So my trip finally comes to an end I ended with a concert in Dallas I saw a group called Icon for Hire
and even had some cousins coming to town
and see it with me.
Tomorrow I drive home and then back to reality and work and school until next year when I can travel again to some unknown destination
Today I walked from my hotel to the Spaceneedle. I started my walk at 8 AM so the streets were empty. I got to the Spaceneedle shortlly after it opened so I headed up for a very chilly look at the city. The slide show below shows the direction and the view from that direction.
Here are some pictures from two Seattle Museums. The glass sculptures are from the Chihuly Garden and Glass and the others are from the EMP Museum (Music and Sci-Fi Museum)
August 1, 2016
My train arrived around 11 AM in the morning and I can’t check into my hotel until 4 PM, so the plan? Take my luggage to the hotel and then explore.
I purchased an Orca card which is the method to pay for public transit. I like using the multi use passes because I normally get on the wrong bus at least once until I figure out the system. Google is great at getting you to the bus stops.
The first place I went was the Pike Street Market, I can’t believe people even try to drive down that street. The fresh produce is amazing.
Next I tried to visit the original Starbucks but the line is very very long…
The next place I visited and yes I realize I did some back tracking, but I was just wandering around with no real plan… here is the most disgusting thing I saw..
yes, that is the gum wall, and the amount of gum that goes up and down this alley on both sides along with the “creativity” of some people making designs is total disgusting… A majority of people walking here said as much, but that didn’t stop too many of them from placing their own piece of gum on the wall.
I spent the rest of the day just wandering the streets and enjoying the cool weather. Tomorrow is the Spaceneedle and EMP.
So my train leaves at 6:45pm, check out of the lodge is 11:00am… so I have about 8 hours to do something…
So what I ended up doing was having breakfast. I had the huckleberry pancakes that were as big as the plate so I was only able to eat about half of it. Nexted I packed my bags and now I’m just sitting out on the back porch the lodge waiting till about 1030 until I officially check out of my room and then I’ll have a couple hours to kill before the train.
I think I found a huckleberry bush at the lodge,
As I’m finishing up lunch, I can testify that Montana can make great elk sausages. After today’s lunch I’ve tried 3 types and I’ve been happy with all of them.
So the train ride from Glacier to Seattle was uneventful. I stayed in my coach seat and tried to sleep. The only cool thing was being in the end car when the train split and the front half went to Seattle and the back half went to Portland.
July 30th. Started today at 5:30am, why? well the sunrise is at 6:05 am so I wanted to be up to get my camera ready. 
Had an early breakfast, the buffet again. I’m saving the huckleberry pancakes for tomorrow. One thing that I noticed most of the staff here is they are in their twenties and I was thinking that 20 years ago this would have been something really cool to do. One of the shuttle drivers is a older gentleman that lives in Arizona and comes up here every summer to get away from the heat. I might have to look into that, but I first need to downsize my life.
In an hour I am taking “Going-to-the-sun road”, an 8 hour bus tour through Glacier National Park more photos and videos to come.
sneak peek until I get to Seattle and can type up a summary on my laptop.
So some quick advice if you are traveling to glacier national Park I would recommend taking the “Going-to-the-sun road” tour first since it gives you a nice overview of of the park and will let you plan for your next couple days of which trails you wish to hike. And if you are a Geocacher, remember to look for the POI. I got too excited about taking pictures that I forgot to look for the answers to the cache questions. Guess I will just have to come back. 😉 I really wish I had another five days; so I could hike all those other trails, the easy day trails would’ve been nice to see.
Oh and one other thing to point out; the people that carry bear spray really need a license or should be trained before they carry. One of my fellow lodgers went on a hike and mentioned that while they were on the trail, a father sat down and the bear spray went off in his son’s face; not a pleasant experience.
The boat tour… July 29
Good morning, Sunrise (6:05 am)from my window.
I had a nice buffet breakfast at the lodge. The coffee was good and the biscuits flakey.
I’m now (8:08 am) waiting for the bus to take me to the boat tour of Two Medicine area.
The boat tour of Two Medicine Lake is on the oldest boat on the lake. It was built in the 1920’s and has been in service ever since.
