The train back home

[Kalon]  We arrived in Whitefish, Montana with several hours to spare before our train arrived around 9 pm.  The drive down through Radium Hot Springs was uneventful: there was obviously a cycling event of some sort going on as people were riding up the parkway into the cross-Canada highway, and there was a minimal aid station that we saw.  A pretty long uphill climb, but the grade for the cyclists was not bad.

We did notice a number of barren areas with dead trees still standing.  While some of these might have been due to fire, the absence of charring (and downed trees) suggests this was rather the result of beetle infestation.  There is some speculation that climate change is facilitating this.  The drive was still lovely, but these areas were sad to see.

We slept in our train room and woke about when the train was paralleling the Columbia river: this is one of the nicer parts of the journey.  During the night the train had split with half of it going to Seattle and our half going to Portland.  Since the Empire Builder connects in Seattle with the Coastal Starlight to Los Angeles, we could have exchanged more train miles (with a routing through Seattle) for the 4 hour wait we had in Portland before the Starlight arrived.  Not sure how much more this would have cost.

After boarding the train and getting settled in we watched a DVD ("Breaking Away") about some town kids in a college town (Bloomington, Indiana).   Then dinner in the dining car.  There were always two options for eating: the dining car or the lounge car.  In the dining car you share tables with other passengers, and that was generally enjoyable as we shared our traveling stories.  In the lounge car the menu was more limited but Karen and I could eat alone which was also pleasant.

The next morning when we awoke the train was in northern California and the scenery became less interesting.  Later in the day we approached Santa Barbara and passed by Refugio Road where the "Sherpa" fire was still burning.  Lots of smoke but I didn't see much by way of aerial tankers so was thinking the fire was coming under control.  A day or two before, the highway and the coastal train were closed because of the fire, and we had been speculating what the train might do if the route was still closed (disembark passengers at Paso Robles and bus them south to Santa Barbara and Los Angeles?) 

And so our trip ended and soon enough we were back home.

[Karen] We said goodbye to Walter and Mary and Mary Lydia who kindly stayed to drive her parents home and wended our way to Whitefish where I tried to do a bit of repacking but not enough to prevent my having to continually search through my luggage to find what I wanted. We have now slept in every roomette with bath combination possible... Worst - Room E; Best - Room C which is slightly larger than Room B, with room A minimally better than E. After sleeping in real beds for 6 nights it was hard to get used to sleeping on the train beds again. Kalon had the worst of it as he slept on the bunk bed with straps which were to prevent his falling out. We had a 4+ hour layover in Portland before boarding our final train home - the one we watch for as we have a glass of wine in the evening. We were amused to talk with someone else who does the same including counting the number of train cars!

As walking thru the cars is a bit of a careening journey for me if the train has not stopped, and the train doors are difficult to keep open because of their weight, Kalon always had to shepherd me thru and fro for every meal. He finally agreed to bring me back a croissant for breakfast to which he added some lovely strawberries and it was also possible to bring back a salad for lunch so that was two less ricochet journeys. Dinner demanded that I make my way thru two and half cars to a table in the dining car. The car hostess did take pity and put us at a table closer to the door. We had discovered on the way out to Glacier that the Parlour car was one car closer to our sleeper but it had filled up with reservations from non sleeper car passengers and so we had to make the longer journey on our way back to SB. It was with great relief to pile our suitcases into the back of the truck which we had left parked in the train station lot for the ten days we were gone (thinking it would be less of a target for theft) and a great joy to pull into the driveway. Home! a Queen size bed with a comfortable mattress! and our dear niece Karen Christensen to welcome us home. I believe my romance with traveling by train has ended. So perhaps my traveling days are over. But having ocean views and an apartment to welcome visiting friends and relatives is not a bad end to reach. Ciao!

