Category: 2017, Christmas Seattle Amtrak Trip

My train, Amtrak’s Empire Builder, was scheduled to depart Seattle at 2:10 Saturday afternoon and arrive in Milwaukee Monday at around 2 pm. Normally the train goes through the Cascade Mountains just south of Glacier National Park at night on both the trip east and west, so you never see the most beautiful part of the trip. The night before my train was to leave there was a big snow storm in the Cascades. There were many freight trains that had come to a stop during the storm. My departure was delayed by 6 hours. We departed Seattle at 8 pm. Because of the delay, at dawn the next day, we were just entering the Cascades. It turned out to be a bright, sunny, and cold day. It was around -25 degrees. I took photos all day. Some are below, but first a few photos of the train.

 

 

 

 

Late in the day in central Montana, very cold.

At dawn the next day, we were parked in Wolf Point, Montana. It was -34 with a windchill of -54. We had been there 4 hours because of a broken rail. I ended up getting home 13 1/2 hours late, but going through the Cascades during daylight made it worthwhile.

Today is the first sunny day of the trip. I had about 5 hours to kill, so I went to the Sky View Observation floor of Columbia Center. It’s on the 73rd floor, which is higher than the Space Needle. It is glass all the way around which makes for spectacular viewing.

The small brown building in the center of the above photo was my hotel. The interior has been renovated, so it was fine.

MOHAI – Museum of History and Industry  is a museum about the history of Seattle

Many, many exhibits such as this

Behind the museum

MOPOP  the Museum of Pop Culture  was founded by Microsoft’s Paul Allen. It contains an eclectic assortment of displays, Science Fiction movies, Horror movies, and Seattle Music.

Jimi Hendrix

Science Fiction and Horror

Mork’s Outfit

The Terminator

Alien/s

Instead of watching television at night, I went to a musical at a theater built in 1925. It’s a beautiful old theater which was only 2 blocks from my hotel. It was a famous old musical “Holiday Inn”. Not my thing but why not?

Museum of Flight

Commercial

Concorde

 

Not Concorde

Blackbird A-12 not SR-71

Modern Military

Space

 

October Sky

 

WWI and WWII

Seattle Symphony

 

 

 

 

 

Today I saw many interesting and beautiful things, so there are many photos. As you will see, when I reduce the size of a photo, it’s quality is diminished, so I left almost all of them large.

The Space Needle

CHUHULY Garden and Glass

The two sculptures below are huge

 

The following Sealife sculptures are a good three feet tall

 

The glass sculptures below fill a room

 

These boats are at least 15 feet long

I think I might have this one printed and framed

Seattle Art Museum

 

There must have been well over 100 Wyeth paintings.

 

The Aquarium

These two videos are worth watching but take a little time to load

Octopus      https://retiredwithatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1460.mov

Otters         https://retiredwithatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/IMG_1461.mov

 

The Seattle Library which is across the street from my hotel.

Central Washington west of Spokane, desert like even though there is snow.

Crossing the Columbia River

Wenatchee Washington, known as the apple capital of the world. Apples everywhere for many miles

Entering the Wenatchee National Forest heading west towards Everett, Puget Sound, and then south to Seattle.

Wenachee National Forest

After going through a very long tunnel, bright sunshine

Cascade Mountains

Puget Sound at Everett Washington

Puget Sound

Seattle Amtrak Station

 

Woke up about 4 am in North Dakota freezing. Went back to sleep and woke again at 6:30 still freezing. I checked and it was -16 degrees outside. Turns out, during the night, there was an electrical problem and there wasn’t any heat in my train car. They stopped between 4 am and 5 am and switched out a car. It warmed up around noon.

North Dakota east of Minot. You see this everywhere in western North Dakota, an oil pump and storage tanks.

 

You also see a lot of this, new housing that is empty from the oil boom/bust.

 

 

https://retiredwithatrailer.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/img_1144.movMy Amtrak Empire Builder Roomette

 

Shower and dressing room

Dinner menu