Monday May 15, Arrive Seattle, Board Empire Builder
We were up at 6, final packing, up to Windjammer for quick breakfast and had to be out of our room by 8. Said goodbye to TIO and took elevator to Deck 5 where we were to meet at Royal Theatre for debarkation. Pulled our bags the length of the ship, sat in the lounge for half hour before they decided to have us leave from other end of the ship. Continued incompetence in this process. Finally made it off the ship, then waiting for elevator down to main floor. Our large blue bags were in the proper area and I quickly grabbed them and we showed our passports and were released back into the USA. Long line for cabs, but we almost made it to the end, when a young guy said he had a small mini bus and was dropping off people at hotels and airport for $20. This seemed similar to the shuttles we took from our hotel at SeaTac last time. I made a mistake in not clarifying his price. A taxi would have been $20 or less to the King Street Station downtown. After stopping at several hotels, we arrived at Amtrak King St and he declared we owed him $40. I argued that he said $20 and that a cab would have been less. He would not back down so I paid, told him he was a crook and moved on.
King Street Station is a nice facility, but lacks food options or comfortable seating. I checked our large bags at ticket counter and then went out looking for some food. The Kingdome Diner had some sandwiches and drinks, so grabbed those and went back to station for our lunch, knowing there would be steak on the train this evening. I went out to take photos of the station with its unique clock tower and the Lumen Stadium, home of football Seahawks nearby. Local Sounder trains moved on an adjacent track, Amtrak Coast Starlight, Empire Builder and Cascades serve the station. Several trains running late and a crowd of unhappy locals joining our Empire Builder passengers as boarding time neared. The agent in the lobby seemed confused about who was supposed to board and in what order. Coach passengers were upset when they finally acknowledged that Sleeper people were to have priority boarding. Finally made it to the EB with its Siemens 310 loco leading our consist. Deeply in need of a wash job!!
We had two roomettes in the 830 car. #7 and #8 and our SCA was Erika, who was one of the best we have had in a while. There was a dorm sleeper, dining car and 2 coaches on our train leaving SEA at 5pm. We arrived in Edmonds WA after a scenic Puget Sound trip full of beaches, and lots of driftwood along the shore. Car ferries and shipping facilities brought us to Everett, WA where our EB headed east into the Cascade Mts. We were called to dinner at 6:30 and enjoyed the steak, potatoes, beans and blueberry cheesecake. Yum. Great scenery with waterfalls, roaring rivers and forests as we moved toward Skykomish WA. Met Sheila in Room 9. An interesting lady who has traveled the world. We had interesting conversations with her until she departed in St Paul, MN. The remainder of the evening was spent enjoying the fading sunshine as we stopped in Wenatchee around 9 for crew change. Our dirty 310 still looked good after a week on a ship. It was a nice evening as we reboarded and had Erika put our beds down for the evening. Nice to be back on Amtrak again.
Tuesday May 16 Empire Builder 8/28 Montana to North Dakota. Glacier Natl Park
Overnight our EB 8 was joined with EB 28 in Spokane, WA. Now our train had a Lounge Car, additional sleeper and coaches. Our new locomotive was #159. We went down to breakfast at 7am. Had omelet, scrambled eggs, potatoes, croissant, juice and milk. Nice conversation with a couple of Navy veterans who have a son that lives in Amherst, Ohio. We arrived in Whitefish, MT soon after and missed some good shots of Great Northern rolling stock at the station. Old bus and passenger cars in traditional orange colors was still nice view while having a meal in the diner. At 8:30 we were passing the famous Izaac Walton Inn in Essex, although the sun blunted my photos this morning. No passengers, so we moved on through Glacier National Park. We arrived at Glacier Park Lodge, East Glacier at 9:30. Cut Bank,MT 10:30 and Shelby, MT at 10:50 where we had a fresh air stop. Nice half hour stop to change engineers and enjoy the sunny morning.
