October 2nd

I awoke as the morning greeting was announced. We had left Washington the previous night, gone through Idaho and were now making a station stop in Whitefish, Montana. If only Ricci was back from Korea I would have been more than willing to stay awhile before heading home. My legs were awfully cramped and it sure felt good to climb off the train awhile and walk around. I watched the sun rise over the mountain and the land was reviled. This was going to be an exciting travel day!


-Whitefish, Montana.


-Train at dawn.


-Mountain goat sculpture at the train station.


-Leaving Whitefish.


-I sat by the interesting white haired lady.

The train makes stops ever half an hour or so but only for a minute or two and then were off again. The conductor always announced the station stop so I could keep track of were we were on the train map and watch for historical landmarks and such. Glacier National park was breathtaking. This was truly the west, the mountains here looked much different from those in Alaska.

We road along and at times it feel as if we were riding on the edge of the mountains itself. The view from high above was spectacular as you would see the landscape and few scatted houses below. In the late morning I decided to check out the observatory car which is almost completely windows. In this car is where I saw a bull elk very close to the train. I was so shocked to see such a majestic animal in the wild with no fences. As we began to Leave Glacier National Park the landscape began to flatten and North Dakota drew near. Miles and miles of fields. I viewed prairie dogs, mule deer, pronghorns, raptors, bison and coyotes. Once in a great while a town would appear out of nowhere feeling very out of place. I really enjoyed this stretch of land that other people dread. I had never seen anything quite like it and it was exciting for me, exceptionally the opportunity to view so many creatures of the plains.




-In the observatory car.


-Look at those mountains.


-We were pritty high here. What a great view!


-Montana's mountains definitely have a different look than Sitkas.






-Leaving Montana's mountains.


-A South Dakota town in the middle of nowhere.


-Miles of flatland speckled with livestock.


-The Little Rockies in the background.




-Old train depots lined the edge of the tracks.




-I thought these square bales piled in square piles were interesting.


-Only clouds in the sky.







Tonight I was awfully hungry and sick of eating out of my diminishing snack bag. I figured I would treat myself to one good meal aboard the train. I reserved a 5:30p.m. dinner slot and could barely wait for the minutes to tick by so I could fest on my order, Bison Meatloaf! When the time came I walked to the dinner car was seated next to a man who looked homeless and could barely talk. Across from me was a young couple no older than myself. It was a tad uqward but I didn't mind much, I wanted to eat. The meal was great and it only set me back $20.00! It was worth it.

After dinner I saw the most beautiful sunset ever. I'm not sure if it seemed more extravagant because I had been living in Sitka for so long where there aren't many clear nights or if North Dakota's sunsets are just that amazing. The color was intense with nothing in the foreground to block the view. What a perfect ending for my last night on the train.