Here it is. I warned you, it's not my best work. This is the Spirit of Washington dinner train that runs through the Seattle-area burbs. I would provide the link, but I'm afraid someone may accidentally go there and book a ticket. We went with Doolies's parents and Jennifer on this fifteen hour torture ride (okay, it may not have been actually fifteen hours; I use that number in an attempt to portray the horror of our trip).

The food, service, and view were all subpar. And the worst part? You couldn't get off. Ever. There was a "mystery dinner" a few cars in front and behind us, and strangely dressed people kept walking through our car. When we finally walked through these mystery cars, we saw people sitting at tables with papers in front of them. It seems the actors would stand in front of the cars and use the microphone to act or something. The passengers took notes to try and figure out who did what. I imagine one of the characters must have died--and then stood up and walked to the other car to die again. It looked like school, except whatever you did record would never be useful. Similar to Mathematics. (I kid! We love Numb3rs!.)

Halfway through the dinner, we arrived at the destination: a track overlooking a rather pitifully small and unimpressive lake. We weren't allowed off the train, but were encouraged to walk to the open car at the front (soon to be back) of the train. Once in the open-air car, we reveled in the beauty of sick-looking trees and green-looking water.

The conductor and engineer switched from the front to the back, and we were on our way home, passing the same sites as earlier, only it was darker. The darkness did improve the view. It turned out the train tracks did not ride through the more picturesque parts of Washington. Instead, we passed through sad-looking suburbs and rundown factories.

They did have alcohol, so it wasn't a complete waste of time. If I ever needed a reason not to go on a cruise, this would be it. The only thing I could think of that would be worse than this train ride would be spending a week in such an enclosed box.

***

It snowed in Seattle this weekend. We were told Seattle rarely gets snow. This is the second year where we've seen it. We did venture out for Sushi last night, when the snow had mostly lightened up and started melting. I was not feeling very good, as is usual on Saturdays. Just call it my Saturday blues. I feel better today.=