Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Essex







We started the New Year with a train trip to Montana. We'd visited the Isaak Walton in the summer many years ago and had always wanted to come over in the winter and stay in a caboose - this was our chance. It's an overnight train from Seattle. Dinner climbing Stevens Pass, adding cars from Portland in Spokane at 1AM, waking in Whitefish, and breakfast passing West Glacier. We arrived to 9 inches of fresh snow.

Cross country skiing from the door of the red caboose. A five minute walk across the mainline to the Inn, where we found meals, pool and ping pong, and a warm lobby. D and I even got to watch the Seahawks Saturday afternoon on an employee's big screen TV (thanks, Kurt). Lots of trains going by, lots of train kitsch in the lodge. Would have been fine except for colds and stomach bugs...