The Love… Indescribable, pictures don’t do it justice kind of a place. Glacier National Park was a once in a lifetime experience filled
with beauty and undeniable spectacular views. We drove through the park, going from West Glacier to East Glacier via Going To The Sun Road which is about 50 miles of incredible sights. The drive took us about 2 hours considering we stopped every few miles to gasp at the mountainous views, glaciers and mountain goats. We ventured to Logan’s Pass, a popular landmark, with a visitor center and an opportunity to
hike. We hiked about a mile along this boardwalk type path (which helps conserve the natural beauty of the park) to a snow field. Absolutely incredible! Nothing but snow and large mountains and I mean large mountains! Nothing like what we see in New York! Along the way, my earth science fiancé gave me lessons about the sights, how glacial streams are formed and what are glacial lakes. It truly is incredible how glaciers formed the mountain and water views we saw at the park.
Posts Tagged With: train
Montana: A Love/ Hate Relationship
The Hate…We were very excited to have the opportunity to stay in the historic Izaak Walton Inn while in Montana. We called months ahead of time to ensure we could get reservations and a shuttle pickup from the West Glacier amtrak station upon arrival. Everything was set up for a great stay in beautiful Montana until…your sitting at a dark Amtrak station at 11:00PM with no shuttle in sight and an Inn that doesn’t answer their phone. Well, after one 911 call, one $40 cab ride, and one pissed off Italian, we finally arrived at the Inn. The next day after laying into their manager Steve, or @$$hole as I like to refer to him, I was told that I must not have called and reserved a shuttle ride, followed by “you must have called the Inn up the road”, and my personal favorite “…but we don’t even have a shuttle”. Excuse after excuse, bad meal after bad meal, mistake after mistake it was finally time to leave Montana. Wouldn’t you know it Steve was more then happy to load our bags into their shuttle; that’s right the shuttle they didn’t have. I like to think they went out and bought one just for us. Thanks Stevo!!!
’til next time…The Vagabonds
Makeshift Workout + Muscle Brownies = Fitness on the Rails
Last night I was feeling a little down in the dumps. I realized that it was probably because I have been eating everything and anything in site this past week and my stomach is starting to resemble that of a 3month pregnant woman’s. Then I though back to one of our older posts about fitness on the go and how even on a train fitness is obtainable. So this morning I decided to kick things off right and had a healthy veggie omelet. To take it one step further I decided to do an impromptu workout. I only had a small sleeper car to work with, but this is what I came up with:
25 pushups
50 sit ups
50 air squats
20 chair dips
Then I repeated this with half the reps. The whole workout was done consecutively with no rest and only took me about ten minutes. Now grant it, this isn’t going to make me look like the cover boy for Men’s health, but it got my heart rate going, was quick, and made me feel pretty good going into the new day. It is always a good idea to get some post workout protein, so I had a delicious Muscle Brownie from Lenny and Larry. These guys make protein seem more like a cheat day and I felt like I was having a post workout dessert; thanks for the snack guys!
’til next time…The Vagabonds
Breakfast on the Go
A brisk walk in Seattle to our next train. No better breakfast on the go than Try Chips!
We’re In “Deep”…
… Deep dish that is!
Two hungry (and quite possibly cranky) vagabonds arrived in Chicago Tuesday afternoon. Our first stop: Giordano’s. Chicago is famous for its deep dish pizza and Giordano’s came highly rcommended. Although, Chicago’s deep dish pizza isn’t quite like New York pizza, you cannot deny its tastiness with a thick flaky cheese stuffed crust!
’til next time… The Vagabonds
Our First Supper
Tonight we had the experience of eating our first meal on a dining car. The meal was excellent and quite a different experience. One of the things we have been looking forward to from an Amtrak adventure is the interesting people and adventure that you just don’t get from driving or flying.
Our dining experience was shared with a nice woman named Trudy, who was a fellow educator who had ridden trains back in the fifties and was able to share some of her experiences. She told us about the different types of cars that we will experience out west. It was nice to get some perspective from someone who has traveled this way before. Our other dining partner was a young soldier named Joshua, who was on his way to his new assigned home in Syracuse NY. He was very interesting and shared photos of all his adventures, travels, and his hometown of Puerto Rico. He really explained a day in the life of a soldier and when we asked him if he had any regret he said “No, I love what I do.” He will be going back to Afghanistan in May and we want to thank him again for his service and dedication to defending our freedom and way of life. We wish him well and safe return home.
To Trudy and Joshua, thank you very much for the conversation, stories, pictures, and overall dining experience.
“til next time…The Vagabonds
Rumor Has It?!
Since starting the plans in motion in January, people have been offering all sorts of suggestions of which cities to visit, what sights to see and which restaurants to eat at. A couple weeks ago, a friend from work had taken her students to the school auditorium to listen to an author speak. In a daze between listening to the author of pre-teen books and planning her next lesson, sh
e thought she overheard the author mention an underground city in Seattle. She was quick to pick up her phone and send me a text knowing that Seattle is a stop on our 30 day tour. Just as fast as she sent the text message, she realized, “Whoops, maybe this guy was talking about an underground city that he made up for his books”. So on our way home, she and I looked up Seattle and this rumored underground metropolis. And what do you know… this obscure place does exist!
