The Big Adventure: Charles and Chance Ride to Halifax on VIA Rail

Chance and me visit Miss Johanne. She has an important job. She's the boss of the snacks. She keeps us from being hungry and thirsty when we ride VIA Rail.

Hi. I'm Charles the Bear Cub. You know me. I live on Sparkle Road with Grandpa James. He's really old. He was the second Canadian to get off Noah's Ark, you know.

 Oh. Wait! Chance lives with us, too. He's a newborn cubby someone left in a basket on our doorstep. He's a wee little thing. He's so newborn he doesn't even have teeth or a tail, yet! He just drinks chocolate owls' milk, you know. I look after Chance, too. He's a handful!

Know what? We're going on an adventure. We're going on holidays. First we're going to Halifax. I know where Halifax is. It's in Nova Scotia. Nova Scotia is in O Canada. It's the second province on the right. See? It's next door to Newfoundland, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. We're going to visit them all but first we have to climb on board the train and get there. This is fun!

We get to ride on VIA Rail to Halifax. First we take the train from our house in Windsor to Montreal. Then we say good-bye to Train 72 and climb on board The Ocean. That's Train Number 14. The blue line is how we get to Halifax from Montreal.

 Know what? The train travels all night! We get to stay up late and look out the windows! I l-o-v-e to look out the windows, don't you? The train goes very fast, you know.

When we get tired of looking out the windows we can read the newspaper. I can read, you know.  I'm five and I go to the Scruffy Maple Day Care Centre.

We can see Moncton! That's 'cuz we're way up high in the Observation Car.

 The Ocean has a special Observation Car with lots of glass windows so we can see everything! The passengers have a special lounge, too. They have fruit in bowls. Chance likes oranges but not to eat. He likes to roll them on the floor and make little squeaky noises 'cuz he's happy. I have to watch him so he doesn't play with the oranges. He's a handful, you know.

The Business Class Lounge is a nice place on Train 14.

Oh! Look! Here's Moncton. Moncton is in New Brunswick. It's a nice city and the people are very friendly. They say, "Hello!" and "Bonjour!" The good citizens of Moncton are bilingual, just like me!  I know what bilingual means. It means French and English but sometimes it means francais et anglais.

Vincent is the Service Manager on the Ocean train to Halifax.

This is our buddy, Vincent. He has an important job on The Ocean. Vincent is the service manager. He's a good person to know. He knows the answers to all of the questions. Passengers ask lots of questions. Vincent is the smartest and helpfulest  person if you have questions. Good thing I got lots of questions!

Ryan and Daphne take good care of Chance and me on the train. They're as nice as Smarties but we don't eat our buddies.

Oh, wait! Here's our buddies Daphne and Ryan. They are very important. They are Senior Service Attendants. I know what that means. It means they help us. They bring us blankets and little pillows. I could be a Senior Service Attendant when I grow up. I could wear a uniform and help passengers to have a nice trip.

Oh! Look! I'm driving the train. Chance is too little to help but he likes to watch.

Guess what? Chance and me are in the engine car with Dexter and Garnet. They are the engineers. They drive the train to Halifax. That's an important job, you know. We can't go anywhere without their help. I'm sorry the pictures didn't turn out but Dexter and Garnet are very nice. I could be an engineer at VIA Rail when I grow up, you know.

The Ocean is a great big 'ole train. I l-o-v-e to ride the Ocean. All aboard!

Oh. Wait! Did you hear that? James is hollering, "Where are my handsome bear cubs? Where are my Sons of Windsor? Where are my Princes of Ontario? That's me! Charles! That's Chance! We're handsome bear cubs. We're Sons of Windsor and Princes of Ontario! We gotta go find James so we can get our ears tickled and our noses kissed.

This is me, Charles the Bear Cub saying, "Be good citizens. Be kind to friends and neighbours.  Then you can eat Smarties and drink root beer. Oh! Wait! Come over to our house and play with us! We can ride to Halifax on the train together! Okay! Over and out!"