We have safely arrived in Avon, Minnesota. Our train left Portland promptly at 4:45 on Tuesday with us nestled in our sleeper car. Our attendant, Larry, was very helpful getting us settled in, and warned us that we were not on the scenic side of the car leaving Portland. We were on the left side of the train, but the right side faced the Columbia Gorge.
This was fine, since it was dark. The only thing we could see anyway were lights on buildings. Apparently, during the day you can see the waterfalls on the other side. That night we watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Movie criticsm aside, I was disappointed. The Coast Starlight has a tiny screening room in which they show films. The Empire Builder just shows them in the observation lounge on TV screens. Ah well.
On Wednesday morning, we woke up in Glacier National Park in Montana. We ate breakfast while travelling through a fairy-tale post card setting. Lovely.
The rest of the day was quiet and peaceful, lulled by the rocking of the train. We arrived this morning at 8:30, although we were supposed to get in at 5:11 a.m. The train had been mostly on time during the night, but got behind after we went to bed. Our attendent, Larry, also mysteriously disappeared. He had promised us a half-hour warning for our stop but never came by. Fortunately, we woke up on our own. When I went to find an attendant to see if we had time for breakfast, I discovered that we were ten minutes from our stop.
Sigh.
We safely detrained. Matthew, the oldest of our nephews, met us at the train station. We’ve had a bit of breakfast here and a nice nap. The family is out at jobs and school right now; we don’t expect to see anyone until 5:00 or so.
