I've been home a few weeks, giving me time to reflect on our journey. Most of the trip was amazing, exceeding expectations which were quite high.
I truly like traveling by train and look forward to the next trip. the actual train riding was probably my favorite part, although the stops were terrific.
the first name of this blog is "Ranting" so since i'm not actually railing, i'll have to do more ranting. stay tuned
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Friday, October 17, 2014
first few days home
the first few days home have been uneventful with a few folks stopping by the house. we're still sorting the photos, but are almost done. For some reason, Than and I keep interrupting each other. imagine that. i ask Than, "Where next?" and he gets anxious
there are things we'd do differently, for sure. But what a great experience. i'd highly recommend train travel to anyone physically capable of the rocking, rolling and lurching. it is actually easy if your hand are free. and it's the journey, not only the destination. watching the world go by your window is just incredible. one can be as isolated or as involved as one chooses.
there are things we'd do differently, for sure. But what a great experience. i'd highly recommend train travel to anyone physically capable of the rocking, rolling and lurching. it is actually easy if your hand are free. and it's the journey, not only the destination. watching the world go by your window is just incredible. one can be as isolated or as involved as one chooses.
Wednesday, October 15, 2014
Home Sweet Home
Our trip home was long yet rather interesting.
- it started 5 AM on Saturday (10/11/14) morning in Seattle. The shuttle bus to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta picked us up at the hotel and took us a 30-40 minute ride to the Fiesta grounds. the balloons were fantastic. a few of the activities/balloon launches during the week were cancelled due to weather. So the Saturday morning launch was the only choice we had. and what a lucky choice.
Over 500 balloons took part in a "Mass Ascension" at sunrise on Saturday. people and balloons were all over the place, there are no boundaries except for common sense things like to duck when a balloon basket is going over your head.
The balloons were magnificent. we watched wave after wave after wave, etc. of balloons launch in overwhelming colors, shapes and sizes. From a cow 30 feet tall, to giant whales to a stagecoach. Just beautiful.
We were there about 3 hours and then back to the hotel. as luck has it, there was a growers market in the park across the street so i walked around gawking and petting all the dogs. i really missed Duckduck by then. Very friendly town, and beautiful too.
About noon, we climbed on the train and travel through absolutely beautiful countryside. we had our last glimpse of the Rockies as we left New Mexico and watched the sun set. i really understand why New Mexico is called the land of enchantment.
it's a surprise when you wake up in the morning, or when daylight comes if you sleep lousy, and the scenery out your window is absolutely different. Eventually, we arrived in Chicago, early actually. after a few hours lay over there where we spent at a bar drinking Blue Moon and then a most interesting, diverse waiting room.
The trips from Chicago to Pittsburgh was over 4 hours late and we missed the train to Harrisburg. Amtrak supplied a bus for the group, about 35 for a 4 hour trip to Harrisburg.
Richard was a sight for sore eyes as he stood on the bus station waiting for us on Monday afternoon about 4 PM and Duckduck was in my arms by 5 PM. it was so nice to sleep in my own bed--- Home sweet home
Keep watching as i'll keep this blog going for a bit. i have a million observations as well as pictures. oh yes, Than has a few observations, too.
What Happened next..
Oh that Google, in trying to protect me, it wouldn't allow access to my account because it was "suspicious"
i've got part of it solved, and working on the rest of the stuff.
really, much more to come....
Friday, October 10, 2014
Homeward Bound
We are staying our last night in a hotel. it has been interesting looking back at the various places we slept for the past 3 weeks.
Other than Selena and Ed's place, my favorite is still The Dancing Bear Inn in East Glacier in Montana. it was a cute place, nice rooms with hugh towels and a really personal touch. not to mention it was a block from the train station, but then most motels in that town were a block from the station. it's a really small town.
we did stay at a Comfort Inn near Yellowstone for 4 nights, Maswik Lodge at the Grand Canyon and a funky "travelers inn and Hostel" in Flagstaff for 1 night each, and 2 nights at The Blue Hotel in Albuquerque or ABQ as it is commonly referred. we also slept on the train for a total of 6 nights and 2 more nights on the trip home. It will be nice to sleep in our own bed Monday night.
The train ride between Flagstaff and ABQ was quite interesting as we saw some amazing land formations as well as great cloud formations. Some areas were so flat, and other times the cliffs and mountains went on for quite awhile. just amazing.
albuquerque is a cool city. it has some very neat modern construction and lots of adobe style older neighborhoods. we spent some time in Old Town which was originally a Spanish village with many, many adobe building, an old church, a thousand gift shops and restaurants and a nice gazebo in a park that had constant musical/dancing entertainment.
