Kevin,
I missed this thread early, but happy to catch up now. I also was at the Mariners game, as I live just across the water on Bainbridge Island.
For the last 15 years or so, I have been taking the Empire Builder from Seattle to the Izzak Walton Inn located inside Glacier Park at a stop called Essex. It is an old Great Northern bunkhouse converted into a hotel, restaurant, and bar at the edge of the BNSF yard on the westside of Mariahs Pass. For anyone traveling on the Empire Builder staying a day or two at the Izzak Walton before continuing on is worth it, lots of BNSF action and local hiking or catch an open touring car and see Glacier Park.
I often take the Portland section at Spokane where they split the Builder going home. This leg takes you through the Columbia River Gorge, also incredibly scenic like Steven's pass to the north on the Seattle to Spokane leg. A day in Portland and catch the Starlight north to Seattle.
When you emerged from the Cascade tunnel you were only a few miles below the location of the Wellington train disaster of 1910, when 96 lost their lives; detailed in the book "The White Cascade" a real interesting read.
Anyways I wish I had known you would be hangin in Seattle I would have invited you to the Island for a scotch and railroad history conversation, thank you for the video and pics, excuse the smoke on the westside of Steven's Pass, big wildfire near Index WA.
kevin
