Riding the rails for holiday adventure
Trains, planes and automobiles ... we’ve now added Amtrak to our mode of travel to see family and friends in North Dakota. When my husband and I planned a Thanksgiving visit with our oldest daughter in Reserve, Mont., (about 10 miles from the North Dakota border) and assorted Thoresons in the Williston, N.D., area, the thought of traveling by car for several hundred miles each way over a couple of mountain passes this time of year held little allure.
So a few months ago I checked on Amtrak’s Empire Builder train from Spokane to Williston. The price was right and just as an afterthought I reserved a roomette in the sleeper car. It’s a 16-hour trip each way and I figured I’d appreciate being able to recline and catch a nap if need be. Best upgrade ever!
Last week on Tuesday about midnight we headed over to the train depot via a shuttle service. The train, which originates in Seattle and ends in Chicago, was running a couple hours late so by the time we boarded, that little sleeper room was welcome.
I hadn’t read the fine print and happily discovered from our sleeper car porter that pasengers in the sleeper cars have all of their dining car meals included in the ticket price. Breakfast, lunch and dinner off the menu and three chances to visit with people from all over the country with the Montana countryside as a backdrop.
Train travel is leisurely, so if you’re in a hurry, brave the long lines and stress at TSA security at the airport and cross your fingers that your flight isn’t canceled.
The train stopped several times in small towns like Whitefish, Shelby and Havre for people to board or debark at those destinations. During daylight hours we’d enjoy the views from the observation car or seated in our room.
We arrived in Williston on Wednesday evening to begin our holiday and a wonderful visit with family in Montana and North Dakota, heading back home on Sunday morning. By then we were seasoned train travelers and enjoyed the return trip even more than the trip four days earlier.
Train travel is a little like camping in an RV or travel trailer — without the campfire but also without traffic. There’s a lot of togetherness on a train, close quarters and all. Since our trips around the country have been mostly by air for quite a few years, it was a treat to see the world from ground level.
We will definitely travel by train again, maybe down the West Coast, and most definitely in the sleeper car!
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As I mentioned we arranged a shuttle service from home to the Spokane depot and then from the depot to home in Post Falls. We arrived back in Spokane at 1 a.m. Monday morning, loaded our luggage in the shuttle van and headed home from our almost 2,000 mile round trip.
On I-90, just 25 miles from home, our van was hit at high speed by what was likely a drunk driver who fled the scene. It was terrifying as the shuttle blew a tire and was hung up briefly on the other car. In what seemed like slow motion, I watched a semi roar by and thought we would surely be flung into oncoming traffic.
Our guardian angel was working overtime and the van driver was able to pull off the side of the freeway, leaving us all shaken up but uninjured.
By 3 a.m. a replacement shuttle had delivered us to our front door. I have never felt so happy, grateful and blessed.
As the holidays approach, it seems a good time to remind everyone not to drink and drive or to be distracted by your phone. Not all endings are as happy as ours was this week.
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Things to Do Highlights: Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, on Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. at North Idaho College.
Friday evening the Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra presents Holiday Joy from Scandinavia with Chorale Coeur d’Alene at 7:30 p.m. at the Kroc Center, with a Saturday matinee performance at 2 p.m. Tickets www.cdasympony.org.
Saturday is the fifth annual Reindeer Run at McEuen Park 5k from 8 to 9:30 a.m. Info: www.fleetfeetcda.com.
Community Presbyterian Church in Post Falls holds its Holiday Bazaar on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 417 N. William St.
Saturday the city of Rathdrum celebrates Christmas on Main Street with the tree lighting at City Hall at 5 p.m. and the annual lighted parade at 6 p.m.
Also on Saturday, the Annual Hayden Lights Parade & Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony at McIntire Family Park starts with the parade at 5 p.m.
Bayview’s Community Lighting Festival starts at 5:30 p.m. on Main Street, with the lights going on at 6 p.m. Caroling, free chili and cookies.
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Happy birthday today to Katie King, Cody and Tristan Webb, River Hopkins, Breanna Joyner and Judy Dahl. Tomorrow Carol Ann Eachon and Jodine Spry are the birthday girls. Kevin Ekness, Larry Quimby, Carol Kreighbaum, Raine Solberg, Carolyn Walker, Shirley Thagard, Kevin Krieg and Cindy Scinto take another trip around the sun on the last day of the month. The first day of December will find Chris Pappas, Marge Chadderdon, Jay Bremner, Emily Castle and Connie Price putting on their party hats. Sunday birthdays will be celebrated by Brandi Hague-Little, Lois Holom and Wally Adams. On Monday Joyce Ekness, Carol Fairhurst, Sandra King, Brittany Teverbaugh, Norbert Vedder and Jennifer Keefe will blow out their candles. Carrie Ward, Bob Brooke, Tina McWhorter, Bayley Brooks, Dirk Fredekind, Doug Shevalier and Barry Corigilano will get their party on come Tuesday.
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Kerri Rankin Thoreson is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and the former publisher of the Post Falls Tribune. Main Street appears every Wednesday in The Press and Kerri can be contacted on Facebook or via email mainstreet@cdapress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kerrithoreson.