We haven't been to the Balloon Fiesta yet, but will tomorrow morning, Saturday, before we leave. the weather here hasn't been too cooperative so Thursday nights events were cancelled, and it doesn't look too good for tonite. From our hotel balcony this morning, we did actually see a few balloons that did venture up, but they were really, really small. Saturday morning there will be a mass ascension at dawn and the weather looks like it will cooperate. if not, we're leaving. oh yeah, we're leaving anyway. Homeward bound.
Other than Selena and Ed's place, my favorite is still The Dancing Bear Inn in East Glacier in Montana. it was a cute place, nice rooms with hugh towels and a really personal touch. not to mention it was a block from the train station, but then most motels in that town were a block from the station. it's a really small town.
we did stay at a Comfort Inn near Yellowstone for 4 nights, Maswik Lodge at the Grand Canyon and a funky "travelers inn and Hostel" in Flagstaff for 1 night each, and 2 nights at The Blue Hotel in Albuquerque or ABQ as it is commonly referred. we also slept on the train for a total of 6 nights and 2 more nights on the trip home. It will be nice to sleep in our own bed Monday night.
The train ride between Flagstaff and ABQ was quite interesting as we saw some amazing land formations as well as great cloud formations. Some areas were so flat, and other times the cliffs and mountains went on for quite awhile. just amazing.
albuquerque is a cool city. it has some very neat modern construction and lots of adobe style older neighborhoods. we spent some time in Old Town which was originally a Spanish village with many, many adobe building, an old church, a thousand gift shops and restaurants and a nice gazebo in a park that had constant musical/dancing entertainment.
We haven't been to the Balloon Fiesta yet, but will tomorrow morning, Saturday, before we leave. the weather here hasn't been too cooperative so Thursday nights events were cancelled, and it doesn't look too good for tonite. From our hotel balcony this morning, we did actually see a few balloons that did venture up, but they were really, really small. Saturday morning there will be a mass ascension at dawn and the weather looks like it will cooperate. if not, we're leaving. oh yeah, we're leaving anyway. Homeward bound.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
Wednesday, again
Time really flies!
We spent the past 2 days at the Grand Canyon. OMG. it is absolutely incredible. Words can't do it justice, and i doubt if the 3569 pictures we took will do much better. Oh, but i'll try.
the park is set up to handle the millions of folks who visit so it makes it great for this time of year. There are still lots of visitors, but a lot less than mid-summer. the shuttle system took us along the South Rim with it's many overlooks and paths. if one is into hiking, there are probably hundreds of trails ranging from easy to "you must be crazy to even try that one". there are also a few museums, art galleries and many ranger led programs. we went to an interesting one about the vegetation and trees of the park.
And this is only the South Rim. The only disappointment is that we really couldn't see the almost full moon over the Canyon, too cloudy.
The trip here ended up better than i expected. we did get to Barstow with about 5 hours to kill before the next train. The temp was well in the 90's, making it too uncomfortable to walk around much. We did get to see a nice sunset and moon rise over a parking lot in Barstow. Route 66 goes through it, as well as Flagstaff.
we arrived in Flagstaff about 4 AM to wait for a 7 AM shuttle to the Grand Canyon. Than had a really interesting conversation with a guy who will be getting $3.6 Billion, yes Billion, from the city of New Orleans. Long story. i kept reading so i didn't have to get involved.
Tomorrow, Thursday, at 4 AM we get on the train and head for Albuquerque for 2 days and then homeward bound. What a journey!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Monday Morning
Can you believe that we're on the final leg of our adventure already? my how time flies, especially when one is enjoying the journey as much as I am.
we spent the weekend with our California family, minus Gary. the temperature is in the 90's daily. the comfort and rest of the weekend gets us ready for this portion.
we start out with a 2-3 hour train ride, a 2 hour bus ride and then wait at the station in Barstow, the heart of the Mohave Desert, for about 5-6 hours. we then get on that train until about 4 am, wait for a shuttle in Flaggstaff until 8 am and arrive at the Grand Caynon by 11 AM. good thing we had a nice rest here.
Sunday, October 5, 2014
Sunday Morning in Fresno
Than and I are now in Fresno, sitting under an arbor with "the family" Selena, Ed and Grace and Maya and AJ. The weather is great at about 66 degree now with probably 97 degree by this afternoon. But it's a dry heat.
The trip here was more involved than usual. We left Seattle about 11:30 AM Friday and traveled through Washington and Oregon arriving in Sacramento about 7 AM Saturday. There we were packed onto a bus for an hour ride to Stockton, and then a train to Fresno.