An Amburger, chips for lunch and our next stop would be Havre, MT around 1pm. Old 2584 Great Northern steamer was a highlight of our brief stop. A nice statue of James Hill was on the front lawn of the station. Lots of BNSF action in the yards as well. We headed out across eastern Montana. Supper involved another steak dinner and that luscious cheesecake dessert. We crossed into North Dakota in early evening and arrived in Minot around 9:30pm half hour early, so we had chance to look inside the station on this pleasant evening. Remember our last trip to Minot was a hot 103 degrees outside. Our train finally left Minot at 10:53 and it was time to end the day sleeping across North Dakota.
Wednesday/ Thursday May 17-18 Minnesota to Chicago and home.
We had breakfast and arrived in MSP at 8:30am. Said goodbye to our friend Sheila and wished her well in her travels. Crew changes afford a chance to walk the platform and take some photos of the skyline. Warned not to go into the station so I complied. Left MSP on time at 8:50 and headed south along the Mississippi River for several hours. The river was in flood stage in many places. We had a brief stop in Winona, MN at 11 and then off across the river to LaCrosse, Wisconsin at 11:30. We had lunch with a couple from Kabul. Amburgers and butter cakes.
A stop in Milwaukee reminded me of our Gathering trip to Chicago two years ago when we rode Hiawathas and Metras. We arrived at Chicago Union Station around 5pm and went up to Jimmy Johns for some subs. We had a bit of a wait for our LSL 48 leaving at 9:30, but the lounge attendant said they would be boarding us before 9. (So they can close the lounge). We tried to get a Red Cap, but lots of older passengers grabbed the few that were available and since our car was at the back of the train, it would not be a long walk on the platform. We had Car 4811 Room 2, a Viewliner 1 that was showing its age. Our car attendant was Mike who put our beds down and was friendly. Our LSL 48 was moving along well with limited delays and we arrived in Cleveland only 10 minutes late. We claimed our bags and headed onto I-90/71 before rush hour got started. Arrived back in Ashland around 7:30, stopped at BK for breakfast and made it home to our comfy beds.
Some photos of our EB trip to follow
We were up at 6, final packing, up to Windjammer for quick breakfast and had to be out of our room by 8. Said goodbye to TIO and took elevator to Deck 5 where we were to meet at Royal Theatre for debarkation. Pulled our bags the length of the ship, sat in the lounge for half hour before they decided to have us leave from other end of the ship. Continued incompetence in this process. Finally made it off the ship, then waiting for elevator down to main floor. Our large blue bags were in the proper area and I quickly grabbed them and we showed our passports and were released back into the USA. Long line for cabs, but we almost made it to the end, when a young guy said he had a small mini bus and was dropping off people at hotels and airport for $20. This seemed similar to the shuttles we took from our hotel at SeaTac last time. I made a mistake in not clarifying his price. A taxi would have been $20 or less to the King Street Station downtown. After stopping at several hotels, we arrived at Amtrak King St and he declared we owed him $40. I argued that he said $20 and that a cab would have been less. He would not back down so I paid, told him he was a crook and moved on.
King Street Station is a nice facility, but lacks food options or comfortable seating. I checked our large bags at ticket counter and then went out looking for some food. The Kingdome Diner had some sandwiches and drinks, so grabbed those and went back to station for our lunch, knowing there would be steak on the train this evening. I went out to take photos of the station with its unique clock tower and the Lumen Stadium, home of football Seahawks nearby. Local Sounder trains moved on an adjacent track, Amtrak Coast Starlight, Empire Builder and Cascades serve the station. Several trains running late and a crowd of unhappy locals joining our Empire Builder passengers as boarding time neared. The agent in the lobby seemed confused about who was supposed to board and in what order. Coach passengers were upset when they finally acknowledged that Sleeper people were to have priority boarding. Finally made it to the EB with its Siemens 310 loco leading our consist. Deeply in need of a wash job!!
