Glacier Trip - Day 9 - Aug 26
September 29th, 2005
Today we head out on the Empire Builder. The van is waiting out front at 6:45 am. The service at Grouse Mountain is truly great. They drop us off at the Amtrak Station where we can wait for the Empire Builder to show up. Looks like it is running about 1 hour late, so the boys go off in search of coffee and breakfast. After a successful little journey, they are back with nummy donuts and coffee. mmmm.
The Empire Builder finally shows up and we arrange with Scott to meet him in the dinner car to get a real breakfast before they stop serving. It is fun to watch the Montana scenery go by when so much of it is now familiar from our biking / rafting adventures. About 1 hour into the ride, we pass the area where the guys rafted and Bill points out all the highlights he remembers. Being a beautiful sunny day, everything looks really nice. The water color is magical.
Then the train slows to a stop. The conductor comes on and tells us that there is an issue ahead of us on the tracks and they will let us know when they know more. Just sit tight and stay on the train. =) No biggie. So Bill and I get comfortable with our books.
There has been a derailment ahead. Not sure yet what is going to happen with the train. Just sit and wait.
After about an hour, they announce that a freight locomotive will be coming to drag us back to Whitefish where we will be put on buses and taken past the derailment and put on the other Empire Builder. When the lunch call happens, we boogie on down, cuz who knows when the next food thing will be. We are busy calculating when we will finally be back on the train and how long everything is going to take.
6 hours after leaving Whitefish, we are back. =( Now all the people from the train are hanging on the lawn waiting information on buses and connections. We are just not looking forward to 5 hours on a bus.
Scott has an idea to call Kandahar and see what it would cost to stay. We find out that they have plenty of open rooms, are willing to give us the Backroads price (same as we paid at Grouse Mountain) and that they have a 2 for 1 deal since it is the end of the season. So we can get 2 nights for a really good price, at a wonderful hotel. hmmmm. I head in to see if it is possible to get our tickets changed to leave 2 days later. It is a gamble that they will be able to get the tracks open in 2 days. But the sitting in the sun and thinking “5 hours on a bus” vs. “5 hour in a lovely hot tub with margaritas”. hmmmm. Tough choice. I tell the ticket agent I need to check with the rest of our party and will be back. As we are negotiating and deciding to be responsible and go home … they page us. Oh what the heck … change the tickets. *snicker*
We call a cab (not an easy thing) to arrange for a ride up to Kandahar and leave a message for Joanne … we’re back. *snicker*
Joanne leaves message at Kandahar and we call her when we get there. She comes up and meets us at the hot tub for some chilling out then a wonderful dinner … again. Man I could get used to this. Unfortunately, Joanne has to leave in the am and cannot change her schedule. So she stays late with us in the lodge and we spend a little time in front of the fireplace just hanging.
Ah … another day on vacation.