Day 2: TUESDAY

I'm enjoying the scenery from the sunny comfort of the observation car, typing while listening to a HOME MADE KAZOKU song (admittedly, an odd juxtaposition with the rolling green hills and brown mountains of Montana, but it happened to come up on my Winamp rotation just as I was beginning to type). We've just crossed the state line, and I'm staring at a hill covered with several hundred head of brown and black cattle. According to the guest National Parks ranger making announcements in the car, we're about to pass a vegetable oil processing plant. (Personally, I think the cows are more scenic...)

Last night, after dinner, we retired to Laura and Jon's family-sized room and watched a few episodes of Kareshi Kanojo no Jijyou, pausing frequently to admire the deep red sunset against the black mountains, framed above and below by the ripple patterns of the clouds and wide lakes. Mom and Dad headed to bed around 9:30, and I followed about an hour and a half later, though I stayed awake for another hour or so under a blanket with a battery-powered reading light and the new Vampire Hunter D novel.

Today was a little more forgiving than yesterday; we got up around 7:30 (our time), and discovered the joys of trying to get three people washed and dressed in the eight inches of space between our tiny sink and the sleeper beds. We had breakfast with a woman who turned out to be from Plainfield (and spent much of the meal helping her come up with ideas for remodeling her house), and afterward retired to our various haunts around the train. For most of us, that was the lounge/observation car, where I spent a couple of hours reading The Count of Monte Cristo.

It's now 12:24 Indiana time, but 11:24 local, so lunch isn't for another half-hour. Not that we need to eat again so soon; what I ate for dinner last night was as much food as I normally eat in a whole day. We've gained an hour coming west, and the time will fall back again tonight, which gives us more time to digest between the large meals. (We'll lose that time on the return trip, though, which might be dangerous. Of course, by then we'll be accustomed to the 15 meals per day on the ship, so it might not be so bad.) :)

Later today, we're supposed to go through Glacier National Park. Jon and Dad have been taking plenty of photos, to which some of you may be subjected later. Right now we're passing huge eroded bedrock formations that jut up out of the rolling hills on the north side of the train. The park ranger is explaining the composition of the various colored bands in the exposed rock. Plans for the rest of the day include sitting around reading, eating, watching scenery, perhaps writing some more SPCFC, eating, and generally relaxing as much as I want. We get into Seattle tomorrow, and will spend a couple of days sightseeing there before boarding the ship on Friday.

Later today, we're supposed to go through Glacier National Park. Jon and Dad have been taking plenty of photos, to which many of you may be subjected later. :) Right now we're passing huge eroded bedrock formations that jut up out of the rolling hills on the north side of the train. The park ranger is explaining the composition of the various colored bands in the exposed rock.

Plans for the rest of the day include sitting around reading, eating, watching scenery, perhaps writing some more SPCFC, eating again, reading some more, and generally relaxing as much as I want. We get into Seattle tomorrow, and will spend a couple of days sightseeing there before boarding the ship on Friday.

Appropriately, the Kare Kano theme just came around on my playlist. Perhaps we'll watch more of that tonight, too.

The train is pulling in to Wolf Point, Montana now. I think I may get off and run around a bit to get the blood circulating. Too much sitting can be dangerous – particularly since lunch is in twenty minutes. :)