The L O N G train ride across the USA

Joey had ask me about the train ride itself. We don't have too many photos from inside the train. It wasn't all that great. It was small and crowded mostly. Narrow hallway, small private room. Tiny bathrooms, tiny shower.  The bunk beds were not too bad, except that Ed had to climb up a narrow ladder for the top bunk, into the area with about a 23 inch clearance.  (You can't sit up to turn around and climb down the ladder to pee.)  I didn't have the heart to photograph that, it wasn't fun.  There was cussing. 

The dining car was pretty nice.  You are always seated in tables of four, if possible.  So you get to ask "Where are you from?  Where are you going?"  Its kind of cool.   The people are friendly and there is a feeling of esprit de corps.

Your car attendant kept coffee brewing all the time, and there was juice and water for everyone.  The bedroom cars are considered "first class" accommodations and include meals and these amenities.  You also get to wait in the nice first class lounge at Union Station in Chicago and Washington, D.C. 

However, read carefully and see if you can get a feeling for what we really did enjoy about the ride - it was fun seeing a bit of America.  I love looking out the train windows and watching things go by.

Reminds me of when I was a kid coming home from Grandma's house, in the car.  I was watching for houses with curtains open and lights on - fun to see what people were doing.  I did see a little of that on this trip.  But I also saw a lot of land!  Corn fields, oil fields, hay fields!  There is still land out there, unlike my urban setting.  It does ones heart good to see it. 

Early in the trip, Day 1, actually we are riding through Rockville!  We saw our condo building!

View from Amtrak - our Metro in Rockville!

Me enjoying dessert in the dining car.

Ed in our room.

Sears Tower (now called Willis Tower) on the left there in the photo.  Moving train image, not my usual focus!

Chicago  - views from the train

This mural of the Miller ad was beautiful in large living color. - Chicago

Train station - Wisconsin

Quickly taken photos through the train window.

Can't hold the camera straight on the speeding train, shooting through the dirty window.  Pretty church though.

Neat things you see along the way.  Pretty river.

Saw some beautiful sunsets.

Especially with Patsy in mind - there are the old electric lines with the glass insulators still on them.

Amtrak station, Rugby, North Dakota

Americana along the tracks - Devils Lake, North Dakota

Ed and the sunset on his side - other Amtrak whizzing past us.

Lots of fields in North Dakota, missed the shot of corn fields suffering from drought.

Oil fields in North Dakota

North Dakota, see the other rail cars in the siding.

Chicago Sun Times

 North Dakota is where they are experiencing an employment boom, due to the rapid expansion of the oil fields.  We could see sign boards from the train that read "Housing help for Oil Field workers".

Ed along the river in Chicago.  We have a 4 hour lay over here.

Taken at lunch in Chicago - walked here from Union Station, Chicago.

This little stool wasn't too much help in leaping up into the train car.  

Picture us - both me and Ed - at night - running to get onboard quickly at West Glacier to Seattle leg of the trip.  The train barely stops - the conductor yells from an open window - NICHOLSON - get on car #731 !!


We are each dragging a suitcase and a backpack.  There isn't much time and we jump up into the train as fast as we can, throwing the backpack in ahead.  There are hands that help though, and the little stool is thrown down in front if me --- I look up for those handrails to grab also...It was quick!

More Amtrak whizzing past.

Yay!  We have arrived!  (Really, we arrived in the dead of night, took this the next day.

Ed and the Amtrak Station at East Glacier Park. 

American out the train window in Illinois I think.  Not sure what this is.  Interesting.

Ed got this shot, coming out of Chicago.  Neat.

Labor Day Celebration Montana style

We discovered the most amazing place to spend a little time on Labor Day 2012.  Ed had rented the 4 wheel drive Subaru, so we took off into the lesser visited Western side of Glacier National Park.  This area had been the victim of a severe fire several times, I think the latest was in 2003.  The scars still show, but we do note that the fires are a necessary thing for the growth of this important forest land.  The Lodge Pole pine tree requires the heat of a forest fire to produce the seeds for growth.  It is an amazing place.  

Anyway, back to Grandma's Lil' Darlins and the Pig Roast at the Northern Lights Saloon!  [no, I'm not kidding.]

I realize you probably cannot see the people on the stage, they are in the shade.  But, there was a double bass player, a great banjo player, and a guitar picker.  They all sang!  I could have listened to them all day.  It was kind of country blue grass, but familiar songs.  There was a girl singer too sometimes.  There were dogs running around through the crowd, lots of kids, camp chairs being dragged from the back of pickup trucks.  It was a beautiful day and a neat laid back crowd.  They have an outhouse in the back. Almost felt like my Grandpa Snodgrass' porch, with Uncle Salve playing the banjo. 

The Pole Bridge Mercantile was the location for the ARTISAN BAKERY !!

This well known and very popular bakery is the home of lots and lots of cool baked goods, especially the most popular "Huckleberry Bear Claw" which I should have taken a picture of!  It was delicious!  Montana loves its Huckleberries.  They are like a dark raspberry, only sweeter.  Yummy.  
The bakery is open only part of the year, they are getting ready to close for the season.  It will snow there very soon and the roads will be impassable.   The bakery worker said he is going to work the winter in the Ski areas nearby, maybe come back to the bakery in April or May... 

Parking lot for Pole Bridge Mercantile.  

 Here is the most modern bathroom in 15 miles.

 This is Bowman Lake, we drove about 6 or 7 miles on a one lane twisty, narrow dirt road to get here.  Yes, it was worth it. 

Perhaps it IS the destination after all...

Montana, and Glacier National Park in particular, is really different.  

Our tour guide assured us repeatedly that we would be fundamentally changed by this trip; the mountains do something really special to you.  

I think he was right, the whole area is special, unusual, beautiful, remote and wonderful.  The people living there are independent, strong, witty, respectful of nature and have a sense of humor.  Its awesome!