SV Windarra

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Early in the morning we had breakfast with Benedict and his partner. They are on the first leg of a multi leg rail trip across the US and back to Seattle. Benedict was a boat chief on the Coast Guard ice breaker Polar Star for many years.

At Whitefish, MT we got a seat in the observation car before the train to heads for Glacier National Park. There are park service rangers on board and they gave a lecture on the park.

The depot at Whitefish was built by the Great Northern Railway in 1928. It was later renovated by the Burlington Northern railway and now maintained by the Stumptown historical society. The original name of Whitefish was Stumptown, called such since they were in such a hurry to establish the town they did not clear all the stumps.

The views from the train are gorgeous. We see lenticular clouds over the mountains, forests, fast running rivers an interesting shade of blue. Even though it is called Glacier National Park, we did not see a single glacier as we are passing along the southern edge of the park. I did not see any wildlife either though Rich claims he saw a deer. It is different seeing the park from the ground in contrast to the view from the air when we flew with Doug in his plane.

After the park we passed though the Blackfeet Indian Reservation with long, gently rolling hills of grass and wheat with a few cows studding the landscape.

Between Havre and Malta, Montana the train slowed to a crawl. Burlington Northern is working on the tracks so we need to go slowly. Unfortunately. We are now a little over a hour late arriving at our next stop, Glasgow, Montana. We hope that between here and Chicago we are able to make better time so we do not miss our connecting train to Pittsburg.

As we ride down the tracks and see cows in the distant I am reminded of the Gary Larson cartoon about cows. In the cartoon, there is a cow on lookout for people while the other cows are standing on their hind legs smoking cigarettes. When the lookout cow signals, they all return to 'normal' cow behavior, eating grass. I wonder what the cows are really doing when we can not see them.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

9/4 day 1 of East coast trip

We boarded the train at 4:25pm. Shortly thereafter as the train headed north towards Everett, our porter, Larry, brought us two small bottles of champagne, which we enjoyed as we watched Puget Sound go by. We are in a roomette on the upper level, port side which gives us some great views.

We sat for dinner as we travelled passed Index and Skykomish. Our dinner partners, Mark and Judy, are returning to Maine after a visit with their son and his family in Port Angeles. Mark is a retired school principal and superintendent. They told us about their trip on the Trans Siberian railway to visit a school in Siberia in 1993. It sounded like quite an adventure.

Later in the evening our roomette was converted into bunk beds. We went through the 8 mile tunnel, continually popping our ears. There are large fans in the tunnel to blow air so that the passengers do not get asphyxiated by the exhaust from the train engine.

During the night the train stopped at Spokane to combine with the train from Portland, OR. On it went, rolling along, rocking back and forth, the whistle blowing as we passed crossings. I was not quite used to the motion. It is not like the motion of the ocean.

Yet another adventure

Nancy dropped us off in Winslow and we walked onto the ferry, Tacoma, the first conveyance on our trip to the East Coast. From Winslow, the ferry will depart for Seattle, passing the guest house where we have been staying this summer. At the Colman dock we will walk to the Amtrak train station, which is being renovated, and board the Empire Builder to Chicago. All aboard!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Waiting area

At the place where Rich and I go to exercise there is a waiting area for the dogs. They are expected to follow a few rules and be quiet. There are beds and water dishes. They look expectantly at the door, waiting for their owners. I think that some of them are hoping that a walk is also part of the exercise plan for the day.