Glacier National Park: Amtrak Travel

We had the great pleasure of traveling to Glacier National Park this summer! Our goal as a couple is to eventually make it to every National Park in the country, but we have a long way to go! This is park #2, only preceded by Hot Springs National Park (hard to call this one a National Park - more like a historical site or something. I will post on that adventure another time). We traveled with my in-laws, so we had 4 in our party, and this is one trip I did not plan myself! I thought rather than making a huge long post about our trip, which was INCREDIBLE, would split it into different parts, starting with our trip there!

Our trip started with a drive up to Minnesota, to catch the train!

We took Amtrak there and back, and while it wasn't a short trip, it was a lot of fun! Many people have asked me whether I recommend taking the train for travel. Here's my take:

• Don't take the train if you need to be somewhere at a certain time (a wedding, a graduation, an important meeting, etc), unless you are planning to get there like 3 days early. Our train was 10 hours late getting to Glacier. As long as you're on a flexible schedule, that's just fine! 10 hours late is not normal, but 1-2 hours late is considered "on time."
• If you want to be able to enjoy your trip, and your company, the train is great! If you just want to get there, fly! The great part about a train is that, while it takes about the same amount of time as driving once you figure in stops, etc, you can move around, play games, etc, while you're on your way! So as long as you are willing to just chill, go with the flow, and enjoy yourself, go for it! Kids can get up and walk around instead of having to stay in their seats, and everyone can join in the fun instead of the driver getting left out.
• I loved the friendly atmosphere on the train! When you fly it is all rules, stress, and "let's get this over with!" Everyone is on a time-frame, and while you might have a good conversation with the person next to you on the plane if you're lucky, most people are ready to just get in and get out. On the train, everyone (including the staff) is quite friendly! At meals in the dining car, they combine parties to fill each table. My husband and I had a wonderful meal and conversation with an older couple from Wisconsin. It was such a joy! My husband took Amtrak along once, and he was playing games with other passengers, talking with them, etc. 
• You can take more luggage on Amtrak, and more items that are not allowed on planes. There are technically limits on bags, but they are not very strict, and include a lot of luggage. We checked a few bags, but were able to carry on our backpacking packs, which would have been more difficult to check on a plane (and nerve-wracking with all those straps and everything!) There are luggage areas in the downstairs where you can leave things that you don't need/want by your seat, but you can still get to them if you needed to. We had a couple boxes of food, and a cooler!
• I will admit I was a little stir crazy by the time we got back to MN (about 5 hours late), especially when I realized I still had hours to go in a car! However, I would definitely do it again! If you have the time to spare and the patience to not care if it's running behind, it's a great trip!