After a final moose spotting tour on our way to the restaurant, we partake of a pleasant dinner with yet another cousin, Janet Mac Chesney and my son and daughter in law. It is time to say goodbye to Toronto. Tuesday morning, Val, mother and I board Via-Rail's,“The Canadian,” for the last leg of our four-month, millennium journey. As usual our Via accommodations although small are comfortable, and as we head north/west, we anticipate a new view of our country.
Our last trip, from sea to sea, by train was a *Journey into Winter.” It was a journey in black and white. Canada’s winter face, featured vistas of ice, snow and rocks. It was cold, stark and without sound, but with a rare beauty all it’s own It was a time of hibernation, sleep, leafless trees and the absence of birds, except for the odd hardy black bird. However summer is here and we look forward to a completely different face of this immense Country.
The sun is shining and the color is green as we leave Toronto and environs. It is the green of the trees dressed in their delicate new foliage. It’s the bright blue, of the skies. It is the vistas of smooth clear lakes, showing off their upside down reflections, of trees and rustic cabins. There are tiny islands some just large enough to hold one or two trees. Where it was silent in winter, now there is the hum of life,of people, the cacophony of buzzing watercraft and the choir of birdsong.
The muskeg has come to life, covered with wild iris, yellow and white, water lilies and new green mosses, grasses and algae. The swamps are teeming with, insect, amphibian, mammal and birds life. Beaver dams have sprung up everywhere and you can see the creatures working....like beavers! It is a completely different place. A glorious sunset crowns our first day on board. We sleep soundly as our iron horse continues into the night.
We awake at the gateway to the west, the province of Manitoba, our first stop, Winnipeg. It is obvious there was much rain this spring as there are flooded fields and ditches. As we proceed, across the western plains we again are in awe of the wide expanses of land, the odd farmhouse, grain elevators, small towns and horizon-to-horizon blue sky. We stop in pretty Saskatoon, with it’s small rolling hills and greenery
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