USA
Here we go again on to the next stop, after four great days in Glacier National Park. The weather seems to have changed here with some heavy rain, thunder and lightning recently. When we arrived at the station we had a very spectacular sky as you can see from the photos. The train was only 45min late which for a 1500-mile journey is great going. The journey from Glacier to Seattle is 650 miles and was scheduled to take 17.5 hours with another time zone change. Continue reading Train To Seattle
Glacier Park Lodge is an historic hotel, it was built in the early C20th and is a log cabin construction; the main lobby is three stories high and supported by huge whole Douglas fir tree trunks. The Lodge is about an hour from the park entrance so we spent one night there before transferring to St Mary’s Lodge which is a five-minute walk from the entrance! We will have another night at Glacier Park Lodge before we leave for Seattle on Sunday evening. The ride from one hotel to the next took us through the Blackfeet Nation Reservation, Glacier Park is the traditional tribal land of the Blackfeet Nation and has great cultural and religious significance for them. Unfortunately, the treaty which took the land into Federal Government control pretty much excludes the Blackfeet from accessing the land; they now live outside the park in and around a town called Browning, where their main income is from beef cattle and lumber.
Having enjoyed our days in Chicago it was quickly time to make our way back to Union Station to board The Empire Builder for our journey to Glacier National Park, Montana. We checked our bags and took advantage of access to the Metropolitan Lounge, an exclusive waiting room offering comfortable seating and complimentary refreshments. We got talking to an Amish couple who were on their way to Denver, they were very interested to talk to us about England and Brexit and before we knew it our train was being called and we hadn’t had a chance to grab a snack for lunch! Continue reading Train To Glacier
Chicago is a real contrast to New York, the weather is less humid and the city feels more modern and clean. Apparently it’s called the windy city because when they first built the skyscrapers the wind blew so hard between buildings or alternatively as a result of the political hot air generated when the city was trying to secure the World’s Fair after Paris at the start of the 20th century; take your pick! Continue reading Chicago: The Windy City
Chicago Here We Come!
We arrived at Penn Station collected our tickets right through to Seattle, checked in our bags and had a 40-minute wait for the train. They didn’t announce the platform number until 10 minutes before the train was due to leave and when they did an enormous queue formed out of thin air! Fortunately, when the gate opened the queue moved really quickly and we were directed to our roomette. We stowed our hand luggage, sat down and the train was moving, right on the dot of 15.40. Continue reading Chicago Here We Come
Mark And Kim's Adventures 