So a little history of Seattle – apparently, Seattle suffered from a fire, appropriately named The Great Seattle Fire of 1889. This disaster demolished 25 square blocks of the city comprised of mostly wooden buildings. During reconstruction, they decided to build on top of the devastated land and create the Seattle we know today. That of course is the short version of Seattle’s history, but if you want to know more by all means… It is quite an interesting story. Anyway, a guy named Bill Speidel decided to rediscover what was beneath Seattle’s streets and create tours of the forsaken city, BF (Before Fire). Apparently, Mr. Speidel offers a comedic glimpse into Seattle as it was known prior to 1889 and what the grounds had become AF (After Fire) – illegal gambling, flophouses for the homeless and speakeasies! Thus, he has made his tour a must see as we make our way through this summer!
’til next time… The Vagabonds
Adventure In A Box
This blog was created from a simple dream and involved traveling cross country by train. Every single person that we have told about our plans has been intrigued and in some cases even jealous. The problem is this type of trip can be a bit expensive and requires a lot of time. Well, have no fear. We have a way you can get the cross country by train experience for just over $30 and a just under an hour of your time! How is this possible you ask? The solution is a great game called Ticket to Ride (PS: This is where we got the name for one of our other posts) where players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points come to those who can fulfill their Destination Tickets by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway. A friend of ours is a board game buff (if your reading this you’re well aware of who you are!)and ordered it online. We played it at his house and it is a very competitive, but fun game that allows you to sabotage your friends progress and then rub their noses in it, which is always a bonus. Now I realize that this might not be what you are looking for in a travel blog and it definitely won’t cure your need for adventure. With that said, it will provide you with an hour of fun with friends on your weekly game night and sometimes a break in the monotony from your busy work week. This can be just what you need to get you through the doldrums until you can get a weeks vacation or save up enough coin for your big trip!
’til next time…The Vagabonds
You can purchase “Ticket to Ride” here
Do You Have a “Pinterest” in Travel?

If you are like me – ultra organized, have lists for everything, and a need to have everything in it’s place – than Pinterest.com is for you! It’s taking me some time to get use to it, but Pinterest is a great way to organize all of your online findings. I’ve been using this virtual pin board as a means to collect all of the restaurants, tourist attractions and important resources I may need as we plan our thirty day adventure. Just the other day, a friend mentioned to me that Seattle has an underground city, offering tours of the metropolis destroyed by a fire. I decided to look it up and immediately pinned the website to my “USA by Train” board. Doing so enabled me to remember a possible site to experience on our venture across the United States. Pinterest has kept all of my travel resources in a central location so that as I am planning and even when we are on our trip, I can simply access my online bulletin board for fabulous restaurants and must see attractions! It is truly amazing where our world is technologically and to even imagine how we survived before such advances!
We’d love to hear your suggestions so feel free to share your thoughts on where to eat and what to do in the cities we are visiting. There is so much to do and see and guidance from those who’ve experienced it all first hand is welcomed! I’ll be sure to pin your suggestions to my virtual bulletin board.
’til next time… The Vagabonds
Tight Quarters
While Airbnb is allowing us to travel like humans, we realize that being on a train for days at a time could get brutal. Restless nights on a tra
in could turn a loving couple into two fighting zombies, so we needed to come up with a solution. We have decided to get a roomette on the train for a few legs of our trip. It will act as our private sitting area by day and will transform into our sleeping quarters at night. While it is indeed small, the idea of sleeping prone makes these little digs seem like a four star hotel!
The price is based on availability so if you ever decide to travel by train, get your tickets as early as possible (Amtrak told us it is often necessary to book eleven months in advance to get a good rate!)
’til next time…The Vagabonds
“Travel Like A Human”
You may be wondering how do the Vagabonds plan on traveling for thirty days and afford to stay in beautiful accommodations in the heart of America’s most beautiful (and expensive) cities? The answer is AirBnB.com. What is it you ask? AirBnb lets people rent out extra rooms, apartments, houses or space – anywhere in the world! Sound strange to you? Sure, I can see that but let’s crunch the numbers.
I found the average cost of a hotel room in each of the cities we are visiting. To do this, I found the
cost of a room at a Marriott and a Travel Lodge hotel (figured I’d go with a pricerhotel and a budget hotel) and calculated the average cost. The total for us to stay in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angels & San Antonio would be $2,296! I know you are thinking that sounds like a lot of money but that’s where AirBnB comes in.
To stay in the same cities for the same amount of time, AirBnB.com will be providing us with top notch accommodations of our choosing, in the heart of those cities at a fraction of the cost. Total cost using AirBnB.com, $1,201! That’s a savings of over a thousand dollars!
Now some of you might say, “I don’t want to stay in a room in someone’s house” or “I’m ok going the cheap route and staying at the Travel Lodge”. Our response, the places, including the rooms in someone’s house, are nicer than most hotels, including the Marriott. Part of our adventure is to meet new people, to talk to people who live in these wonderful cities, and have incredible stories to share with you!
Stay tuned throughout the summer for updates and pictures of all the places we’ll be laying our heads to rest.
’til next time… The Vagabonds






