Amtrak: Seattle to Minneapolis/St. Paul

We boarded the Empire Builder train aka the Snow Piercer on Friday at 5pm. Every time I hear or think of the Empire Builder, I can't help but picture in my mind, the Snow Piercer. And having travelled the route we did, can picture the snow covered tracks in the winter. We had booked a sleeper cabin called a roomette, which included two fold out beds, a personal 'butler' named Abraham, and complimentary meals during the journey.

The cabin was comfortable yet compact. I suppose the only advantage over economy class being the lie-flat beds and the three meals. Karen had to take the top-bunk as Gavin is too big to fit in there (and he worried about his ability to even climb up and in, let alone get out at night for a pee!).

The trip is two nights and one full day. We arrived in St. Paul on Sunday at 8.30am.

Train sunrise

The views going through the Cascades is just breathtaking. Both on the Western (Seattle) side as well as the Eastern (Montana) sides of the range. Beautiful snow packed peaks, forested mountains, lovely clean full snow-fed flowing rivers and streams.

The food on the Empire Builder was pretty good. Lots of choices. For dinner the first night Karen chose the grilled salmon and Gavin the rib-eye steak. Second night Gavin went with the chicken and Karen the risotto.

The seating is allocated by the dining staff and you are allocated a table to share with other passengers. One is initially a bit apprehensive about who you'd be sitting with. But actually this was fun. Especially if you like to listen (and give some question encouragement). We met some really nice people at dinner and lunch.

Mark, a retired pediatric anesthesiologist who once hopped on a boat which was being transported by train. All along the way he waved at farmers from the bow. Then was caught and shoved into a box car.

Kevin who's a data scientist working for a logistics startup. The only woman we've ever met called Kevin. She has a phobia against flying.

Another Kevin who's a professor of German History at a College in Sioux Falls.

Meg who was a student studying to be a high school English teacher at a city in Minot (North Dakota). Apparently North Dakota is packed with public higher education colleges and universities. It was a policy to build lots of schools so that people could study close to where they lived.

An old guy called Ben who used to work in the airforce as a maintenance engineer. His three sons are all in the military.

The train stops at various stations for a short or a long time (Minot is over 60 minutes)., We stopped in Havre. I though of the port! of Le Havre in France and thought that this must be where the name comes from. Not so. According to the sign on the station, its onomatopoeic for "have her".

If you're a smoker this must be hell on earth. And the conductor comes across the tannoy saying "this is a non smoking train, and if you are caught smoking then you will have to find alternative transportation". Said in a nice way. But then the threat is pretty explicit.

The one disappointment was that the windows are not clean. Karen attempted a window clean on our compartment (semi-successfully).

We had purchased some wine and pre-mixed cocktails (these are big in the USA and you can check out Trev's Bardiver). Which we opened before dinner. Just had to ask our concierge for some ice. And there we sat. Watching America go by.

We did expect the sleeper cabin to be more comfortable and thought we'd sleep better. But these trains literally rock. We occasionally woke up as the train jagged around some corners. In your sleep-mind you think that it is going to derail. The train also, I supposed by law, hoots at every crossing. And there are lots of those. Nevertheless we thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

And as we kept saying. Oh. The views! The views!