Minot, North Dakota

I got off the train at Minot and walked around a bit and took the following pictures:

Empire Builder Schedule

Here is a picture of the  Empire Builder Schedule.

Waking up on the Train

The first thing I remember in the morning was waking up and seeing the

North Dakota Prairie.  I thought I was approaching Grand Forks, ND but we passed a little town called Lakota.  I looked and looked on the map for the town.  Finally Susan found it on the map between Grand Forks and  Devils' Lake.  I don't remember ever stopping at Grand Forks.  I then discovered an interesting thing to do on the train.  That was to identify where we were on the little atlas I brought along with us. 

Here are some pictures of the prairie plus our little travel atlas:

 

The first hour

After getting on the Train, I was too excited to fall right asleep.  I stayed up and watched the scenery from the left side of the train. I saw things I recongized as far as Big Lake, MN.  It was especially was interesting to see Coon Rapids and Anoka.  I remember seeing the lights from the Sherco Coal fired generating plant in Becker and the first stop in St. Cloud. The last thing I remember was crossing  the Mississippi river at Little Falls.  I remember stopping at Fargo to drop off and pick up passengers.

We got two pink seat passes when we got on the train.  We also had our Rail Passes and tickets.  Above is a picture of them:

The Trip Begins

We left the Minneapolis/Saint Paul Midway Amtrak Station at 11:15 PM Friday night May 11, 2012. We got on the third from the  last coach car and found two empty seats.  At first we sat together but after no one got one the seat across from us I moved over there to let Susan have two seats all to herself to sleep on.  I talked to the  conductor and told him I would move back by Susan if someone else needed to sit in my seat. 

We brought travel pillows and quillows to help us sleep on the train.  I had talked to our home teacher, brother Dorff who traveled on the train up to Shleby Montana and asked him what we needed to bring with us.We were also given a small pillow by the Amtrak attendant also. 

We brought three checked bags, one big one for Susan and two medium bags for me.  We also brought three back packs and large bag containing our pillows and  quillows as carry-on luggage.  Amtrak lets every passanger bring 150 pounds of checked luggage and another 100 pounds of carry-on luggage with them.  Something un-heard of traveling  by plane. 

Here is a picture of the Amtrak Station and our pillows and quillows:

Power Point Presentation

Here is the first page of the Power Point Presentation I made for Susan.

Planning for the Vacation

The idea to take a train trip to visit Whidbey Harbor, Lorenzo at San Diego, and Maylene and family at Gilbert, Arizona started last fall when I heard Sister Strege, Auralee's mother in-law took the train to visit one of her daughters in Portland, Oregon.  After lots of investigation, work and time I came up with a Power Point Presentation that I shown to Susan to get her to buy into the idea of taking the trip.  I decided to purchase USA Rail Passes for the trip.  They cost us $420 a piece.