We took a cab into LA from
the hotel... we were worried about the traffic - it was a
Monday Morning, but since we left early, we were before the
bulk of it... Seattle was much worse than what we saw, I
think.
The city was pretty striking,
though
I managed to catch one of the
round Library Tower, which is the tallest building on the
West Coast.
We checked in, then waited in
a lounge area set up for the 'first class' passengers, which
were those with sleepers.
after a wile, the conductor
led us out to the train.
walking to our car, we passed
the Parlour car. NICE! On the way down, it was
in the shop for Maintenance
We boarded our car, and got
set up. We had the same room number as our trip down.
I took a walk out to the front of the train, to check out
the engine... I AM a borderline foamer, as my friend, who
drives trains for UP calls those folks who seem to foam at
the mouth whenever they get near a train. =]
Just back from the engines was the luggage car... LOTS of
room!
The little guy seemed to be happy enough, back in the
familiar setting of the Roomette...
We lounged around, and talked, played with the little guy,
while the train made several stops at various stations as it
pulled out of the metro area.. after Oxnard, it was on to
Santa Barbara
It seemed that folks were parking their RV's along the
side of the highway, and setting up a campsite there...
Not exactly my idea of fun!
The views were pretty impressive!
The little guy enjoyed playing with his toys as the
scenery slid by He watched for some of it, but at
times, the toys were a lot more interesting!
At one point, we passed a prison...
I took a walk around the train, checking things out.
The view from the door allowed you to watch while you were
standing and stretching.
The bathrooms were pretty clean, actually small,
but clean.
There was a shower stall in the sleeper cars, which was
also pretty clean
I noticed some prairie dog 'condos' in the banks beside
the tracks
an interesting view of a stop light...
Passing a UP train.
Night came, and we settle down for a good sleep.
The little guy decided to use me as a pillow for some of
the early evening...
The last hints of the sun had us heading into the
hills...
The next morning found us chugging away in the
mountains...
It had been night when we passed through this area on the
way south, so we got to see some pretty nice scenery
It also got greener as we continued on... a nice change
from the brown.
Some of the scenes looked more like a picture... the
camera had difficulty through the window, but it was still
nice
We spent some time in the Parlour Car, which was a lot
like the Observation car, only a bit fancier
Down below, there was a movie room.. we watched Ice Age 2
for a bit
It was a lot of fun, and we were the only folks there, so
the little guy got to crawl around the place, which he liked
quite a bit
Not long after the movie ended, he was wiped out, and
took a good nap
The area we were heading through had been recently burned
out.. but again, we didn't see any of the fires that were in
the news just before and while we were on our trip
As the day was ending, we started to see the familiar
sites of the Puget Sound
Once we stopped in Seattle, I took a shot of a roomette
as I was heading out of the train... they're pretty nice,
but we'll probably spring for a larger room next time, to
give the little guy more room to spread out.
In all, it was a very nice trip... we'll ride the rails
again, I'm sure of it.
After
the wedding, we headed home, again on the Coast Starlight,
only this time, obviously, we were heading North.