Still steamin' and a rollin' onto Seattle!

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OK so Bonnie is our sleeping car attendant and she seems very nice but she ain’t no Ainsley, so it’s going to be regulation smoke stops only (thank god I have my electronic friend), no loo in the room which I am quite pleased about and once again free water and soft drinks. The observation car is a bit of a cheat its about 5 cars away and everyone can use it – when we booked it was supposed to be just for the sleepers and we thought it was attached but hey ho you still get a great view from the compartment window.

The train was running 2 hours late – not really sure why, something to do with having to give priority to the freight trains, this means it’s even longer to the stops where you can get off!

The grub once again is excellent and Howard once again is bouncing around like a little kid trying to look out of every available window at the same time! I, once again have to sit facing backwards to indulge his excitement!

Due to the late running some of the best scenery we won’t be able to see as it will be dark! Right it’s time to get the bunks down at get some kip.

Woke up to the over powering smell of coffee as Bonnie got the perculator going in the hall, you can have coffee, juice or water non-stop and free of charge if you want. Slept quite well despite the rocking and rollin’ of the train, fortunately the announcements all stop after 11pm and the train keeps tooting but that’s quite soothing.

The scenery has been non-stop wide open plains and ‘big Montana skies’ which gets a bit monotonous, Howard (who had his nose in the netbook most of the time) thought it was ‘fantastic’ (again!!!), I have read about 3 books and am thanking god for the miraculous invention called a Kindle lol.

We sat with a great couple for lunch – Luann and Ben who live in Florida and very kindly have invited us to stay a night with them when we get down in that area next year and have asked for our blog link so they can follow our travels! I must say once again we have met some lovely people in the USA.
By early evening nicotine withdrawal and backache have taken their toll and I’m ready to rip heads off and have resorted to the old ‘get me a flight home booked’…in this case from Seattle! It usually passes once I have been able to have a fag and stretch my legs, poor Howard!

I had the delights of the top bunk tonight (so Howard could wake up and look out the window as the train was moving) and it is like sleeping in a coffin, there is no room to sit up and the bed is really narrow, there are luggage straps to stop you rolling out but you still feel like you are going to go over the edge! Again I woke to the stench of coffee combined with the coffin sensations and despite it being about 6am I had to get up. Howard didn’t want to wake up so I went off to breakfast and then to my delight as the train was so late we actually had a smoke stop woo hoo!.

The scenery was much more interesting this morning so things were looking up, also I knew we had a nice hotel booked that had an ensuite bathroom so the promise of a nice clean bed and a shower improved my mood considerably! Even Bonnie allowed a very brief unscheduled smoke stop (nothing to do with it being the end of the trip and possible tips in mind I’m sure!).

Anyway 2 hours late we arrived in Seattle. Again what a lovely city, really clean and laid back, found the hotel, had the shower, managed to get on the internet and then went off exploring. We were staying really close to Pike Place Market which is fantastic, it’s really like Camden, lots of weird and wonderful stalls, lots of alternative things and people, street theatre and music everywhere, I really loved it. Had I been able to buy souvenirs I could have spent a fortune, as it was I had to succumb to a purple tie dye top – would have been rude not to and as I keep telling Howard, I am going to carry it!

We found a great Chinese which was really reasonably priced and have a sumptuous feast. I had the slimming world prawns with cashew nuts so felt like I was beginning to get my diet back on track lol. I managed to resist all ice creams, puddings, chocolate and other tempting treats today so that’s a good start. Why oh why does America have so much and such nice food? And why oh why are we spending so long here when it is totally ruining all my hard dieting work?!!!

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Photos

Seattle
Totem Pole Pike Place Market

Comments

[Mel's MUM]

Your blog has the wrong name
It should be Teesside Eaters

[Wyntercobweb]

Enjoying the blogs, loved the Montana scenery, could picture John Wayne coming out of cascade mountains, why do these places in the wilderness have lovely names!