We got off the boat this morning at 0630 for the mile walk over to the train station. We had secured tickets for a 4+ hour ride into the more remote parts of Canada that was also combined with a visit to the Bush Plane museum. The museum is right next to the marina. We will stay here tomorrow to visit there, then head off the day after...weather permitting of course. The train ride included a presentation from the folks at both the Bush Plane Museum and from the Insectarium that shares space with the planes. We will visit there as well. They let you handle a lot of the bugs and, apparently, have a box you can put your head in while they pour cockroaches down on you. Not thinking that is anything we will be interested in trying. Our main interactions with bugs includes trying to keep them out of the boat and sweeping off the spider webs every morning.
The people who built the railway around a century ago chewed their way through rocks and heavy forests. They also built trestles to span some pretty impressive canyons. The going was tough enough that they didn't clear any more forest or move any more rock than they had to. Though there were plenty of scenic places along the way, a majority of the view out the windows was rocks and trees passing by remarkably close to the train windows. So close that branches being swept aside was a common occurrence.
The train stopped at Agawa Canyon Park, probably why it is called the Agawa Canyon Train Tour. We had 90 minutes to explore the place before having to climb aboard for the ride back to the city. It would be nice if the train ride was shorter and time in the canyon was longer. But that would require moving either the city or the canyon. Neither of which seems likely. Still, it was definitely worth the few travel days it cost and the ticket fee. It was the kind of day you remember and a story you tell for the rest of your life. The pictures simply cannot do the cliffs, waterfalls, forest, and rivers justice. You don't have to see it to believe it is there. But you do have to be there to really see it.
On the train ride up and back, I got to chatting with the Plane Museum speaker. He has a teaching and acting background rather than an aviation background. That kind of surprised me. But it turns out he was hired because the museum's goal is to be a learning center, a place where school kids and the general public can learn some history. Pilots are far better at telling stories than they are at teaching non-pilots what really happened. (You can trust me on that one. Which is why Deb is the final editor on everything I put out.) Tim (him not me) will be in the Museum tomorrow and I am looking forward to his tour through the aviation history surrounding this place. So, even though the pictures don't do it justice, I hope you get a small feel for the grandeur that Canadian wilderness is.
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