So I’m back at the lodge and have been for a while went to eat, and read a book before posting. As before the good pictures will be up Aug 8th or a bit later.
It seems more detail needed to be added to this trip. It was not a 3 hour boat tour, but a 20 minute boat tour that took you across a lake so you could hike some of the shorter trails in East Glacier National Park. I am glad I prepared for hiking, because some others didn’t and didn’t really see much of the park.
As before the good photos will be uploaded later, but I saw what is called here in the park The Twin Falls and further down the trail the Two Lakes both along the Bighorn Basin. I recorded some video that I will post later, but it needs some edits so I don’t sound like a complete idiot as a babel about stuff I know nothing about.
I’ve got two stories to tell, which is why anyone goes on an adventure…
The first, I met a woman who was 15 miles from completing the Continental Divide Trail. She and a friend had just hiked 7 days and had stopped to take a shower and resupply as they made the final push to met the goal. Sometime on July 30th this women will have hiked according to a google search 3100 miles from Mexico to Canada… That is dedication. Admittedly, she said it was not all in one trek, but in multiple trips over a few years, but still that is way more than I’ve done nor most of us.
And story two, (insert chipmunk) Why is there a chipmunk here… he/she is the reason fro the story. I was hiking the trail to the Two Lakes and at the end of the travel I stopped to drink some water and eat a bit of trail mix when I notice some of the native wildlife. Since this is a frequently visited area with camp grounds near by, some of the smaller critters, ie a chipmunk were not as afraid as the birds and lizards I saw along the trail. Why is this chipmunk so important? I saved a young man a bunch of money. It seems he and a group of friends had been in that exact spot the day before and while leaving, this young man dropped something. He dropped his car keys. This little chipmunk I guess was interested in the keys, and as I was pointing him out to a group of ladies that had just arrived, one of their part noticed something and picked up some car keys. They took those keys to the gift shop by the tour ferry and learned that the young man had called a tow truck earlier that morning and sadly he was already gone… but wait something had delayed the tow truck and he was sitting in the snack area drinking coffee and still waiting. So the end of the tail, a little chipmunk looking for a candy bar helped out.
Well, I have another adventure tomorrow. It is a bus tour of the park, so I’m thinking my feet won’t hurt as much… hehe.
This was a long ride. I enjoyed a long conversation with a newly wed Amish couple and their extended family traveling to West Glacier visit family and then to do some camping and fishing. I asked him about their way of life and he asked me about politics. His family doesn’t vote, and leaves it up to God in prayer to pick the best leaders. For my political take, we need a miracle.
As I said this was a long train ride, over 24 hours and the train was full most of the time with people getting on and off as we went along. To travel by train you must be very patient, you will see quiet, reserved people like the Amish to loud and rowdy college students taking a vaca before they start their freshman term…
Here are some pictures mostly of farm country, corn and wheat and a river or 2.
(MORE PHOTOS LATER AUG 8th upload plan.)
Started with breakfast at Meli’s. I had an awesome gouda chicken bacon omelette that was the size of the plate.
Tour by boat. Took the architecture tour up the rivers and learned that Chicago is the birth place of the skyscraper so something good came of the Great Chicago fire.
Lunch at Tavern by the Park.
Sat outside under an umbrella and the breeze from the lake kept it cool. Currently the temperature is 80° at 12:26pm.
Tour of park.
Some Geocaching
I’m starting this post at 12pm but will not publish until I get to Chicago, 1.5 hours later which means I’ve been on this train for 24 hours. Why the delay? Bad thunderstorms last night messed up the signal tower system so the train is having to go below normal speed. we have also had to wait on side tracks to let other trains pass since the schedules are all off. Finally leaving Springfield we got up to 80 mph for a few minutes.
Here is a farm house as we coast along..
welcome to Lincoln a few more stop then CHICAGO
Here we are Bloomington what a view 😉
Next stop Joliet
we are finally finally moving I lost track of the delay length …
but finally Chicago is ahead…
Well it’s approaching 12pm and that cinamine roll my sister gave me was a few hours ago. Tip if you don’t want to eat $5 microwaved hot dogs… pack your own lunch.
Btw that has been the view 90% of the time. corn 🌽 and 🌽 oh look…
more corn. Hehe 😄
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