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Monday, 26 February 2007 |
By Jean Schlegel
I had never really given it a thought about traveling by train. It seemed as though it's become a forgotten mode of traveling ... around here anyway.
But a few weeks ago my husband I took the Amtrak train from Fargo to St. Paul for a very important occasion ... the baptism of our new granddaughter, Sloane. We thoroughly enjoyed traveling by train.
We've made many trips to the Twin Cities by car, but a few weeks ago the weather was in a deep freeze and we didn't care to travel that far under such dangerous traveling conditions.
The seats in the train are plush and a person has all kinds of room to stretch out and get up and walk around. The seats are almost like our recliners at home.
At 6 a.m., they served breakfast in the next car. What a treat that was. The chef and waitresses were in such a happy and welcoming mood. The waitress said, "We serve family style here and everyone sits together." What she meant was as someone came in, they were seated with total strangers, which turned out to be a lot of fun.
Two older retired gentlemen, who apparently do a lot of traveling by rail, sat across from us. The one had worked for the railroad and could travel free. The chef said, "He lives here." The man's response was that he had a sleeper in the caboose. The chef said, "Good, we can uncouple it when we get tired of you."
These two guys weren't traveling together, but had gotten to know each other quite well. They ordered grits. My husband and I have heard of grits, but had never eaten them. It looked like Cream-of Wheat cereal. They raved about how good they were and then we became curious about the taste. The chef brought us a "sample" at no expense to us. Then he watched as we tried grits.
He said, "You have to put something on grits, like butter and syrup, or Tabasco sauce. Or, I like to put cheese on grits, but I love cheese and could put it on a napkin and think it's good." We had ordered hash browns, but did try the grits, but neither of us liked them at all, which these guys thought was quite hilarious.
They thought it was too bad we wouldn't be on the train at 2:30 p.m., because they have a wine and cheese tasting hour every day at that time.
Three other guys, who were traveling together, chimed in about what a hoot that was.
The only thing we didn't like about the train excursion was the ungodly hours. We were supposed to leave Fargo at 2:15 a.m., but the train was delayed in Grand Forks because the switches were frozen and they had to wait for a crew to thaw them. Only in North Dakota!
Our son-in-law met us in St. Paul at 8 a.m., and he also took us back to the train depot on our return trip, which was supposed to be at 11:15 p.m., but again the train was late by an hour and a half. They said in the winter time they can't travel as fast as at other times because of the cold and can't make up time like a plane.
The train depot in St. Paul is quite nice and the one in Fargo is small but sufficient. The depot was filled to capacity. There are always people waiting around wanting to talk, which makes the time fly.
We hadn't been on a train since we took a ride in one in Los Angeles with our kids to San Juan Capistrano, and that was a lot of fun also. When we were in Rome a few years ago, we took an underground "train of sorts" to get to the Vatican, which was a fast and scary ride. My husband had an Italian man who tried in vain to pick his pockets, but was unsuccessful.
Before that, I had only traveled on a passenger train a few times. One was when I was in the eighth grade. We lived near Oriska, but took the school bus to Fingal, where my sister and I attended school. We had a very severe winter that one year, and Highway 32 was blocked for a long time. You wouldn't believe the huge snow banks! My dad took us to North Valley to catch the train and we stayed in Fingal for two months. Some kids just plain missed school.
The other experience I had of riding a train was when I was 5 years old. My dad and uncles had gone out to Portland, Ore., earlier to work in the shipyards during World War II, and then my mother, sister, aunt, cousin and I took the train out there. I still vividly remember eating in the dining car. My mother said it was very expensive. I don't remember the food we ate. All I remember is the way the tables were set with white linen table cloths and napkins and many fancy glasses and dishes.
I also remember when we crossed from one car to the next, I was scared to death, thinking I'd fall off. We had sleepers with the heavy maroon velvet curtains. I also remember looking out the window of the train at all the pretty lights as we passed by many towns. The train went "clicky-click, clicky clack," which they don't do anymore because they use extended rails now, so we were told.
Ah, but the reason we went ... to see our new granddaughter for the first time, who is absolutely beautiful. Of course, Grandma would have to say that. But, she really is. I had her picture in the newspaper if you recall. She weighed 9 1/2 pounds, and was born with a full head of black hair (which she has kept). She was also baptized that weekend, and the baptism went fine. There were about four other babies baptized at the same time.
I think she was already spoiled when we got there, but it wasn't her fault. She is held just about every minute, even when she's sleeping. My daughter and her husband took turns getting up every two hours to feed her! They would try to wake her up, feed her, change her, and she'd go right back to sleep. If she even woke up, I don't know. I never did that with all seven of my kids.
I let them sleep so I could sleep, and they did fine.
Our son-in-law is Vietnamese and his parents, brother and fiance were also there. His mother brought about six big pans of Chinese food that she bought at a Chinese restaurant, except for the wonderful egg rolls and some other Vietnamese dish she had made. We all had a great visit.
Our son-in-law was just 3 years old when he and his family came to the States from Cambodia, so he doesn't have any memories of that life where they were in a refugee camp for quite a long time. \
I'm sure it wasn't good, and his parents were in their teens when they had the two boys.
The visit was great, and the train ride was fabulous. It took about the same amount of time to travel by train that it takes by car, and the cost is affordable (especially with discounts).
We liked leaving the "driving to them." |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 05 December 2007 )
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