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| Seattle's Space Needle - Arrived Destination |
Three Nights on Two Amtrak Trains - City of New Orleans and Empire Builder
I am little(okay, I lot) tired after four days and three nights traveling on the train. Both trains operated without any problems and both arrived at their destination ahead of time. The City of New Orleans was just a little too rock and rolling for my stomach but I made it through with the aid of Dramamine. Was good enough to eat my first breakfast at a famous Chicago breakfast restaurant Lou Mitchell's(see photos below). I continued on the Empire Builder Chicago to Seattle. We had all kinds of weather from snow and rain in Minot, ND, to thunderstorms and tornado warning into Montana yet we mostly saw overcast skies. I have to pay compliments to the on board staff of the Empire Builder.My sleeping car attendant was super and brought us passengers orange juice and cookies to our room shortly after departing Chicago and again Thursday morning. The dining room staff were equally friendly and called us passengers "sweetie" and other similar greetings. Miss them already.
I had expected to be eating tonight with my great nephew Neil but he called and we agreed to do breakfast tomorrow(Saturday) morning. Neil, wife Megan and son Lucas are flying tomorrow night to Ireland for Neil's work.
Don't really have any big specific plans for the next six days but will find some interesting things to do. This afternoon after showering a resting I set out and got familiar with the Lite Rail and Rapid Transit mainly in the downtown area. I discovered my hotel is right on 3rd Avenue a major downtown corridor that runs parallel with the waterfront--actually all the buses lead right to the Seattle Center where the Space Needle and lots of activities are located. Since I missed those things when I last visited Seattle, that's probably my destination after breakfast with Neil and his family.
Here are some selected photos from both the City of New Orleans and Empire Builder these past three days.
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| Changing Engineer in Jackson, MS |
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| Train side photo in Jackson, MS |
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| My City of New Orleans Sleeping Car Attendant |
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| My bed on the City of New Orleans |
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| Watching a Amtrak Illini train departing as we arrived into Chicago |
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| Lou Mitchell's Breakfast Restaurant in Chicago |
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| Way too much food for me. I learned later they use double yoked eggs |
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| Chicago Water Taxi on river in front of Union Station |
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| My Empire Builder Bedroom |
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| My Empire Builder Sleeping Car Attendant |
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| A special treat - Welcome aboard orange juice and cookie |
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| It's a rainy snow in Minot, North Dakota. Later they got a little over an inch accumulation |
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| We had about an hour fresh air break in Minot and could not get out in the rain. |
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| Some of the accumulating snow as we left the Minot area |
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| Lots of livestock in North Dakota and Montana |
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| Williston, North Dakota |
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| Empire Builder in Williston |
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| Empire Builder in Montana |
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| More livestock from the Empire Builder |
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| Havre, Montana |
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| Havre, Montana |
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| Hands Across the Border(USA and Canada) in Havre, Montana |
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| First view of mountains in Western Montana |
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| Shelby, Montana |
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| BNSF sign in Shelby, Montana |
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| Glacier National Park |
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| Glacier National Park |
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| Glacier National Park |
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| Issac Walton In in Essex, Montana |
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| Glacier National Park |
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| Sunset - Glacier National Park |
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| Nighttime Arrival in Whitefish, Montana |
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| Nighttime Arrival in Whitefish, Montana |
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| Foggy Coast along the Pudget Sound north of Seattle |
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| Seattle Seahawks Stadium |
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| Arriving King Street Station in Seattle |
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| Arrive King Street Station Seattle |
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| Doubletree Artic Club Hotel, Seattle |
Looking forward to breakfast with great nephew Neil and family tomorrow morning. The rest of the day may be slow and easy. Need to recuperate a little. Seattle has a lot of hills and I've already been worn down by a couple of them.
My Next 2016 TRAVEL PLANS
Via Rail and Amtrak Trip to Canada and Albany, NY, May 28 to June 15 - Traveling by Via Rail in Canada to Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Returning to USA via Amtrak for visits to Albany, NY and New Orleans, LA.
Yep, that's all I have officially planned for this calendar year. Other trips will surely be planned including trips home to Louisiana to visit family.
You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo. Also, click on the "blog title" at the very top of email to view this blog on the web.
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