Interlude: The Train to Montreal

15 October

This is our third trip to Montreal. We've taken Amtrak from New York City every time. Yeah, it takes nine hours to get there, if you're lucky. But for $62 you get legroom and this:


We're sitting on the west side of the train, facing the Hudson River. Here are the Palisades north of Yonkers:






When Mike took us on the Bear Mountain ride we saw a nuclear power plant across the river. Here is is again:



I know we're getting near Bear Mountain so I keep my cell phone plastered to the window in order not to miss it. I think I see it up ahead, on the right.



There it is! I knew those tracks we saw from the bridge had to be the ones we're on now. There are too many trees in the way until we go under the bridge and emerge on the other side:





Around Poughkeepsie the leaves were peaking, so here's some high-speed leaf peeping:



Albany:





A conductor lets me into the back car to get a picture:



As the Hudson fades away on the west side Lake Champlain emerges from the east:



This muddy pond is next to a toxic-looking, tarp-covered mound:



Speaking of toxic, the car we're in has been assaulting us with waves of a chemical poo stench, and after five hours we've decided to move. We find seats on the east side, one car back.

Farmland:



Lake Champlain:



Blurry leaf peeping:



Sometimes the train crawls and I can get a picture in focus:





Westport:



Canadian Customs:



We're stopped here for an hour as Customs agents board the train with a drug-sniffing dog. The first time we were here there was a white horse in this pasture:



By the time we get moving again the shadow cast by our train is almost to the fence.