Day 2 of the Empire Builder

Omelette of the Day at Breakfast

Since we had left the curtains to our bedroom open, we woke up when the sun came up around 5 AM. The previous night we had marveled at the spectacular scenery - first we had the Puget Sound, then we headed into the Cascades and saw beautiful mountains and forests. We also enjoyed the apple trees and fruit trees. When we woke up in the morning, I noticed a bright green river out the window. We followed this river for hours over the border of Idaho and into Montana. Once we passed the border into Montana we jumped ahead one hour into Mountain Time, and I realized that the dining car was open for breakfast.

Since we were up, we headed there in search of coffee. We were seated with an older woman who was traveling from the Seattle area to Montana to see family, and a gentleman who was a professor at Macalester College in Minnesota. Both were riding in coach and they wanted to hear all about the sleeping car. We both had the omelette of the day - with onions, peppers and cheese - accompanied by the standard amtrak burnt potatoes and biscuit. I tried the maple apple chicken sausage this time, which is an item I don't remember seeing on my cross country journey last year, and it was terrible. Like a hockey puck or a piece of paper towel. I won't be ordering that again!

Some scenery of Western Montana

After breakfast we headed back to our bedroom. Tim took a nap for about 4 hours - he said he slept terribly the night before - and I watched the scenery glide by. We passed through Glacier National Park and then the Continental Divide. At just over 5,000 feet, this pass was one of the lowest places to go through the continental divide across the entire country and also the highest point of our journey.

Izaak Walton Inn, Essex MT

After passing through all of that, the land started to flatten and we entered into the Big Sky country of eastern Montana. Let's just say that there are a lot of brown and green fields dotted with cattle as far as the eye can see in all directions.

We headed back to the dining car for an early lunch, and we were seated with a retired couple on a month long trip across the country. They had stayed in Glacier for a few days and just boarded the train on the way back to Toledo. They regaled us at lunch with their tales of their time in Glacier, Yellowstone, the Tetons and Mt. Rushmore. We all had the lunch special, which was macaroni and cheese from Beecher's Creamery at Pike Place Market. It was delicious - by far one of the best meals I have ever had on any amtrak service. We also made a reservation to attend the wine and cheese tasting later today. Now we are back in our room, watching the prairies and the small towns roll by.