Today, we visited the Ark Encounter, which was our initial purpose for this vacation. I don't know the appropriate superlatives for this place, but it was at least astoundingly amazing. It's 510 feet long and 4 stories open to the public, and jam packed full of examples, models and information presented in posters and videos. Even Natalie said it was far more than she expected, and she's heard what Bob thought of it. There's a huge parking lot where you park and pay for admission and parking. Then you ride nice buses to the Ark entrance, where the day is yours to explore the Ark and grounds, take in a presentation or two, ride the zip line, visit the zoo, and relax at one of several snack places or the buffet. We arrived at 10:00 am ... read more

After another excellent night's sleep, we awakened to another beautiful day in Asheville. It is extremely nice here. The temperature is close to perfect, the sky is blue, and everything is green. Absolutely beautiful. After a leisurely morning of breakfast and conversation, we finished getting ready for the day of touring places our brother and sister had worked. We had lunch at a favorite barbecue place, 12 Bones, and it was excellent. One of their servers was even wearing a Seattle Sounders jersey. We'll spend the rest of the day enjoying our last day here in Asheville. It has been an especially good time with family we just don't get get to see often enough of for long enough, and we're sorry to see the time come to an end. Tomorrow, we leave for a visit ... read more

Friday morning finds us traveling through West Virginia on a beautiful clear day. It seems sleeping on the train gets better with practice because we both slept better last night. The Empire Builder, which we took from Edmonds to Chicago, used different types of rail cars than the Cardinal, which we're riding now. The Superliner is a double decker, with most passengers on the upper level, while the Viewliner, which we're riding now, is a single decker. The seats are similar - they recline about the same and have leg rests and foot rests - and are equally comfortable. The main difference is the ride. The Viewliner is much lighter with tighter suspension, so you feel most every twist and turn and bump. On the Superliner, though, the weight dampens all the motion so you don't ... read more

We had an awesome night's sleep. Yesterday after dinner, Natalie had a long discussion yesterday with a very helpful concierge at our hotel about things to do. (I watched, but we must know who's the boss about some things.) It was a very nice, but hot, day, so we decided to take the architectural river cruise. Our speaker was a Chicago-based architect who knows all about Chicago and its history. He gave a fascinating tour as we cruised around the city's rivers. One building is the Boeing headquarters. I plan to include a photo of it today. It's the only building with exposed trusses above it. The exposed truss work is necessary because a third of the building has no foundation. Instead it is suspended from that truss work. Every other building was built over the ... read more

After Spokane, the train heads north, winds around Lake Pend Oreille, stops at Sandpoint, ID, and follows the Clark Fork river for awhile, then heads east across Montana. I slept through or stop at Sand Point, and missed most of Idaho, but it was too dark to see anything anyway. As dawn began, I was awake and able to enjoy the view as the scenery took shape. It was almost magical to see. It was cloudy and raining hard, so it took a long time for the trees and roads and meadows, and even the clouds to become distinct. But it certainly was quite a pleasure and a privilege. One somewhat amusing note. Natalie and I have an app on our phones that allows us to keep track of each other. It also acts as a ... read more