Wednesday
We left in plenty of time to make my train and stopped at Shari's Cafe, just up the road and on our way to Tacoma. It is a Washington company and appears to have six Cafes around the area. It is a 24 hour cafe and We had a lovely breakfast. It is very clean and pleasant looking and they are also well known for their pies. In fact 14 of their pies won awards at this year's American Pie Competition.
We then headed for the station in Tacoma and we cross the beautiful bridge on Route 16. Thera are two bridges side by side each carrying traffic in one direction. On arrival at the station we discovered the train was 20 minutes late, lol! It eventually arrived so it was time to say farewell to Cheryl and Jim.
Once again, many thanks to Cheryl and Jim for their hospitality and for giving me a great time. They always seem to find new experiences for me!! I love visiting them and it is such a lovely area to visit.
In spite of two stops along the way for track work we were only 20 minutes late into Seattle. I left my two big bags in the luggage area, it cost $4 per bag! I wandered out and found a Starbucks less than five minutes away. I stayed there for a couple of hours, nursing two coffees in that time.
A young guy started up a conversation and he was pleasant enough, turns out he is probably homeless as he had a shopping trundled with all his belongings in it. When he asked me if I had a cell phone he could borrow, I could honestly tell him no! He stopped chatting soon after, maybe he thought I would be a soft touch but I was not born yesterday, lol! I did feel rather sorry for him though!
Back at the staton, I retrieved my bags and wandered over to wait for boarding. The train pulled in at about 3.50 pm and everyone stood up and started to move but of course they did not board until 4.15! I soon boarded and met the two people in the room opposite, Jessica and Matt, they are heading to East Glacier National Park. I had a wonderful time there last year. Matt was telling me about a shop in Winona that has Polish doughnuts, not very healthy but very good!!
The train was almost full all the way through to Chicago and the snack car did not join us until Spokane when we met up with the other half of the Empire Builder which comes through from Portland. The diner was with us so I went to dinner with the two people I just met.
The weather was gorgeous as we travelled and there were some beautiful sights along the way. A great afternoon/evening to be on the train! One of the National Guides, Trails and Rails, came round and told us he would be commenting along the way, his name is John and he was obviously originally from England, lol!
The train travelled alongside Puget Sound and we could even see across to the Olympic Mountains where we went up to Hurricane Ridge. 
Once we reached Everett, the route turned to the east and we passed through Monroe which has the only NASCAR registered track in the state of Washington. We travelled for about 30 miles alongside the Skykomish river as we travelled towards the Cascade Mountains.
We passed three small communities that only came into existence once the railroad came through, in the late 1890,s. Prior to that the land was habituated by native Indians who used the river for travel as well as food, it used to be full of salmon!
We then passed through Index, the small community that is at the gateway to the Cascades. It derives its name from nearby Mount Index and there is a beautiful waterfall, Sunset Falls, part way up.
We then passed a high peak, Mt Baring, it is one mile above the train! We later left the river and entered the town of Skykomish which was has a lot of the original buildings and was an important stop on the railroad. The train then slowed somewhat as it had to climb to 3,000 feet before passing through the Cascades tunnel. This tunnel passes under the area where the original rail travelled over a series of switchbacks and a road that passes through the mountains at Stevens Pass has been buIlt, Route 2. Once we had passed through the 8 mile long tunnel through the Cascades we reached the drier areas of east Washington.
Well, life is never dull! I had a lovely dinner with Jessica and Matt (on their honeymoon) and another guy, Frank, whose children were sat at the table opposite. Lots of chat went on, especially between the guys, almost a bit of one-up-man-ship. Frank was Italian American and Matt had some Italian in his background. He works in Washington for the government as a financial adviser. Jessica is American but at the same time a Lithuanian Jew she teaches little ones. It certainly made dinner very interesting, lol!! There was a beautiful sunset but I did not have my IPad as it needed charging!
I decided to have a shower as we were stopped at Wenatchee, WA. The train started to move just as I was soaping up. Suddenly, the train came to a very abrupt stop and I had to grab the hand rail!! Then our car attendant came down and asked me if I was OK, I told him I was! At least the train was still while I finished my shower, lol! It turns out we hit the second trailer of a semi trailer truck carrying fertiliser, this was confirmed later by Cheryl who said she had seen it on the news!! No-one was hurt but the engineer was shook up, the semi driver was OK. So we had to wait for the police to take statements. If the engineers felt he could not carry on, it would take quite a time to get a replacement out.
Then we were told that the engine was slightly damaged, some of the lights were burned out so it took about a couple of hours or more for a freight engine to come out and be attached to the front of our train!!! We finally moved about four hours after we stopped but it was stop/start for a while. We also stopped at a station at some point! Then we stopped again for quite a long time but that was to let a freight train go through!
Thursday
I only managed a couple of hours sleep before waking up about 6 am just as we were approaching Spokane. I have never seen this area before as usually the train arrives in the middle of the night! The train has all power off so no lights anywhere and no flush in the toilets. Coach must be a nightmare! We passed the other part of the train and an engine so it might be another engine for the train. We then reversed back to hook up. Breakfast was supposed to start at 6.30 am MT but As we were still well inside PT not sure when it will start, lol!
Another place I have never seen before, Sandpoint ID, beautiful lakes and such a calm morning. Someone was out water skiing nice and early! We followed a river for many miles and there were some beautiful views. I had a headache that refused to budge, think it was a combination of little sleep and a warm room.