Banff and Lake Louise - Tuesday & Wednesday

[Kalon] After breakfast in Watertown Village, we drove several  hundred miles to Calgary to pick up Karen's brother Walter and his wife Mary (both living in a retirement community).  We loaded their stuff in our car and drove to Banff (another hour+ away) and to the Hidden Ridge Resort where we are staying.  This is a nice condominium type resort and we have two rooms.  After lounging away what remained of the afternoon, we drove downtown to Banff and had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory.  Then back up the hill for a good night's sleep.

The next day Karen wanted to do some laundry, so after breakfast we waited for that to finish before driving about an hour to Lake Louise.  Karen and I have spent quite a few memorable times with our family (and Walter's) hiking and camping, and we was quite pleasant to view old haunts.  While the lake was a bit windy (even with some snow flakes), Walter and I hiked around the side of the lake for a ways and then stopped to reminisce. 

 

Looking down Lake Louise from the Chalet

 

 

Walter with the Chateau behind

 

 

As it was a bit chilly and breezy we motored down to the village for a little lunch and then returned to Banff passing by the campground where we had spent several family vacations together.  Such good memories.



 



See the tunnels ahead?  These are quite lovely animal overcrossings that allow deer, bear, etc. to move from one side of the interstate in the park to the other side.

 

Walter (Karen's brother) and his wife Mary with us in Banff.

 

And that is Lydia (Walter/Mary's daughter) on the left.  She spent some time with us in Banff and was a great help to everyone.  A lovely lady and now a grandma!

 

 

[Karen]  

 

  I was not so impressed with our accommodations in Banff. But they were adequate. Lydia must have driven several hundred miles as she waited on all of us - retrieving pills, making sure her son Steven got to the hospital where his wife was to have her  baby, then returning them both home again after the hospital said Steven's wife was not ready to have the baby and to come back the next day; then bringing desserts from home; returning to Banff to have dinner with us at a favorite restaurant and to drive her parents home again to keep us from having to backtrack to Calgary. The weather has been fairly cold rainy - which is normal for them but not for us. Kalon and I enjoyed a drive up to Lake Louise with Walter and Mary and reminisced about past years when the two families with our younger children camped in the area... JRT and the kids spent some time building structures and playing on a small patch of rock in the stream which they christened 'Julie Island' in her honor.

Kalon wished he had had more time to explore trails such as to the Paint Pots but enjoyed a walk at Lake Louise with Walter where they sat and talked together for awhile. Meanwhile Mary and I enjoyed the view of the mountains and the lake.







The view of Lake Louise from our bench



Lydia returned to stay with her parents in their accommodation and they took us to dinner at a favorite restaurant and to cook us a filling breakfast the next morning. After breakfast we said goodbye and went our separate ways - Lydia, Walter and Mary home to Calgary and Kalon and I back to Whitefish where we caught the train back to Portland after turning in our rental car. The car which we rented was a Chevy Impala which was quite comfortable for four and luggage.

Lake Louise Hotel - Walter at the far right



Waterton Lakes - Sunday and Monday

[Kalon] We left Browning for Waterton Lakes in Canada.  A nice drive with a friendly interrogation at the border where the Canadian officer was kind of insistent in asking me about whether I had firearms or not!  Finally Karen's comment that we didn't own a gun and she hated guns convinced him that we were on the up and up and through we went.

After a short drive we arrived at Upper Waterton Lake and the Prince of Wales hotel.

 

 

 

This is a lovely old historic hotel (and doubtless Karen will comment on its historicity!)   Located on a hill overlooking upper Waterton Lake it has wonderful views but is subject to fairly regular strong winds!  A walk from the parking lot to the hotel can be challenging!

 

Anyway, before trying to check in, we went to the little village and had lunch.  Then back to the hotel, but rooms weren't ready.  So Karen stayed in the lounge while I went for a short hike to Bear's Hump.  Nice views from there up and down river. 

Upper Waterton Lake from Bears Hump (with the village in foreground)

 

 

After checking in we decided to watch a DVD in our hotel room (Ratatouille) that I had brought with me from home (a delightful video about a rat with culinary skills).  Then down to dinner and lo and behold on the menu was "Quinoa with Ratatouille").   How could I resist?

