Train trip to Tacoma

Wednesday night I took the train from Whitefish, MT to Tacoma, Wa. to see my uncle and aunt and then go on a cruise to Alaska.  The train was a half hour late to the Whitefish train station.

It took a long time to load the train passengers as the Whitefish train station's platform is being redone.  Over half of it was ripped up to prepare for new cement.  Only two train cars could access the platform at a time so the train had to load in four stops: Seattle sleeper cars, Seattle coach cars, Portland coach cars, Portland sleeper cars.

Because the platform was half ripped up there was no checked luggage service and I had to carry my luggage onto the train myself.

I ended up sharing a pair of seats.  I picked a seat next to a woman going to Libby, MT - the next stop.  She was returning from Williston, North Dakota where her husband was working in the oil fields.

At Libby I got two seats to myself.  At Spokane, where lots of people got off the train, I moved away from the stairs - and lights - that go between the upper and lower levels.  I moved back to a pair of seats midway back to the rear door where the only lights were a few night lights.  I had the seats to myself all the way to Seattle.  I slept well.  The train car's heat was warm so I didn't need the blanket I had brought along.

A young woman missed her stop at Edmunds and didn't know it until the conductor later double checked her train stop.  I think she was too busy texting on her phone to notice her stop.  She got off at the next stop.

We got to the Seattle station early as we arrived around 10 am.

My next train connection was from Seattle to Tacoma on the Amtrak Cascades train.  It left at 11:26 am.   Because this train was a single level train there was not as much extra room for luggage in each car.  So I had to check my luggage.

I forgot to send a reminder for Curt and Cathy that I was arriving so I hoped they remembered.  Especially because I also forgot their phone number.  They were at the station waiting for me. Yay!

It was a bit hard to leave Montana as the sky was clear of clouds, the temperature was in the mid-70s, and there was no wind. Perfect weather.  At Seattle/Tacoma when I arrived the skies were overcast and temperature was in the 60s.  The weather forecast for the cruise in Alaska is rain and temperatures near 50.  I hope the forecast is wrong.