The final installment of train travel (at least I think so?). We’ll see, as I have many photos to choose from. Below are some photos from the flatlands of Montana and on into Minnesota. I realized that I did not take any photos of my time in North Dakota! We drifted off to sleep about Minot, ND, waking up near Minneapolis/St. Paul. In my haste to find my brother-in-law I did not get a photo of the beautiful old train station in St. Paul, but perhaps one day will do so.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.seansharp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5064-scaled.jpeg?resize=880%2C660&ssl=1)
Glacier National Park. Upon waking after the first night on the train, this was one of many views. It was stunning. We enjoyed views of the park as we ate breakfast in the dining car. As a passenger with a sleeper meals are built into the cost of the ticket. They also always sit you with others, four per table and for this breakfast we sat with two lovely retired engineers (not train engineers) who now spend their time traveling the country by train to see sights and visit places.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.seansharp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5067-scaled.jpeg?resize=880%2C1173&ssl=1)
Not every stop was a “station stop” where we could get off of the train, but it was always fun to see the old depots. This is in Cut Bank, Montana.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.seansharp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5070-scaled.jpeg?resize=880%2C660&ssl=1)
The town of Havre is in North Central Montana. To the right of it, there’s a nice historic sign explaining how it came to be a town in this part of the state. There’s also Wikipedia.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.seansharp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5079-1-scaled.jpeg?resize=880%2C660&ssl=1)
Turns out I did not get any photos in North Dakota. This is now in Minnesota from the back of the train.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.seansharp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5081-scaled.jpeg?resize=880%2C660&ssl=1)
Near the Minneapolis / St. Paul metro area as we were nearing our destination. The conductor came on the loudspeaker regularly at this point clearly stating that if your destination was St. Paul, you best get off of the train. No stowaways to Chicago as they would check all tickets and charge those who remained on the train and kick them off at the next stop. They seemed serious which told me that this happens!
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.seansharp.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG_5080.jpeg?resize=880%2C1905&ssl=1)
I used a couple of apps to tell my location while on the train. One was GaiaGPS, which gave me a visual map of where we were. The other one I used to determine the speed of travel was Waze. Both were excellent for this. There is no Wi-Fi on the Amtrak Empire Builder, so it was all based on cell coverage which varied throughout the route.
The next post will be more personal about our time spent in Minneapolis / St. Paul, with some wedding photos and a nice park Patrick took me to.