 

The next day we got up early and had breakfast in the hotel.  Then to the village and catching the boat that carries passengers from the one of the lake to other. 

Watertown Lake ferry boat

 

 

 Karen stayed behind while I boarded the boat for a 1 hour ride to the far end.  About midway up the lake we came to the International Boundary.  This marks the US-Canada boundary, and on the ground it is a cleared strip through the forest that continues from one end of the country to the other (it's mowed/cleared every 15 years).

 

 

Then on the end of the lake where there is a border control station (and you need to have your passport to proceed further).  Reminds me of ab0ut 40 years ago when Kalon R (youngest son) and I hiked from Glacier to Waterton Lake (about 20 Miles) and got on the boat taking us nine miles down the lake without any border control at all.  We ended up in Canada without talking to any officer: seems as though this has tightened up a bit (since 9/11?) but not much. 

 

The hike itself  back to Waterton was lovely.  Nobody on the trail until the US/Canada border, and then there were some other hikers.







 

                                     

Border monuments on the ground.

 



Then I hiked back to Waterton to be met by Karen.  Lovely day.

 

[Karen]

Interesting two days. In Glacier one of our waiters in the dining room of Glacier Lodge was a young man from Bulgaria there for the summer. Studying Economics. Our room in the Holiday Inn outside od East Glacier was sumptuous compared to our digs here at the old resort hotel - The Prince of Wales Hotel. The Canadians are quick to point out that it is owned by and run by an American company. When I referred to it down in Waterton Lakes as the 'old pile on the hill' there were snickers of agreement. Years ago my brother and I shared a two bedroom apartment on the second floor of a house in Belmont (a suburb of Boston). In a small sunroom off the living room of that apartment was a strange ancient contraption that purported to be a bed of some sort. It was narrow like a bench and had springs and was covered in an ancient purple velvet material of some sort and we christened it 'King Tut'. The bed which I am sleeping on is of the same magnitude of discomfort so I am christening it 'Queen Nefertiti'. If you should ever go to Waterton Lakes - which I highly  recommend as it is very, very beautiful here - Do Not go for the nostalgia and make a reservation to stay at The Prince of Wales Hotel. Do go and visit it but stay in one of the motels in town! and go listen to the person giving a talk about the park and the hotel given in the lobby of the hotel! but do not stay there. It is drafty, cold and the elevator is one of those small elevators with cage like doors which give me the willies - which you cannot operate yourself but which has to be operated by one of the staff - which are practically all college age kids working here for the summer. All of the staff who work in the dining room or shops in the hotel have to wear kilts in the Prince of Wales Stuart plaid, with a white shirt and sash across the chest as well as knee high black stockings! Luckily they don't have to wear a Tam! Ciao til tomorrow as it is past our bedtimes and my Kalua warm coffee and cream has kicked in. Yaaaawwwwwnnnnn! 

Saturday - East Glacier

[Kalon] After breakfast we drove to Two Medicine Lake in Glacier.   First stop was  a short hike to Running Eagle Falls.

And then a nature hike during which Karen was fascinated with a pine tree with bluish pine cones!
Next we drove further to the Park Store for lunch.   After some chili I left Karen to one of her newly purchased books and I hiked around the lake (about 8 1/2 miles).  The hike was lovely although I have to admit that for the first hour I was focused on trying to find grizzlies lurking behind trees out to get me, but gradually I adjusted to being in grizzly country and enjoyed the trail.

From the camp store where we had lunch.

 

 

As I got to the end of the lake I saw a small motor launch ready to offload, and realized that if I hurried I could get a ride back to the other end of the lake.   But I realized I really didn't want to do that; I was enjoying the hike a lot.



Motor boat at W end of Two Medicine Lake

 

So I continued on to the other side of the lake and hiked back to Karen. 

Picture from the far end of the  lake.

 

Trail shot - generally the trail was in the woods.

