AMA Insider Summer 2016 | Page 42

Left: Breakfast in the GoldLeaf dining car Below left: Gourmet plating Below right: A witty onboard host AMAinsider.com No Need to Wait for a Sale... Save up to 30% Every Day When you bring your CAA membership card to any Cloverdale Paint Store, you'll receive exclusive discounts and special incentives. Please visit your local Cloverdale Paint location for expert advice, exceptional coatings and special offers for members. To find the Cloverdale Paint location nearest you, please visit cloverdalepaint.com 42 SUMMER 2016 AMA INSIDER the Fraser narrows and river water is forced to crash through a steep gorge. We cross over the river on a grand century-old arch bridge, marvelling at both the engineers who built it and the churning water below. We pass Avalanche Alley, where trains used to slow down so men could reach out and grab Morse code messages clipped to telegraph poles (they have a different use now—our host points out a giant osprey nest atop one of them). As we roll into Kamloops around dinnertime, people wave to us from playgrounds and backyards. There are even a few guys on horses with red shirts and white bandanas waiting to say hello—the Kamloops Mounted Patrol, a volunteer welcoming committee. We hop off the train for dinner and spend the night at a hotel. The next morning, we steady our train legs as we climb back aboard, hungry for breakfast and the ten-hour journey to Banff. We pass the headwaters of the Adams River. Salmon swim upstream for more than 500 kilometres from the Pacific to spawn here. We roll past the spot where notorious bandit Billy Miner robbed the wrong train in 1906, netting only $15 and some liver pills. The train slows so we can see the monument that marks one of Canada’s earliest photo