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June 20, 2002 - Making tracks across CanadaThe Suff8f 'Times • June 20, 2002 Making tracks across Canada Times /Review photo by Paul Stoutenburgh You'll never see moose here on Long Island but on our trip west we saw not only moose but also caribou, elk, big horn sheep and others. —FFo—W ABOUT TAKING A TRAIN ride across Canada with Barbara and me? Our trip will start at LaGuardia, and the only thing about that is the tight security. We were checked and double checked and, with my stainless -steel knees, they went over me quite thor- oughly. As a matter of fact, I even had to take my shoes off and they x -rayed them ?' Our flight of FOCUS an hour and a O N half found us in Toronto, the NATURE largest city in by Paul Canada and the Stoutenburgh fifth- largest city in North America. It was here we would spend four days enjoy - ins the area, sightseeing, going to shows and what have you oetore we boarded the train that would take us westward through the Great Plains, tht Rocky Mountains and eventually to that wonderful territory of Vancouver, where we'd visit some of the wonders of that area. As we flew into Toronto the pilot told us to look below and we could set the great Niagara Falls in all its white- ness, spray and falling waters below. Later we'd take a side trip to Niagara Falls. We had been there many years ago with our kids on a camping trip around the Great Lakes and this was chance to reacquaint ourselves with this magnificent, booming cascade of water. The falls were about 50 miles away and we took a bus and were guided among the maze of people who had also come to see the falls. Our guide took us to the steps and down to the lower level, where we were issued plastic raincoats like big garbage bags that we put over our heads. We all. squeezed onto the Maid of the Mist, one of those famous boats that have been shuttling people around the falls since the mid 1800s — even then Niagara was a tourist attraction. The wind and temperature created great clouds of mist that would hide the falls most of the time from our view, but we knew we were nearby as it wag raining a heavy mist on everyone. Then, as the wind would blow the mist away, we would be able to get a glimpse of this magnificent display of charging waters in the horseshoe curve of the Canadian falls. It was awe - inspiring: All about were ring - billed gulls, the same ones that visit us from time to time on our beaches. They nested on the rocky side walls of the canyons, which were peppered with white where each bird had its nest, while others flew about to pick up bits of fish or some sort of food in the boiling, churning waters. Also among the screaming gulls were cormorants, again the same dou- ble- crested cormorants that we have at home that fish our bays. As I mentioned before, we had vis- ited the falls many, many years ago, but to really appreciate the magnitude and immensity of the area you had to get down below in the boat and go out and be saturated by the spray of the huge columns of water that poured over the precipice and fell all around us. At times the spray was so heavy that you could hardly see. This would be just one of our side trips. . Another day we would tour the city of Toronto by bus, which would give us some idea of how big this city was. We saw its stock exchange area like our Wall Street, its water- front like our New York harborfront, the massive airport, tall buildings and, of course, that famous CN tower that acts as a hall- mark of Toronto. We even had time to take a boat ride out into the harbor and have dinner while the sun set. Then later on there was dancing on the upper deck as the city lights came on, creating an outline of sparkling lights. It was a wonderful evening. While in Toronto we even had time to slip into a theater and see "The Lion King," something we would recom- mend to everyone. The next morning we headed for our train, the "Canadian," at 7 a.m. It was a stainless- steel, 21 -car train that travels through the provinces, winding up in British Columbia. It has glass domes, three of them where you can sit and watch all the trip has to offer. As we lef Toronto we entered a land of rolling farms where wheat, corn and hay pre- dominated. Canada has one - quarter of all the freshwater areas in the world ana we couta see why as ponds, rivers and lakes whizzed by as our train sped westward at 90 miles per hour. Soon the farmland dissolved into woods that were made up of trees of all kinds: white pine, spruce, aspen and birch. The train ride was particu- larly smooth and we couldn't get over how comfortable we were in our little cubicle that consisted of bunks folded up against the ceiling and wall that would be dropped down later in the evening. We had our own little john and two comfortable chairs where we could look out our own window at the passing scenery. Partway across Manitoba province we came into the bustling city of Winnipeg, the gateway to the great northern area of Churchill and Hudson Bay. This is an area I always wanted to visit to see the great polar bears that come into town; it's a place to see more of them than anywhere else, but that will have to be another time. The only way you can get to Churchill is by plane or train because it's up on Hudson Bay. From Winnipeg we headed west again into the province of Saskatchewan, all the time dining on gourmet meals in a way you can't imagine, with orchids on the tables and chefs workin at their best in their small train kitchen. Now we were traveling in prairie country or what was one time prairie country. Now it's endless miles and miles of growing wheat. New wheat was just starting up. In the distance we could see the silos where the grain would be stored. We would often pass freight trains with hundreds of cars. I once counted 101 cars. Construction material to wheat to cement travel on these rail- ways and they say.that most of Canada's population can be found within 100 miles of this railroad. There are many of what I would call potholes all along this great prairie area. These were wet ponds that har- bored pairs of black ducks, blue - winged teals, shovelers and a host of other ducks we couldn't identify as we sped along. This is where a great major- ity of our waterfowl come to nest. We also saw an occasional great blue heron and in the wet areas we also saw yel- low- headed blackbirds which we had seen years ago when we travele through the states south of here. In some of the potholes there were cattails, water lilies and spatterdock and other water - loving plants. The for est floors, when we did see them, were covered with bracken fern and rein- deer moss, both of which we have in our own pine barrens. In place of our crows we saw ravens, the big brother of the crow. We'd see both, but the raven is so spectacular in size and voice that it was one of the prize birds we would look for all along the way. Early one morning we saw a coyote sneaking across the prairie, nose to the ground sniffing out mice or some other unfortunate prey that would become his breakfast. Manitoba was about the middle of our transcontinental rail trip. We couldn't believe how flat some of the land was. We think Long Island is flat, yet it's nothing to what we saw arounc When nighttime came we climbed to our beds, one up and one down, id fell asleep to the rumbling of the tin as it pushed its way westward. e'll continue next week.