 

Karen and I then drove to the historic East Glacier Lodge.  One of the nice things about getting old is that you maybe can look back at some wonderful memories: in our case we thought back to about forty years ago when we last visited this Lodge with our (then) young sons.  Among other delightful things we rented golf clubs and played the course next to the Lodge and discovered we had to watch out for grazing cows on the fairway!

East Glacier Lodge

 

 

A nice dinner at the Lodge and then return to Browning for the night.

 

[Karen] Last night we inquired about restaurants at the front desk and were told the best bet was at the casino next door. It was raining at that point so walked thru the rain about half a block to the casino front entrance. The only place to eat in the casino was at a kind of snack bar place and the casino was noisy and smoke smelly although there was a sign saying smoking was not allowed. Las Vegas type gambling machines were whirling and whizzing all around us as we ate a really bad dinner. Several people had children with them in the eating area. Totally ugly environment for families. Made our way back to our hotel room and crawled into bed. Kalon was totally wiped and fell asleep pretty quickly. I was afraid he would not be able to sleep well as he was overly tired from the train trip and from the drive. But he slept soundly and refreshed. Breakfast was complementary with our hotel room so after dressing we went downstairs to the usual fare offered by motels. We decided to go up the highway to Two Medicine Lake. The wildflowers are out in full force and we enjoyed the drive as well as some short walks. Kalon decided he would like to hike around the lake so after some chili and soup in the camp store he left me to my own devices while he hiked. I perused the offerings of the camp store - scads of stuff to appeal to tourists such as tee shirts imprinted with Glacier Natl Park, stuffed animals, shot glasses, camping and hiking gear and food, ice cream, beer, etc.,etc., etc. I found a book of wildflowers as well as a mystery by the daughter of Hillerman and found an empty table and amused myself with reading, people watching and talking to the proprietors... one of whom amused himself by offering free soft serve huckleberry ice cream to every kid who came in. Huckleberries are the operative theme this year in Glacier showing up on tee shirts, slogans, food flavor : Huckleberry pie, huckleberry soda, huckleberry cookies, huckleberry soap, huckleberry wine, huckleberry beer, children's books involving huckleberries. Coming to your nearest theater this fall 'The Huckleberry Zombies'!!!!

 

When Kalon returned from his hike, we decided we could not face the fare we endured last night and made our way to the Lodge at East Glacier and ate in style in a lodge fashioned much like the Ahwanhee Hotel (sorry, that's the old name. It has been renamed after the eastern company that has won the contract for providing tourists with what they need and do not need in ex-Yosemite!)  ... all cement redwood posts and Indian blanket décor. To repeat myself OY VEY!



 











June 8 - The trip starts at the Santa Barbara Train Station where we catch the Starlight that will take us up the coast to Portland Oregon.   At Portland we need to switch trains to the Empire Builder for the 2nd part of the trip to Whitefish, Montana just outside Glacier National Park.

[Karen]  Yup - that's me alright. Very nice car attendant told us to go on up to the dining car and get lunch and he would see that our bags got to our room - and he did. A very nice young guy named Jesse. Travelling by train is much more relaxing than by plane especially for old fogeys like the one pictured. Our room was one with seats that made up into a bed with that wonderful man of mine crawling up into the pull down bunk at night plus our own bathroom with toilet and shower. Wish I could wax lyrical about how comfy the bed was and how good the food was but I would be lying. It was great to have our private bathroom 'tho I didn't try the shower. Also, if you have a bit of trouble walking normally it is even harder to walk on a train rocking back and forth on rails! We were 4 cars away from the dining car and after doing that once or twice I noticed that they also served food in a small portion of the parlor car which was one car closer. More limited menu but Eggy (his name on his badge) was very friendly and helpful. I accidently left my Midland hat in the dining car that first lunchtime but was happily reunited with it the following day. The waitress said she kind of fell in love with it and was sorry to have to give it back!

