The Plan

At the beginning of July, I was in Montana for a funeral. Not exactly a great reason, but at least it’s a great place to be. The many adventures we had could fill a book, but this article is more specifically about my journey back home.

Usually, I would probably just fly home. But where’s the fun in that? Sure, you get some treats, but airplanes are famously small, TSA is annoying, and airline food has certain reputations. Why go through all that, when I would enjoy myself much more with a train ride?

I have the Amtrak credit card, and have been building up my points for quite some time. As a result, I finally decided to use those points to book a trip from Montana back to Wisconsin, on the Empire Builder.

Getting to the Train

Originally, my plan was to ride the train starting from Havre. Havre station was the station to where I was (being only about 4 hours away), so it made the most sense. I needed to figure out how to get to Havre, so I took a gamble on flights using Expedia.

Perfect! A flight from Billings to Havre, costing $60. What a steal, right? So I booked that flight (apparently on a small, 9-passenger plane, usually), even checked in the night before as requested, and prepared to get up early on Friday to catch my plane. I bet you’re wondering why I’m not linking the airline, right?

Well, I woke up at around 3-4 AM, since Billings was almost an hour from where I was staying. My Mom logs in to check my flight- cancelled. Just a few hours beforehand. My parents were going to drive me, but now I had no flight to get from Absarokee (where we always stay) to Havre. The drive, as mentioned, was between 3-4 hours. My train was in the afternoon, so we still had a lot of time.

We discussed the options. Plane(s) back to Appleton? Drive up?

The Road Trip

My parents graciously agreed to drive me from Southeastern Montana to North Montana.

We decided to make a day of it! Or morning, rather.

Along the way, we passed through some beautiful sights. The Crazy Mountains caught our eye first, their jagged peaks rising dramatically against the sky.

We also drove through White Sulphur Springs, where my grandma grew up, adding a personal touch to the journey.

Sluice Boxes is a very small state park along the Belt Creek, and it’s beautiful. We stopped at an overlook on the way, letting the dog out for a few minutes and taking pictures.

We stopped at a “primitive” state park along the way, letting the landscape take our breath away.

Boarding the Empire Builder

Finally, we reached Shelby. Originally, I was going to be departing from Havre. However, we found that I had the time to depart from Shelby instead. I bought a coach ticket from Shelby to Havre, and we arrived earlier than I thought we would.

We stopped at Livingston, MT in order to get coffee. Pretty place!

We went to The Perk on Park, a small coffee shop located in an indoor alleyway. I’d recommend if you’re ever in Livingston! And if it’s still open—Google states it’s temporarily closed.

The town is small, relatively speaking, but appears to get a lot of travelers. Not a surprise, considering how close the Canadian border is.

I said goodbye to my parents, agreed to take a lot of pictures, and got situated in the waiting room. Not a bad station! The train arrived not too long afterward, and I boarded into Coach.

Coach Class

I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of space and leg room. I’m used to plane travel, so it was very different from my typical experience.

Sure, it was only about an hour and a half, but the extra space was still very much appreciated.

When we stopped in Havre, I hopped out to move to the sleeper car, where my roommette was. The staff was super helpful with this, and I was quickly in my new seat.

The Roommette

Amtrak’s sleepers are always comfortable! The door was slightly broken, but it closed most of the way so I didn’t mind.

I spread out since I was alone. In the afternoon, I went to the café car in order to get some lunch.

Food & Dining

Not bad food! The worker at the café was really nice, too. Great conversationalist as well.

Above the café was the lookout area. It’s a nice place, and it was never too crowded despite there being a lot of passengers on the train in general.

That night I had dinner with some other sleeping car passengers, and had a nice chat with someone who knew about Absarokee!

The food was really good! I had the steak and cheesecake. My last official entree meal on an amtrak car was… mediocre, if I recall correctly. So this was a nice change of pace. I’d fully recommend it, actually!

After that, I went back to my roommette and read and scrolled for a bit. Once it hit 8PM or so, I asked an attendant to make my bed, and got comfortable for a night’s sleep.

Sleeping on the Train

I say this to everyone I know, but I loooove sleeping on trains. The gentle rocking, the quietness, the soothing sound of the tracks passing by… And that applied this time as well!

I was comfortable enough that I ended up missing breakfast, so I went to get something when I finally did get up.

But I did go to lunch!

I slept great, and the bed was really comfortable.

For lunch, an artisanal grilled cheese with chips and orange juice. Dessert was this delicious buttercake, which I highly recommend of all the food I’ve mentioned.

Arrival

The rest of the ride was spent taking pictures, reading, and killing time. Also a fun time, of course.

We arrived in Milwaukee, and I exited.

I greatly enjoyed this trip! The food, atmosphere, scenery, sleep, etc. were all incredible. The Empire Builder was a really fun experience, and I recommend it if you have been thinking about it!