Train Ride

This week was Spring Break for Dirk, and we wanted to do something simple, inexpensive, but still different and fun. Hayden had been begging to ride on a train for months, and we'd heard about a fun Amtrak ride up by Glacier Natl. Park, so we decided to go for it.

The mini vacation didn't quite go as planned, as it was pouring rain the whole time, so we didn't get to do the fun outside stuff we'd hoped to.
The hotel had an indoor pool and water-slide but the water was FREEZING, so we only tried out the hot tub a little bit.
We were all going to take a round trip train ride, and in between we were going to explore some foot trails in Essex. There's nothing in Essex but an old historical hotel, so after we found out it was pouring rain, we decided to not spend 10 hrs in Essex, and to only take one ride on the train.


Hayden and I rode the train which was just over an hour, while Dirk and Ginny drove up to Essex to meet us. The train ride went right along Glacier National Park for a while and followed along a gorgeous Jade green river. It was foggy and rainy the whole time. Watching the world go by on a train was really fun. When we got there we warmed up by the fire, explored all the old train memorabilia, and then headed back to Whitefish.


We spent the day in downtown Whitefish, eating lunch, and walking in and out of all the cute little shops there. There was a toy store/game store that was so much fun! We bought quite a few things there. I could have stayed in there all day! We also had fun browsing the cute boutiques and looking at all the stuff we couldn't afford, but it was fun to browse anyway.


We were going to stay one more night in the hotel, since it was pre-paid, but Hayden was really having a hard time, so we decided to check out early and go home. The whole 2 1/2 hr. drive home was pouring rain like a monsoon. It was kind of crazy!

All in all, it was a fun experience, but if we were ever to do it again, we'd probably plan it more like how our back up plan turned out!