While Brownie is always traveling around in Mike's backpack, it's been awhile since we've had an adventure worth writing about (it's just been work trips and conferences for awhile). Here we are though!
Jeannette and Mike decided to take a cross country train trip on Amtrak's Empire Builder which goes from Chicago, IL to Seattle, WA. They were traveling with their good friends, Trent and Heather. Trent put together the following map of the route and included rough times for a lot of the stops. We left Chicago at about 2:30pm on Wednesday, April 5 and would arrive in Seattle about 10:30am on Friday, April 7.
Since this was going to be a trip that included two nights, we splurged and got bedrooms in one of the sleeper cars. Brownie was the first to take a seat in our room.
Across from this chair was a longer couch-type seat that would fold down into a bed at night. There's another small bed that would fold down from the wall sort of like a bunk bed. While the train has shared bathrooms and a shower, these bedrooms each come with their own tiny bathroom as well.
There were a LOT of train-related things to see along the way as well as beautiful scenery. Here Brownie is checking out an old private train car (I'm pretty sure this was at the Milwaukee, WI station).
Our bedroom connected directly to Trent and Heather's so when we were awake we usually kept the adjoining door open. Here you can see Trent and part of Heather sitting in their room which was setup like a mirror of ours.
Our view at dinner the first night from the dining car. I'm not sure if it's always this wet up north or if it's just because it was Spring.
Playing a game in the lounge car that night, we had the worst luck! Three people in a row pulled a "No Dice" card which means they immediately lost their turn. The lounge car has windows that go all the way up the side of the car and seats angled so you're looking right out of the window. We spent quite a bit of time in there.
They next morning we were headed through North Dakota... pretty boring looking for the most part. Sleeping on the train wasn't too bad, but don't expect to be as rested as you would at home. The train is always moving and there's lots of little noises from things rattling around. It helps to bring ear plugs.
Into eastern Montana the scenery isn't much different, but we started taking opportunities at some of the longer stops to get out and stretch our legs. Above, I'm taking a picture of Jeannette as she gets a picture of Trent and Heather.
Eastern Montana, wooo! You can almost see the curvature of the Earth.
At another stop I walked up to the front of the train to get a picture of the engines. The Empire Builder has two engines and cars destined for both Seattle and Portland. The next night in Spokane, WA while we're sleeping, they'll split the train and each half continued on its way.
Okay, now we're starting to see some more interesting stuff.
The Rocky Mountains!
More mountains!
Mountain view continued during dinner the second night. It just keep getting cooler to look at and was really beautiful for the remainder of the trip.
The next morning it was overcast, but we'd actually crossed eastern Washington by this point and were in the Cascade mountains. Later on in the Cascades we crossed through an 8-mile long tunnel! It took about 14 minutes to get through the tunnel with, in the direction we were going was at a slight downward angle.
On the train, because seating is limited, you often end up seated at lunch and dinner with other passengers you don't know. At lunch we were seated next to a freight train engineer who was telling us that it's not uncommon that they get stuck in that tunnel. As they're headed up the slope, if one of the engines overheats they have to stop in the tunnel and let it cool down.
On our way down to Seattle from Everett, WA we crossed a train bridge that you may recognize from a previous blog post:
Seattle Again and Vancouver
This is a train
turntable which I'd never seen before in person. Train engines, etc can go onto the turntable and get rotated to go the other direction or as a way to more easily move engines in/out of storage or maintenance.
Finally at our destination, King Street Station in Seattle! You can see Trent and Heather getting off the train in the background.
BONUS TRAIN TRIP
For everyone but Mike the trip was over after Seattle and they flew home. Mike decided to take another train from Seattle to Emeryville, CA which is right by Berkeley, CA where he works out of.
As always, Brownie was along for the ride. This time, Mike didn't have a full bedroom, but he did have a two seat "Roomette" since he'd be spending the night on the train again. This room has two large seats facing each other and at night they fold down to create a bed. There's another bed that folds down from above as well, but since Mike was traveling alone he didn't need it.
Just after leaving Seattle's train station, we past the headquarters for Starbucks. The first actual Starbucks location is located near Pike's Place Market in downtown Seattle.
Mike and Jeannette use a "Find My Friends" app on their phones in case either one of them is lost (usually Jeannette). This is a screenshot that shows Jeannette waiting at the airport for her flight while Mike (the blue dot) rides south on the train.
At this section of track they're pulling out and replacing the old rail road ties. It's a pretty cool process if you look it up on Youtube.
These two photos are of the new
Tacoma Narrows Bridge. It's famous for the old one collapsing because an engineering flaw would cause it to resonate with the wind and flex.
I thought this train station with it's clock tower was really cool. Just one of several.
Here is the Willamette Falls Reservoir. I'd like to learn more about it.
This is my favorite picture of the trip. I'm pretty sure the yellow in the background is blooming flowers based on other fields I saw nearby, but in the foreground the sun shining through the clouds puts a highlight on a pile of old straw bales.
If you zoom into this picture you'll see hundreds of Canadian geese. Mike took this picture to show that Champaign isn't the only place with a geese problem.
One last picture of mountains. The train took a winding path through a huge national park in Oregon near Crater Lake. Lots of turns and great scenery, but it was hard to take pictures in the quick gaps between trees. To truly experience it you'll just have to take a long train ride. Mike would arrive at Emeryville, CA on time the next morning for another visit to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
BONUS PICTURES!!!!
Heather and Trent got some good pictures as well.
Here's Mike napping on the first train from Champaign to Chicago.
...and here's Mike catching a nap in Chicago's Union Station while we wait to board the train.
Mike and Jeannette at dinner the first night. Pretty good for train food!
A view of the room from Trent and Heather's room.
Finally a video as we head towards the mountains! Thanks, Heather!
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