We had two roomettes in the 830 car. #7 and #8 and our SCA was Erika, who was one of the best we have had in a while. There was a dorm sleeper, dining car and 2 coaches on our train leaving SEA at 5pm. We arrived in Edmonds WA after a scenic Puget Sound trip full of beaches, and lots of driftwood along the shore. Car ferries and shipping facilities brought us to Everett, WA where our EB headed east into the Cascade Mts. We were called to dinner at 6:30 and enjoyed the steak, potatoes, beans and blueberry cheesecake. Yum. Great scenery with waterfalls, roaring rivers and forests as we moved toward Skykomish WA. Met Sheila in Room 9. An interesting lady who has traveled the world. We had interesting conversations with her until she departed in St Paul, MN. The remainder of the evening was spent enjoying the fading sunshine as we stopped in Wenatchee around 9 for crew change. Our dirty 310 still looked good after a week on a ship. It was a nice evening as we reboarded and had Erika put our beds down for the evening. Nice to be back on Amtrak again.
Tuesday May 16 Empire Builder 8/28 Montana to North Dakota. Glacier Natl Park
Overnight our EB 8 was joined with EB 28 in Spokane, WA. Now our train had a Lounge Car, additional sleeper and coaches. Our new locomotive was #159. We went down to breakfast at 7am. Had omelet, scrambled eggs, potatoes, croissant, juice and milk. Nice conversation with a couple of Navy veterans who have a son that lives in Amherst, Ohio. We arrived in Whitefish, MT soon after and missed some good shots of Great Northern rolling stock at the station. Old bus and passenger cars in traditional orange colors was still nice view while having a meal in the diner. At 8:30 we were passing the famous Izaac Walton Inn in Essex, although the sun blunted my photos this morning. No passengers, so we moved on through Glacier National Park. We arrived at Glacier Park Lodge, East Glacier at 9:30. Cut Bank,MT 10:30 and Shelby, MT at 10:50 where we had a fresh air stop. Nice half hour stop to change engineers and enjoy the sunny morning.
An Amburger, chips for lunch and our next stop would be Havre, MT around 1pm. Old 2584 Great Northern steamer was a highlight of our brief stop. A nice statue of James Hill was on the front lawn of the station. Lots of BNSF action in the yards as well. We headed out across eastern Montana. Supper involved another steak dinner and that luscious cheesecake dessert. We crossed into North Dakota in early evening and arrived in Minot around 9:30pm half hour early, so we had chance to look inside the station on this pleasant evening. Remember our last trip to Minot was a hot 103 degrees outside. Our train finally left Minot at 10:53 and it was time to end the day sleeping across North Dakota.
Wednesday/ Thursday May 17-18 Minnesota to Chicago and home.
We had breakfast and arrived in MSP at 8:30am. Said goodbye to our friend Sheila and wished her well in her travels. Crew changes afford a chance to walk the platform and take some photos of the skyline. Warned not to go into the station so I complied. Left MSP on time at 8:50 and headed south along the Mississippi River for several hours. The river was in flood stage in many places. We had a brief stop in Winona, MN at 11 and then off across the river to LaCrosse, Wisconsin at 11:30. We had lunch with a couple from Kabul. Amburgers and butter cakes.
A stop in Milwaukee reminded me of our Gathering trip to Chicago two years ago when we rode Hiawathas and Metras. We arrived at Chicago Union Station around 5pm and went up to Jimmy Johns for some subs. We had a bit of a wait for our LSL 48 leaving at 9:30, but the lounge attendant said they would be boarding us before 9. (So they can close the lounge). We tried to get a Red Cap, but lots of older passengers grabbed the few that were available and since our car was at the back of the train, it would not be a long walk on the platform. We had Car 4811 Room 2, a Viewliner 1 that was showing its age. Our car attendant was Mike who put our beds down and was friendly. Our LSL 48 was moving along well with limited delays and we arrived in Cleveland only 10 minutes late. We claimed our bags and headed onto I-90/71 before rush hour got started. Arrived back in Ashland around 7:30, stopped at BK for breakfast and made it home to our comfy beds.
Some photos of our EB trip to follow
), so I especially enjoy trip reports from AU friends doing it, and your trip reports always have such wonderful details.
. Of course I’m going in October so sweaters and sweatshirts take up so much room. May have to make use of the laundry service on the cruise, which should help with the overpacking. Anyway very helpful info. Glad I found this site never knew it existed.