Thursday, June 10

[Karen] Oh my aching back! Poor dear husband of mine had to hold my hand back and forth to our room and food. He also discovered that the train had no secret for getting the internet when we were not traveling thru cities. Surprise! Only humans insist on having the world wide web at their fingertips. And in between the train cars there are very heavy doors that like to try to squeeze you if you aren't speedy. And the trains travel very fast at times and you tend to ricochet off the walls if you are ungainly on your feet. Well we eventually arrived in Portland and managed with Jesse's help to get our luggage and ourselves to the Empire Builder and into our 2nd room with private toilet & shower. However, this time although the room was larger the toilet and shower were a bit less easy to negotiate. All in due time we arrived ....

Friday, June 11

[Karen} ...in Whitefish where we picked up our rental car, a Chevy Impala with a huge trunk and comfy (mainly) seats which will be nice when we pick up my brother, Walter Thorson, and his wife Mary , in Calgary,AL,Canada and drive with them to Banff in four days. I hope Walter will figure out how to deal with adjusting the passenger seat's lumbar controls because I find the bump in the seat just makes my back hurt rather than being comfortingly supportive. I have already communicated to some of you the sad story that unscrolled in front of us about the poor woman who was LEFT BEHIND. She was hysterically reciting her tale to the station manager as I was waiting for Kalon to take care of getting our rental car. "My train left without me!!! I just went to get a cup of coffee [evidently at a store a block away from the train station] ,,, and it's gone!!! And my purse and luggage and everything are sitting on my seat on the train!!! What am I going to do!!" The station manager had a look of 'why me? why today?' on his face. 'Leaving trains go and leave! I can't do anything about it!'  Trying to calm her down he told her all he could do was try to get the next station on the phone but that they were not yet open and he wouldn't be able to get them on the phone for awhile. Yes, she could try to get a taxi to take her onward to the next station - but when he tried the taxi solution they said they wouldn't do it on her word that she had a valid charge card in her purse on the train... I suppose they thought once she got on the train she could just disappear and if the driver got on the train with her, the train might go with him stuck on it with no way of returning home and no ticket!! OY VEY!!! I felt the least I could do for another human being in her straits was to give her $20  so she could at least call home and maybe find someone who could help her. Well Jesus could have helped her more but that was about all I could do. We proceeded on to Lake Macdonald where Kalon took a short hike and then on to the Lake Macdonald Lodge where we only found the Lodge restaurant open. So we had a nice bowl of lentil soup each. Then on to our motel in Browning where we will stay for two nights. Dinner calls! Catch you tomorrow! 

[Kalon] We had lunch at Lake MacDonald and then I did a short hike to a non-descript lake (few mosquitoes).  Then on to Browning.

Lake McDonald Lodge

Trip Itinerary

Glacier Train Trip     June, 2016

 

Wed June 8                 Leave from SB on Amtrak

Thursday                     arrive Portland 3:32 pm

                                    Leave on Empire Builder 4:45 pm

Friday                          arrive Whitefish, Montana  7:21 am

                                    Pick up rental car from Hertz at Amtrak Station reservation 593797777

                                    Explore Lake McDonald area during day

                                    Drive to Holiday Inn Express and Suites Browning

                                       50 Museum Loop, Browning, MT 59417

   (93 miles Whitefish – Browning)

Sat June 11                  Explore Two Medicine Lake (if road open)

                                    Stay Holiday Inn

Sun June 12                 drive to Prince of Wales Hotel           (121 km on toll road)

                                       Waterton Lake National Park, Waterton Park

Mon                            explore Waterton National Park

Tuesday June 14         drive to Calgary (Walter and Mary?) then on to

                                       The Hidden Ridge Resort

                                       901 Hidden Ridge Way  Banff, Alberta

                                       Waterton to Banff 373 km

Wed                            explore Lake Louise/Banff

Thursday June 16        drive (Hwy 93) to Whitefish (284 miles) – return car

                                    Board Empire Builder by 9:16 pm

 

Friday                          arrive Portland 10:10 am

                                    Leave for SB at 2:25  pm

Saturday June 17        arrive home at 5:55 pm

Train Route SB to Whitefish, MT

Train Route SB to Whitefish, MT