The adventure begins

Saturday, 1:00a - we depart home for the beginning of the trip. Sandpoint depot is a historical antique dump. Probably built around the turn of the century complete original depot wood seating, white tiling, pulley-assisted casement windows. Various refurbishings evidenced from the 1970s we extremely dark paneling, surface mounted electrical outlets, and old apple computers.

As our train was scheduled to arrive at 2:47 and tickets advise to be at the station well in advance, we wait for over 2 hours. We do get the chance to talk to two gregarious gentlemen, John and his brother Len who is travelling back to Minnesota. The train finally arrives, and we are met by a tactiurn conductor who points at the coach car for Len, and assists us to the sleeper compartment. We collapse into the minute sleeper-roomette for some much needed rest. Our beds have been turned down with cookies on the pillows. I was apprehensive about the rolling and rocking, so Greg sleeps with me and we cuddle VERY closely in the bottom bunk.

Saturday morning, I roll out of the room, knocking shins and my head on anything & everything in the comartment...to stagger down the corridor at 5AM for bladder relief. I am confronted by Gul (pronounced gu-hl) the most attentive room attendant we have ever encountered. Of Pakistani descent, he has the most soothing voice, the whitest teeth, and the most upbeat attitude of anyone I have ever met. Gul proceeds with tidying our room as we breakfast on very yummy pancakes & sausage for me; oatmeal, croissant & fruit for Greg; Jena is the dining car supervisor. She is sweet. We return to an immaculate room with two seats facing each other. Our table is set with roses & carnations in a vase. Fresh champage in plastic footed cups and our gift box contains handcream, tea bags, foot powder, Dove chocolate, and candy. (after we leave, we feel like we have NOT tipped this wonderful gentleman enough-I AM writing to Amtrak to let them know of his Great service!)

We proceed to a lunch of chicken breast sandwiches, then onto the observation lounge. Upon our return to our room, finding Martinellis sparkling cider with snack bags. We volunteer for the wine & cheese tasting for the afternoon. Michael, another conductor, entertains with trivia and we sit across from an interesting older couple, we had lots of fun & laughs.
Napping in our room after the wine tasting, dinner brings an acquaintance with a young man who is coming from California to celebrate his girlfriend's 22nd birthday. She lives in North Dakota. How romantic.

Yes. Yes. I know. I have blown the diet completely.

I foreswear to exercise double time when we return home.

Greg starts in the top bunk, then we trade 1/2 way through the night. The train encounters the worst tracks of the trip thus far. Tipping, rocking, and rolling extensively we rise at 2AM to take a shower. Wow. Hot water, huge shower stalls and lovely sweet smelling soap.

At breakfast we encounter Dawn who is mid 40s and Nic, a college student working full time at "W" in Chicago and aspiring actor. He is in the coach section and has to pay for his meal. We hesitate, and should have told him we would pay for his breakfast. He reminds me so much of Matt, our daugher's husband. We spend the rest of the trip attempting to find him to give him one of our Champagne bottles, and our email address, but are unable to locate him. This young man will be one to watch. Probably the next Brad Pitt!

A telephone call from our friends indicates that Isabelle has taken over their spare bedroom bed.

A young girl in the Observation Lounge is playing guitar. She is very talented as we sit listening to her for about 30 minutes, we watch the beautiful scenery of the Mississippi River flow by outside. Complimenting the girl on her playing, we go thru to the diner car.

We encounter Dawn again at a very late lunch, and sit talking to her for over an hour.

People are interesting. One would never make this many contacts during a plane flight.

After taking a teary farewell to Gul, and departing the train, we experience motion sickness for hours. I still feel as if the train is rocking down the track.

Sunday 2:48p, we take a cab (driven by Houston H. Suggs, Jr...a very interesting gentleman. He has been sober for over 30 years. Friendly and knowledgeable about Milwaukee. Our 10 minute ride was a joy due to his conversation) to County Clare Inn, check in and wait for our room. We have a drink in the authetic Irish pub, wishing Matt & Kelsey could be there with us sharing a drink. We listen to the Ce (pronounced "k") Trio (minus 1 at home sick)...they play celtic flute & guitar. Beautiful music by two very young & talented men. We have appetizers called Dumpings...Irish brown bread which are filled with gorgonzola cheese. Yummy.

We enter our room at 5:00 and collapse upon the bed. I have DSL~yippee! Shower and HOUSE back to back episodes. Am in heaven. Download massive amounts of stuff, take a shower, and collapse into bed.

OMG. My feet are the size of baby elephants. Swollen up to massive size. Owie.

More later.