A Train Ride to Izaak Walton Inn

For part of Hunter's birthday present when he turned 5, Grandma Betty gave him a suitcase. For the other part, she gave him a card promising to take him on the train. There was talk about going in December, then January, and then February filled up too. As soon as we had a weekend for the train scheduled, it was up on our calendar and Hunter, very eagerly, counted down the weeks, and then the days. We couldn't have picked a better weekend to go! The weather was perfect!

Once Perry arrived home from work Friday evening, we loaded up in the car and headed to the Whitefish house for the night. In retrospect, I probably shouldn't have drank a large cappuccino on the way there because I was up ALL night. Needless to say 5:30am came too quickly for me! 

 We pulled into the train station just as our train was pulling in. Unfortunately, I missed any and all photo opportunities because holding a coffee in one hand makes it impossible. I would have liked to get a picture of Hunter and JP standing in front of the train before they boarded, but I missed it. At that point, I just tossed my coffee and scored this one. Barely. 

 JP was a little nervous at first but Hunter was very excited and made himself right at home. Because of daylights saving the week before, it was still dark out when we left Whitefish so there wasn't much of a view until a little later in the morning. 

 Charlotte enjoyed her time looking out and banging on the windows anyways. 

 Once the train got cookin', Perry and I took Hunter and JP one car back to the observation car. I can't explain how hilarious it was to watch them try to walk while the train swayed back and forth. I completely forgot how tricky it can be, otherwise I would have had the video function on. If I remember correctly, JP nearly fell over. 

 They had a lot of fun looking out the big windows and seeing everything fly by. 

J - Look up there! I see another train!

M - That's the same train. The train you're on right now.

J - Oh.....Look! There's another one!

M - Nope. Same one. 

 The train had a quick stop at West Glacier so we returned to our seats and Hunter and JP had the opportunity to use my camera to take a picture of mom and dad. They pretty much rocked it. 

We pulled into Essex just after 9:00 am. The train ride was about an hour and fifteen minutes long. Just long enough to keep them entertained. But again, I missed the opportunity to have a nice picture of Hunter and JP standing by the train, so this is the best I got. Since the train ran a whopping 4 hours late for departure, they were sleeping when the train arrived to pick us up to take us home...Next time!

You can read about the rest of the day here.