1. My sleeper on the Empire Builder east. Again, this sleeper car was much nicer than the Empire Builder west. My new hat makes a cameo appearance.

2. Whitefish, Montana, early morning of the 11th. I grabbed a photo of a local BNSF switcher and caboose. We are nearing the Rockies.

3. Whitefish again. Notice the very rare, super cool restored NW3 of the Great Northern, the railroad company that built this line through the Rockies, known as Marias Pass.

4. Columbia Falls, Montana. The base of the Rocky Mountains.

5. West Glacier Park, MT. A great view of a small valley at sunrise. Look closely, and you can see the engines of the train heading into the tunnel at the right. West Glacier Park is a popular spot for those freaks that like to ski, a "sport" that is totally lost on me.

6. You cannot see it from this shot, but that stream was the bluest, clearest thing I have ever seen in my life. Sometimes 3-4 feet deep, and I could see the bottom all the way from the train. It was as if it was made of liquid saffire.

7. Perilous Peak. Again, not much to look at in a photo, but this thing was almost scary, it being so damn high, and nearly vertical. This shot is from the leading flat edge, too, for once I came around to its side, it was razor thin. A good place to sacrifice virgins, I'd think.

8. Some big arse mountains appear betwixt the hills...

9. We are now at Summit, Montana, height of Marias Pass. Here, we are so high up that we can see past the tree line.

10. Coming off of Marias Pass. This was an odd shaped mountain, almost like a table.

11. Cut Bank, Montana, and leaving the Rockies behind. Amazing how these things just blast up out of the prairie like that. I saw a huge heard of Antelope near here, but failed to take a photograph.

12. Shelby, MT, and I find some train action going on. This appears to be a big stop for the BNSF to prepare for the assault on Marias Pass.

13. The Smoking Room of the Empire Builder. It's the same one we had coming out. I could tell because of the written sign on the wall that said "No Food Or Drins [sic] !!!" . The drunkards practically lived in this room.

14. My sleeper at night, heading into Minnesota. In a few short hours, I would be home again.