I decided to go to breakfast to see if food would improve things. I went to the dining car and put my name on the wait list than back to get washed and dressed. When my name was called I wandered down and was seated with a mum and her two daughters.they are from Portland so we're interested on why we were held up last night. We had a very pleasant chat and I told them about a couple of things they could do at East Glacier where they are headed.
We went round a curve at one point and it looked as if the freight engine was still pulling us a the orange engine was in front followed by the Amtrak engine.
The manager of the dining car, Hilary, told us that we would lose a little more time as the top speed of the freight engine is 70 mph as opposed to 79 mph for the Amtrak engine.
Between Libby and Whitefish, both in Montana, we passed through another long tunnel, Flathead Tunnel. There were trees as far as the eye could see with hills and mountains in the distance.
From Libby we were also on Mountain Time. Reception was very poor in this area so for some time I could not connect to the Internet.
However, the bad news is that the unit I use has ceased to function properly so I was without any access all day and for the rest of the trip, not very funny. I have composed a stinking email to the company and will send it as soon as I get Internet access again. I picked up the unit when I returned to the states in April and have not used it very much as there are so many places that offer free WiFi these days.
We followed the Kootenai river for many miles and it is spectacular in places. Once we left West Glacier we saw plenty of groups on the river. The colours were beautiful and the water was so clear. At this point the river had a steady flow and the rapids were only on a gentle incline. To the north, we saw the Glacier Park Ramparts with an upthrust that happened thousands of years ago. When we arrived at East Glacier I felt quite strange as this is where I disembarked e last time I was on this route. It brought back so many happy memories. I even saw the horses from the group that I did my trek with!
The landscape flattened out with only a few mountains in the distance to the north. There were miles and miles of farm lands. The weather had clouded over a wee bit but we still saw some sun. It seemed quite mild when we did get the opportunity to go outside.
I had a late lunch and ended up with the same group of people as for breakfast so we had a great chat. After lunch I went to my room and spent a boring and frustrating time trying to activate the Internet unit with no joy. The honeymoon couple left us at East Glacier so we made our farewells, the other group were also headed there. Due to the late lunch, I booked in for a late dinner. I did manage to hop outside at a couple of the stops where this was allowed, it was good to stretch the legs and breathe in some fresh air. I have managed to take some reasonable photos with my IPad along the way.
At dinner I sat with an elderly gentleman, his son and daughter in law. They were lovely people and we had a great chat. They had questions about New Zealand and also asked me about my travels. The father will be getting off at Staples, he lives to the north and the other two will be getting off in Minneapolis/St. Paul's.
I told them about my Internet woes and they offered me the use of a phone if I wanted it. We were in the same coach so I took the offer up. I tried contacting two people and managed to get hold of Lisa, at the third attempt, lol! I thought I would catch her before work but they are so busy she was already there but she said she would try and leave a message on my FB page! It was time have a quick wash, no shower for me tonight, lol, and the head to bed. The conductor made his last announcement of the night and concluded by apologising for the fact we were running a tad over six hours late!!!
Friday
I managed about four hours sleep, lol, feeling a bit tatty at the edges today! The weather was beautiful and apparently there was fog earlier on. I went down for a latest breakfast but there were still many people to be fed and there was no wait list today. I sat with three people, an older couple and their Down's syndrome daughter who is 23. I am thinking that they may have had her later in life. It was a very pleasant breakfast and we had a good chat.
After breakfast I decided it was time to pack my bag, I decided to try one final time with the WiFi unit. I switched it on and carried on packing, suddenly my IPad sprung into life with notifications. This meant I had WiFi, totally strange!! I have written to ask the company what might have happened, I did not send the other email, lol! I really do not want this happening again. It was sooooo good to have the Internet back!
I spent the rest of the morning on my IPad and, when they announced Staples was coming up, I went down to say farewell to the older guy from yesterday. I shared my good news about the Internet connectivity with them. The weather had clouded over by this time although we could still see some patches of blue sky.
We trundled along and I went down to lunch and had a good chat to two more people who are heading to Chicago, they do quite a bit of travelling too. Is was my last meal in the diner and I have to say the team was excellent. The manager, Hilary, was lovely and I really appreciated the Seville and the humour. Also, this has been one of the best trips for meeting and chatting to really nice people!
It was not long after lunch before we were to stop at St Pauls and there was an opportunity to step out and get some fresh air. The two people from yesterday were getting off here and I made my farewells and my thanks for the use of the phone. In the end we exchanged emails and I have another place to stay, lol!! Such lovely people! They live near lots of bike trails and he builds bikes!!
I then had a lovely chat to another key on the platform. She and her husband were returning from a visit with her son and his family in Seattle. They live in Royal Oak, MI, not that far from East Lansing.
The final stop before Winona is Red Wing, I love the ride from here as it follows the river. The train finally arrived a tad over seven hours late, lol!! Connie and Joe were there to meet me and we were soon on our way. By this time the cloud had cleared away and it was a lovely evening.
It did not take too long to reach their place and It was good to be stationary after 48 hours on the train. After tea we sat and chatted and I saw all five cats, Ebony is the old guy,
Sizzle is Mr Lovebug, Ganache is shier than last time, Suzy is shy and Willow is extremely shy although she did allow me to pet her when I was sitting down. Last time I was here I rarely saw her.
I went to bed fairly early and Sizzle decided to spend some time helping me to get to bed, lol!! As soon as my head hit the pillow I was asleep.
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