OK. back to the original thread. I was hoping to go to Slovenia and Romania this summer, but my wife can't get off that long. So the back up plan is to visit my kid in Seattle again, take his car down to Oregon, and climb Mt. Hood. I was looking at the schedule for the Empire Builder. Am I reading right--it departs Fargo at 3:30 in the morning? Crying out loud! Arrives in Seattle at 10:30am, that's OK. Now, what about meals for first class? Is it really great dining (3 chef prepared meals) like VIA in Canada? No first class dome cars on the Empire Builder? We could just as easily drive to Winnipeg and take VIA across to Vancouver, and then take the Cascade train down to Seattle, I think. (Except we've done that already.) Looks like a 33 hour trip (ha ha!) and only ~$1,000 for two adults if I'm reading this right? I've been on several trains in Canada, Scotland/UK, Norway, Italia, but have not yet ridden Amtrak.
Kent in SD