The train ride from Seattle included a guy traveling to Sacramento who was rather loud, obnoxious and eventually drunk. After repeated warnings, he was forcibly removed from the train, into the arms of waiting local police.
the train ride from Stockton to Fresno was really crowded and we shared a four person table (with seats, of course) with two interesting guys--one a race horse trainer and the other a recently retired guy going to visit his daughter in Los Angeles. fun conversations.
Saturday evening we went to a Beer Garden--literally. Near Selena's is a nursery, think plants not babies, where they have a beer stand, live music and many truck food vendors in the evening. the area is only accessible by one entrance, so the kids can pretty much run free and interact the the many other kids while the adults sit around and drink beer and eat ice cream--one of my favorite combinations. it's nice to sit back and relax for a few days before we hit the rails again.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Friday Morning
We are packing up for the next part of our adventure and it seems as if our clothes have increased in both size and number, even though nothing has been added! Just when Than zipped up his case, he found a few more items in the closet. Time to repack.
yesterday, Thursday was a fun day. we went to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is located and enjoyed the day at the Pacific Science Center, the EMP Museum, the many street musicians, gardens and general activity of the area.
we at lunch at a really cool restaurant called Collections. all the tables had a display area in the center with glass over it and various collections in the center. our table had clocks. There were close to 100 accordions hanging from the ceiling and walls of vintage carnival statues. the food was excellent and very much what one would expect in an upscale Seattle restaurant complete with starched linen napkins and good looking waitstaff.
today, we head to Fresno to see our California Family. travel time is about 26 hours including about 2 hours on a bus to a connecting train. the adventure continues.
yesterday, Thursday was a fun day. we went to the Seattle Center, where the Space Needle is located and enjoyed the day at the Pacific Science Center, the EMP Museum, the many street musicians, gardens and general activity of the area.
we at lunch at a really cool restaurant called Collections. all the tables had a display area in the center with glass over it and various collections in the center. our table had clocks. There were close to 100 accordions hanging from the ceiling and walls of vintage carnival statues. the food was excellent and very much what one would expect in an upscale Seattle restaurant complete with starched linen napkins and good looking waitstaff.
today, we head to Fresno to see our California Family. travel time is about 26 hours including about 2 hours on a bus to a connecting train. the adventure continues.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Seattle
Today is Wednesday, so we must be in Seattle!
We left Yellowstone on Tuesday morning bright and early for the return drive to East Glacier. As soon as we were out of town, we noticed that it snowed on some of the mountains tops. We ended up putting 1600 miles on our rental car in the 6 days we had it. Lucky for me, Than did a majority of the driving.
the train to Seattle was about 2 hours late picking us up. Since it was about 10 pm, we didn't get to see much of the scenery crossing the Rockies. i woke a few times because my ears were popping. it was strange to wake up this morning and finding the landscape so changed-from the glaciers in the mountains to rolling, grass covered hills.
Eventually, the scenery again changed when we were crossing the Cascades. That also included a few tunnels, one of them 7 miles long. not much to see there.
it is really enjoyable watching the world go by, and all the different sorts of land formations. the tracks leading into Seattle ran parallel to the Puget Sound, not to mentions many rivers, ranches and other interesting land formations. i will have to read up on some of these odd land formations. there's nothing like this in Pennsylvania.
we arrived here weary, so ended up only going to the Pike Place Market and then dinner at a downtown restaurant serving Vietnamese food. Very good. tomorrow we plan to paint the town red, or maybe just see some of the sights. Friday morning we're back on the train, headed to Fresno.
We left Yellowstone on Tuesday morning bright and early for the return drive to East Glacier. As soon as we were out of town, we noticed that it snowed on some of the mountains tops. We ended up putting 1600 miles on our rental car in the 6 days we had it. Lucky for me, Than did a majority of the driving.
the train to Seattle was about 2 hours late picking us up. Since it was about 10 pm, we didn't get to see much of the scenery crossing the Rockies. i woke a few times because my ears were popping. it was strange to wake up this morning and finding the landscape so changed-from the glaciers in the mountains to rolling, grass covered hills.
Eventually, the scenery again changed when we were crossing the Cascades. That also included a few tunnels, one of them 7 miles long. not much to see there.
it is really enjoyable watching the world go by, and all the different sorts of land formations. the tracks leading into Seattle ran parallel to the Puget Sound, not to mentions many rivers, ranches and other interesting land formations. i will have to read up on some of these odd land formations. there's nothing like this in Pennsylvania.
we arrived here weary, so ended up only going to the Pike Place Market and then dinner at a downtown restaurant serving Vietnamese food. Very good. tomorrow we plan to paint the town red, or maybe just see some of the sights. Friday morning we're back on the train, headed to Fresno.
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