the tour group viewed the beauty before them, they suddenly began singing the hymn “How Great Thou Art,” she noted. “It was really overwhelming.”