We left Vancouver Island on the 8:30 ferry, early Friday morning, and drove all the way to Golden where we stayed our first night. On the way up we stopped at the historic site of the location where the last spike was placed in the railway that joined east and west. I guess they had workers building toward each other from either side, and this is the spot where they met. It seemed to me, a rather strange thing to build a monument to.
On the second day of our trip, on our way to Calgary, we stopped in Lake Louise and made the three-hour hike up to the Lake Agnes Tea House. The view was picturesque, and he glacial waters of the lakes amazed me with their...blue-ness. It's hard to describe. Glacial silt makes water bluer than you'll see in most places. There were also a lot of other tourists at the lake that day, and by their accents, I'd say they were mostly French and German.We made it to Calgary by evening and the lady at the hotel told us that the place to go for fun in Calgary was 17th Ave. I read on wikipedia that 17th is sometimes called "The Red Mile" because of the Stampeders' fans that flood the streets in their team colours before the game.
Dad and I thought we might be inviting conflic if we went in our green, Rough Riders clothes, so we went in street clothes instead, but we were suprised to find that the only people in team colours that night were in a special Rough Rider's bar, decked out fully in green!Our trip home was more direct than our drive up because we had to gt back for work, but I had a really good time, and the days of driving through the interior of British Columbia and the Rocky Mountains filled me with a sense of wonder and reminded me why I love this beautiful province of ours.
That water looks amazing. I might have to visit Lake Louise and check out that spot this summer.
ReplyDeleteIt is not at all weird to build a monument to the Last Spike. The reason BC is a part of Canada and not the US is because we were promised that railway. The railway is a symbol of the unity that runs through our country despite the great geographical distance.
ReplyDeleteThe railway was an amazing engineering feat and came with great loss of life. Maybe this memorial could recognize workers (especially the Chinese) who got killed building it.
ReplyDeleteMy dad and I discussed this when we saw it. Unfortunately, the monument does not mention the lives claimed by the building of the railroad.
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