This past July I headed out to the Pacific Northwest via train with Julie and her family with a stopover in Glacier National Park. The first leg of the trip was roughly 30 hours from Chicago to Glacier Park East and the second leg was close to 16 hours from Glacier to Seattle. We had a roomette throughout the trip on the Empire Builder line which includes meals and access to shower facilities.

 Derailment
We were a little over two hours delayed on our first leg of the trip due to back to back derailments earlier in the week with in a 5 mile radius outside of Culbertson, Montana. A day earlier and we would have been in some serious trouble.

Accommodations
We stayed in a Roomette for our trip which is basically a small private room with a two seats, a window and a single electrical outlet. The seats convert into a bed and then a top bunk pulls down from the ceiling. I slept on the top bunk both nights on our trip, there isn’t much room to maneuver up there but depending on the age of your car it can be vary from rickety to sturdy. I experienced both. The seats though I found much more comfortable than sitting in the cafe car or the observation chairs. The room is very quiet once the sliding door is closed.
The meals on the long run Amtrak routes such as the Empire Builder are included with your Sleeper or Roomette. Your car attendant will check in with you before meals to choose a reservation time. I would suggest taking an earlier reservation as the farther along you get on your trip the more likely they are to run out of various options. The food was acceptable, the chicken for lunch was good and the steak for dinner was cooked to order. Generally speaking if you have less than four in your party you’ll be seated with other guests. This is the most social aspect of the trip.

Glacier National Park

We stayed overnight at Glacier Park Lodge to break up the trip. We ended up arriving at the lodge in the evening after dinner on the train. The lodge has a bar open until around 11pm and there are a couple of restaurants in town as well. We pretty much called it a night and then headed out to Two Medicine Lake in the morning. With only really having one full day at the park we decided to do the boat across Two Medicine Lake via the Glacier Park Boat Company and then a short hike on the other side.

Our departing train was four hours late arriving at the lodge on Monday evening. It was scheduled for 6:45pm and we didn’t board until about 11pm. For me this wasn’t a problem as it gave us another four hours to hang out on the back porch of the lodge as the sunset. The bar was open, much better than being stuck on the train for four extra hours.

We did miss seeing the train travel through the park as it was dark by the time we boarded but I think this made the second leg of the train ride go much faster. We arrived at King Street Station in Seattle a little after 1pm. Overall I thought it was a great experience. I got to see parts of the country that I’m doubtful I would have seen any other way. Glacier Park was pretty amazing and the food was pretty good.

Side Notes:
* Beer served at the Cafe Car included domestics and one regional craft beer, which on the Empire Builder is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.