Friends Don't Let Friends Fly

    So a few weeks ago I went to Portland, Oregon with my sister Laura. We took the Amtrak train from Minneapolis to Portland. We got to the station about 11:30 pm only to find out that our train was delayed about another hour. We found a nice spot on the floor and I got bored and started writing.

 2-17-2011

Sitting at the station

Waiting for the train

People all around

That guy has a cane

I wanna go far away

I am hoping that this trip 

Will bring my heart adventure

Sitting at the station 

I wonder what's to come

My toes are frozen

All I brought was TOMS

"Sorry, that's my weird cousin"

I hear a beer slurred voice

I can't help thinking he's been

To the bar once or twice....tonight

Little children run about

Restless, yet we all know

That is about twenty minutes

They'll all crash, dead to this world

Sitting in the station 

I hear a faint and distant sound

A sort of rumbling that grows louder

Soon, so hard it pounds

The train has come

And it's time for me

To say my last goodbye 

To this station that held me warm

It's time to step outside

   The trip was 48 hours long and was one of the best traveling experiences that I've ever had. We watched the country side past by through the huge windows as we just chugged along. Again, I pulled out my journal.


2-18-2011
   Across the country I travel. By way of train. I can now see why people love this. It's cold out there. But then, It is February. What did I expect? Everything is white. Everything. Even the sun, as it attempts to shine through the heavy clouds. Snow is blowing everywhere. It's hard to see out the window. And sitting here in the cozy warm train car, I shudder to think of how cold those deer wolves, birds, and cattle all are surviving in this Narnia. The train chugs on, and with it the anticipation for what's to come. Bouncing and rocking back and forth, You're almost thrown into a trance. A day dream that is oh, so vivid. The mind is blown away by the sights it sees. Through prairies, hills, valleys, and mountains. We pass through the occasional small town. They almost looks deserted. Families tucked way in their little town homes. Then, just as swiftly as it came into sight, we depart for the next one. How many of these tiny settlements will we pass on this trip? Roads run directly next to the tracks on which we ride. They go on for miles. Where do they lead? Surely somewhere worth while. Deer run through the prairies with such ease. As if it were the middle of Summer. Not even affected by the ice and snow beneath their hooves. Jumping and bounding cross country.  The land just goes on and on. This is AMERICA.


    We pass through North Dakota and the sun sets. The moon is full and hints the outlines of the mountains in Montana. The next day we awake to a beautiful sunrise, the river, and the woods along with mountains.
  
2-19-2011
 We travel down the track next to some of the most amazing scenes I've ever seen. It almost hurts my eyes to look away from this beauty and down at my page. The mountains are singing to me. We duck into them through the tunnels made by those who have gone before us. Blazing this trail we now ride along on. Father and son, fishing off their boat into the clear greenish-blue water. The birds over head seem to know that their job is to make this journey even better for us by dancing through the air. All of creation seems to be playing a part in making my day the most enjoyable that it possibly could be. 


 There's no better way to travel.


  Friends don't let friends fly. 

 They take the train.