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Austin to Seattle - A Train Travelogue
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Chandra Mouli
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Chicago - Seattle
We left the Union Station in Chicago, and could see the tall skyscrapers in the downtown area, including the tapering Hancock building and the famous Sears tower, the world's tallest building. Chicago is right on the border between Illinois, Indiana and Michigan. Wisconsin is only a few miles away, and the huge lake Michigan is in the north. Hence on a clear day it is possible to see four different states and a huge lake from any of the skyscrapers in Chicago! This train is named after the `Empire Builder', James J. Hill, who was instrumental in linking St. Paul and Seattle with his Great Northern Railway way back in 1890. The ``Empire Builder'' follows the `Soo Line' from Chicago to Minneapolis/St. Paul, and from there takes the `Burlington Northern' line all the way to Spokane, WA and westward to Seattle. We passed by Glenview and could see the Glenview naval station. We entered Wisconsin and reached Milwaukee -- it was a clear day but very cold outside. One nice thing about a train journey is you can see cold places sitting inside warm compartments -- a great treat for a person from a tropical place, like me! The train crossed the Menomonee river near Milwaukee and the Wisconsin river near Portage and headed towards Wisconsin Dells. It was getting dark outside and `Sister Act' was shown on the TV in the sightseer lounge car. Pretty soon I realized that watching a movie on the train is not a good idea -- the TV is not placed in a convenient viewing location, people were moving around and the audio was bad. But the lounge car is a great place to meet people and talk over a cup of beer or if you prefer (as I do), a coke. A small cafeteria is located downstairs in the lounge car, and they sell sandwiches, microwavable food items, soft drinks and if you are over 18, beer and margaritas. Also it was nice to know that the entire upper level in the lounge car is a non-smoking area. We were following the Mississippi river all the way to Minneapolis/St. Paul. It was interesting to note that at this point, we were exactly mid way between the Equator and the North pole. It was around 11.30 PM and time to sleep. When I woke up early morning and looked through the window, I saw the stunning transformation in the landscape. We had crossed Fargo, North Dakota and were headed towards Devils Lake. It was an incredible scene with miles and miles of snow all over on a flat table-top like terrain. It was a bright sunny day and a wonderful experience to sit in the dining car sipping hot coffee and see this absolutely marvelous landscape. The train was zipping past several feet of pristine white snow all around. We reached Rugby, ND around 9.00 AM. Rugby is officially recognized as the `Geographical Center of North America'. It was a nice little station -- looked like a picture perfect postcard. Minot, ND was our next stop and since it was a service stop for the train, I got down and walked around the station. I got into the engine of the train and the driver allowed us to take photographs inside. I saw huge Burlington Northern freight trains pass by -- these little towns in this northern most part of US depend heavily on the railroad for everything. The Canadian state of Saskatchewan is only about 50 miles from here. On the way to Williston, we could see many oil wells. We entered the state of Montana and the Mountain time zone, crossed the Poplar river, a tributary of the Mississippi and reached Wolf Point, MT. We passed by Glascow -- an area very rich in dinosaur fossils, and the Bowdoin National Wildlife Refuge. The train follows the `Milk River' all the way to Havre, MT. The station in Havre has a well preserved steam locomotive on display and was a major attraction for all the European tourists on the train. After passing Shelby, we reached Cut Bank, MT. This town has the distinction of having the coldest mid-winter temperatures in the US. Here, we had our first view of the Rocky Mountains. We could see the Canadian border (the state of Alberta) just 25 miles to our right. The train had a steep climb into the Rockies, crossed the `Two Medicine' river and reached the Glacier National Park station. This is a beautiful little station right inside the National Park. Glacier National Park is located in the border between Montana, US and Alberta, Canada. 10,000 feet mountain peaks and more than 50 glaciers surround this beautiful area. The ``Empire Builder'' passes right into the National Park through the Marias Pass. A monument to Roosevelt stands on top of a summit on the right. As we passed West Glacier, we were told that the snow fall here averages 100 to 200 inches a year. It was dark outside as we left Montana and entered Sandpoint, Idaho. When I woke up in the morning we were in Quincy, Washington. (Earlier we had entered Washington state near Spokane and the train had split into two, one heading towards Seattle and another towards Portland, Oregon.) It was a beautiful sunny morning (no rains !) and I saw some of the best scenery as we entered the Northern Cascade mountain range. We were crossing the Columbia Basin, a fertile area covered with lava which flowed out from the earth's crust several million years ago. Wenatchee, WA was our next stop. The train entered the high altitudes of the Cascades and followed the breathtakingly beautiful Wenatchee river. It was difficult to decide which side of the window to look through. Fortunately, the sightseer lounge car has huge windows on both sides (and also partly on the top !), giving us an almost un-obstructive view of the whole scenery. It was splendid. The train was moving very slowly climbing the huge gradient. We saw the Icicle Canyon on our right. After about an hour, we entered the Cascade Tunnel, an 8 mile long tunnel under Steven's pass. This is the longest tunnel in the western hemisphere. When we exited the tunnel we were treated to an amazing view of the Skykomish river and ice capped mountains with slopes full of pine and fir trees. We passed through several bridges across rivers and rivulets and the scenery was marvelous. In my opinion taking the train in this route is probably the best way to view the breathtaking beauty of the Cascade mountains. We reached Everett, WA, the home of Boeing Aerospace. We could spot several planes, presumably test flights, overhead. From here, the train just follows the Puget Sound coast of the Pacific Ocean all the way into Seattle. The best view was obviously on the right side of the train. We could see tiny islands off the coast and several ferries. This 15 mile trip along the coast has many horseshoe curves -- at times, we could see almost the entire train as it followed the serpentine route along the coastline. The train crossed the Salmon Bay inlet near Edmonds and we could see the marina. It was around 11 AM, about 30 minutes late, when the train inched its way into the Seattle's King Station after entering Seattle's downtown under a tunnel. The delay was not that bad considering the distance we traveled, and all the splendid scenery we saw on our way! It was a wonderful trip.
Chandra Mouli
