Seattle Vacation: Chicago to Seattle (Part 2)

Part 2: Aboard the Empire Builder

I was running late, getting back to Union Station, due to a particularly delightful distraction. Still, I found my gate about 15 minutes before Amtrak was due to start loading coach passengers. Like airlines, Amtrak loads senior citizens and those needing extra time or assistance first. They didn’t say anything about families with small children, prompting one especially loud woman to start yelling, “What about people with children? People with children should go first!” She carried on like this for most of the 15 minutes I was at the gate, forcing her way with a group of people to the head of the boarding line. As it turns out, she didn’t have any small children herself, but one of her friends had several to spare and she bullied them all into getting aboard first. Whatever.

The Empire Builder departed Chicago at exactly 2:15 PM, precisely on schedule.

The first thing that struck me about this train was how different it was from the one I took to Chicago. It was spotlessly clean. The staff was genuinely warm and helpful. The accommodations were spacious, even in Coach. My seatmate was an older African-American gentleman who spoke with an easy Southern drawl and smelled slightly of pipe tobacco. He disappeared during most of the journey, visiting family in other compartments or staying in the lounge car, and only returning in the wee hours to sleep in his seat. So, I had a good deal of room and privacy for the majority of the trip.

The first major stop I remember after leaving Chicago was Milwaukee, a little over an hour later. I visited there before, for a bear run several years ago, and ever since had a fondness for Brew City. Around 9:00, as darkness fell, the Sightseer Lounge (observation car) announced that it would be showing movies (one was “The Incredibles,” I don’t remember the other) and children hustled down the aisle to get to that car. I had dinner from the snack shop, eschewing the reservation-only dining car for my first night on the train, and trying to see as much as I could from my window, until the darkness made the landscape indistinguishable. Around midnight we pulled into the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul, and exchanged passengers.

I slept fitfully that first night. Although train seats are much roomier than airplane seats and recline to a much larger degree, there is no escaping the fact that they are seats, not beds. I’m a light, fitful sleeper in the best of circumstances, so people moving up and down the aisles throughout the night, including my seatmate's return from his wanderings, had me more awake than asleep most of the night. Also, I never conquered the momentary feeling of panic when another train passed us at high speed, going the opposite direction. Even with the curtain drawn shut across my window, the sudden whoosh of movement and change in air pressure always startled me. Still, the movement of the train could be soothing and I managed to nap a few hours here and there. The next day (Monday) my back was stiff and sore, but a hearty breakfast in the dining car helped me forget and visits to the observation car helped me stretch out a bit.

As the Empire Builder raced across the heartland of this country, the scenery was breathtaking. I saw so much green farmland and so many long stretches of primal conifer forest in North Dakota and Montana as to defy description. When the prairies offered fairly innocuous sights, I played board games with other passengers. Because of the condition of my back, I had to get up and move around fairly often. We had a short stopover at Minot, ND and I took the opportunity to get off the train for a few minutes with the smokers and move about a bit more freely.

I skipped lunch in the dining car, opting for a sandwich and some chips with a diet soda. I brought a wonderful book with me to read, Ireland by Frank Delaney, and consumed a few chapters with my meal. I wandered back and forth to the Sightseer Lounge a few more times and got off the train again to stretch during a brief stopover in Havre, MT. My back seemed to be getting worse rather than better, though.

At Shelby, Mt we discharged a lot of passengers, including the young married couple with whom I had been playing Sorry. They were taking another train to Salt Lake City. No, I don’t think they were Mormons, but who knows? I remember leaving Shelby and suddenly being very aware of the Rocky Mountains all around us. Not long afterward we stopped at East Glacier Park, Montana, where we had an unscheduled layover owing to some equipment malfunction. I didn’t mind as the scenery here was fantastic! If ever I take this trip again, I will come to the lodge at East Glacier and stay a few days, rather than traveling through. Several of the Amtrak staff made mention of the fact that we were lucky to have a breakdown here, rather than somewhere with nothing to see and no place for passengers to wander. Finally, the equipment was fixed and we were back on our way. I treated myself to a really excellent (and somewhat expensive) steak that night for dinner in the dining car. (Some people had their meals brought to their seats, but I actually preferred meeting new people by eating in the dining car. No one sits alone there.) We crossed much of the Rockies that night. Even by pale moonlight, the view from my window was awe-inspiring.

Monday night was even more uncomfortable, but my exhaustion from not sleeping the night before kicked in and I slept a few hours, waking in the wee hours as we stopped in Spokane Washington. In Spokane, the Empire Builder splits into two trains – one goes to Portland and the larger remaining section continues on to Seattle. Amazingly, this transition takes only about half an hour. I slept for a while after we left Spokane, at least until we entered the Cascade Tunnel – an 8-mile expanse bored directly through the Cascade Mountains. I dozed through most of the Washington stops and the next morning I was so stiff I actually had trouble making my way down the aisle to get seated for breakfast. Luckily, the trip was almost over.

We finally pulled into the King Street Station in Seattle around 11:30. The day was bright and beautiful, the air crisp and sweet.

Before I move on to other things, let me say this: my experience on the Empire Builder, back problems not withstanding, completely vindicated Amtrak from the lousy service on the earlier train. The staff on this trip was professional and above reproach. Great job, folks!

Unfortunately, my arrival in Seattle was marred by pain; my back was a wreck. Reunited with my baggage, I took a cab to my hotel, but couldn’t check in for a couple more hours. The nice lady at the desk took pity on my and got me the first available room that was cleaned. I took a shower, closed the drapes and fell into a teeny, little coma. I awoke, feeling almost human, around 1:30 AM. I missed my first day in Seattle, but I evolved several million years. I could stand upright and walk erect. With a little help from the front desk, I found a place that still delivered Chinese, ate and watched some TV while I planed my itinerary for the following day.

Next: The Emerald City