The Crazy Vacationer
Train Attendant
Part One of three: I think the best title for our trip is "It was an Adventure."
Our train wasn't scheduled to leave until 11:15 pm, Saturday, June 18, which made the day really move slowly. The whole family was waiting to get going on the trip and we had to wait all day. The Empire Builder hadn't been running for a couple weeks, and we were worried that it wouldn't be running for our journey from St. Paul-Minneapolis to Glacier Park. Fortunately, it started up again on Wednesday and we were leaving Saturday. The time came to finally head to the train station. We loaded our suitcases into the minivan and arrived 15 minutes later; we live nice and close to the station. We checked our bags, got the code to the First Class Lounge, and sat down to wait. We entered the lounge at 10:00 pm to await the 10:30 arrival. I wanted to be in the lounge before the train entered the station because I wanted my 10 year old son to see it come in, especially since it is a long train.
Well the train was delayed and didn't arrive until 11:15pm, 45 minutes late. And my 10 year old? He was in the bathroom and missed the entrance. My older son, 15, commented that it just kept going and going and going. The conductor came into the lounge and collected our tickets and told us to wait for the SCAs. They came into the lounge and proceeded to check us in. We were in the Portland sleeper and were the first group to be checked in. Darryl let us know it would be just like Grammar School, and that we needed to answer when our name was called. There was a family split between levels and he was successful in getting them adjoining roomettes. He led us down the platform to our car and helped everyone in. We were in the family bedroom and when we got there the beds were already down. It was a little crowded with four bodies, 6 backpacks and the beds down, but we pretzeled our way around everything until we got settled. The room took a while to cool down, but it was nice to be horizontal. It took a while for me to get to sleep I kept wanting to look out the window. One bad thing about the family room is its proximity to the trucks, but we did enjoy being together in one room. Next time, however, I think I'll get two roomettes, upper floor, across from each other. The car was hooked up so we were traveling backward. It really didn't bother me that much, though.
We finally left MSP at 11:45 pm, 30 minutes late.
Megan was the handling all the reservations and wait lists in the dining car. She did a great job. My wife walked the 5 intervening cars to get our name on the list for breakfast. When I started to head up to do the same for lunch, Darryl stopped me and said he'd take care of it. I'm lucky I hadn't gotten too far.
The meals weren't bad and we enjoyed eating on the train. It was nice to be able to look out the windows and watch the world roll by. After breakfast, we spent a little time in our room sitting and reading. Darryl had put the room to its daytime configuration while we were at breakfast definitely a bit more room than at night. After a while, we went to the Sightseer Lounge and enjoyed the bigger windows. We sat at a table played some games before we eventually went back to our room. After lunch, we stepped downstairs to look at the Rails and Trails information they had a compass used by Lewis and Clark on their expedition. That and the other artifacts were fun to see. The boys went back to the room to watch a movie on the laptop, and my wife and I journeyed to the dining car for the Wine tasting. We enjoyed the cheeses and favored two of the four wines we're not big red wine drinkers. And, lucky for me, the trivia question I answered correctly was for a wine we liked the Gewurtzriminer. (I like Rieslings, too.) Trivia question: when President Lincoln was shot, he had five dollars in his pocket. From which country were those five dollars? Answer: Confederate States of America. I knew several other of the trivia answers, but you could only win one bottle of wine. We had an enjoyable time and sat across from a young couple from Illinois.
Our train wasn't scheduled to leave until 11:15 pm, Saturday, June 18, which made the day really move slowly. The whole family was waiting to get going on the trip and we had to wait all day. The Empire Builder hadn't been running for a couple weeks, and we were worried that it wouldn't be running for our journey from St. Paul-Minneapolis to Glacier Park. Fortunately, it started up again on Wednesday and we were leaving Saturday. The time came to finally head to the train station. We loaded our suitcases into the minivan and arrived 15 minutes later; we live nice and close to the station. We checked our bags, got the code to the First Class Lounge, and sat down to wait. We entered the lounge at 10:00 pm to await the 10:30 arrival. I wanted to be in the lounge before the train entered the station because I wanted my 10 year old son to see it come in, especially since it is a long train.
Well the train was delayed and didn't arrive until 11:15pm, 45 minutes late. And my 10 year old? He was in the bathroom and missed the entrance. My older son, 15, commented that it just kept going and going and going. The conductor came into the lounge and collected our tickets and told us to wait for the SCAs. They came into the lounge and proceeded to check us in. We were in the Portland sleeper and were the first group to be checked in. Darryl let us know it would be just like Grammar School, and that we needed to answer when our name was called. There was a family split between levels and he was successful in getting them adjoining roomettes. He led us down the platform to our car and helped everyone in. We were in the family bedroom and when we got there the beds were already down. It was a little crowded with four bodies, 6 backpacks and the beds down, but we pretzeled our way around everything until we got settled. The room took a while to cool down, but it was nice to be horizontal. It took a while for me to get to sleep I kept wanting to look out the window. One bad thing about the family room is its proximity to the trucks, but we did enjoy being together in one room. Next time, however, I think I'll get two roomettes, upper floor, across from each other. The car was hooked up so we were traveling backward. It really didn't bother me that much, though.
We finally left MSP at 11:45 pm, 30 minutes late.
Megan was the handling all the reservations and wait lists in the dining car. She did a great job. My wife walked the 5 intervening cars to get our name on the list for breakfast. When I started to head up to do the same for lunch, Darryl stopped me and said he'd take care of it. I'm lucky I hadn't gotten too far.
The meals weren't bad and we enjoyed eating on the train. It was nice to be able to look out the windows and watch the world roll by. After breakfast, we spent a little time in our room sitting and reading. Darryl had put the room to its daytime configuration while we were at breakfast definitely a bit more room than at night. After a while, we went to the Sightseer Lounge and enjoyed the bigger windows. We sat at a table played some games before we eventually went back to our room. After lunch, we stepped downstairs to look at the Rails and Trails information they had a compass used by Lewis and Clark on their expedition. That and the other artifacts were fun to see. The boys went back to the room to watch a movie on the laptop, and my wife and I journeyed to the dining car for the Wine tasting. We enjoyed the cheeses and favored two of the four wines we're not big red wine drinkers. And, lucky for me, the trivia question I answered correctly was for a wine we liked the Gewurtzriminer. (I like Rieslings, too.) Trivia question: when President Lincoln was shot, he had five dollars in his pocket. From which country were those five dollars? Answer: Confederate States of America. I knew several other of the trivia answers, but you could only win one bottle of wine. We had an enjoyable time and sat across from a young couple from Illinois.
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