Travel by train??

Travel veteran Will Allen III risked a ride on Amtrak's Empire Builder train from Seattle to Minneapolis - and had a great experience. At his blog Allen on travel:

... AND the Empire Builder has the best service. Thanks to years of cutbacks and underfunding, Amtrak has gone to prepared boxed meals on most of its long distance trains--but not on the Empire Builder. It still has a full service, cook-to-order diner that prepares three hot meals a day. On our train the staff was friendly, efficient, helpful, and downright nice. The service was fast and excellent, and the meals were good to very good.

The skiers in Seattle used to talk about taking the train to Whitefish, Montana to ski at Big Mountain. But few ever did it. It's worth a try.