Train Trip: Day Six

Day six may have been our most boring day of the trip.  Neither of us slept well at all but we slept pretty good from 7 to 10 in the morning! We didn't feel bad sleeping in since we didn't really have anywhere to go anyway.  

We ventured out of our train room for lunch where we dined with a woman in her late sixties that taught plant biology (is that a thing?) in Minnesota. She was headed to New York to visit with her ailing mother. Once again, we had good company and good conversation. We lucked into no bad dining partners on our trip! 

During lunch we rode along side the Mohawk River in New York.  

And also saw farmland. I commented that it looked much more like home, as long as you didn't look at the hills in the distance. 

We eventually crossed over the Mohawk River. 

Around three in the afternoon at the station in Albany, it was time to ditch our sleeper car and switch trains.   The sleeper cars don't go where we were headed so it was coach seats for the last few hours. 

The coach seats are actually really roomy and comfy. They have tons of leg room and recline quite a bit. There's also a leg rest that can come up and a foot rest too.  

Got work to do? Each seat has a table too.  

Massachussets had gotten snow that day and we got to see a bit of it.  

Dam! This train was moving pretty quickly so my pictures are blurry.  

Finally, close to 9pm that night, we got off the train in Boston!  

We had a short can ride to what might be the swankiest hotel room I've stayed in - The W.  

Since we hadn't eaten anything since lunch, we grabbed some pizza from down the street to eat in our room. The slices were huge! And definitely hit the spot.  

Interesting tidbit of the day: The train we boarded in Chicago - the South Shore Limited - was not a two-story train like the California Zephyr we'd been on.  We slept horribly on it because of how bumpy a ride it was. The train jerked and jumped and jostled nonstop! It uses the same tracks and the landscape is actually flatter than what we'd gone through, so my theory is that the bumpiness comes from the one-story train being much lighter than the Zephyr.  Whatever the cause, it definitely was not as smooth a ride. Also, our car attendant looked at me like I was crazy that morning when I asked him, in my striped pajamas, how I could get to the big downstairs shower.  I hadn't really noticed that it was one level when we boarded the night before! Our only shower option was the one in our room that required us to sit on the toilet and with as bumpy as the ride was, that did not sound fun! Not only were we hungry when we made it to Boston, we were very ready for showers too.  

Train Trip: Day Five

Day five was spent in windy, chilly Chicago. We chilled in our hotel room until it was time for us to head to the 11am church service at Chicago Temple (a Methodist church in downtown Chicago). I'm glad Matt pulled it up on his map because I would have walked right past it. It didn't look like a church at all from the outside. It was just the bottom floor of another really tall building. Inside was much more church-like.  

Oddly enough, there was a youth group from Bryant, AR also visiting the church and some of them sat down right beside us in our pew. During the meet and greet, everyone we met just assumed we were there with them.  

The church service was...different...than ours at home. The sermon was done by the Bishop Sally Dycks and it was really good! There was a string ensemble that performed a couple of times - also really good - and all the music was done by the gospel choir. It's our understanding that they aren't normally at the 11am service. They were good and it was fun to watch, but I'm not sure if I'd enjoy it every Sunday. We had a hard time following along with the the hymns.  

After church we went straight to the Hancock Building for our 12:30 brunch reservation. This was both our first time to the Signature Room on the 95tb floor and it did not disappoint! Window seats were available on a first come, first served basis and we lucked into one being available right when we arrived. And it was in the corner so we had windows facing two sides of the city. The views were spectacular!  

We did not go to Navy Pier, but here's a picture of it from up above!  

The food was really good too! It's a set price for brunch so everything is "all you can eat." I could've been satisfied just eating off the appetizer buffet - cheeses and meats, Italian wedding soup, crab legs, shrimp cocktail, smoked salmon, pasta salads, and more. For my entree, I couldn't decide between the waffles or eggs Benedict so my waiter said, "I'll just bring both." Well ok then!

Life is too short to limit yourself to just one dessert, am I right? So I had three - creme brûlée, white and dark chocolate mousse layered cake, and an ice cream sundae. The diet starts next week.  

If anything, this trip is helping us perfect our selfie pictures. There's Lake Michigan behind us.  

After brunch, we visited Adler Planetarium where we got to see the stars and constellations.  

We also saw two shows while we were there. I only fell asleep during one of them. :) 

Here's Matt with the Earth. We traced out our journey on the US - we've traveled pretty far! 

Another selfie with Lake Michigan and the city of Chicago.  

View from the Planetarium.  

We still had a few hours to kill before our night train left so we went to see a movie. Kinda lame, I know, but our feet were tired and it was cold outside! We say Eye In The Sky and then had dinner at a place called Noodles. We didn't have enough time for deep dish pizza. :(  (We had it the last time we were in Chicago so I have experienced before.) 

After picking up our luggage at the hotel, it was back to the train station for us!  

Our room on this train is mostly identical to the last one except it faces the opposite direction so it feels backwards. Just like in the last room, we can sit on the couch and stare at ourselves in the mirror.  

It was after nine when we departed and we hit the sack soon after. So far, this train ride has been MUCH bumpier than the last one. I don't think either of us slept well at all. But we have a full day on the train ahead of us so surely we'll get in a nap or two! 

Train Trip: Day Four

Like I mentioned in my last post (I think?), we slept through all of Nebraska and woke up in Iowa. We both woke up a lot during the night but still managed to sleep in til 8am. It's amazing how your body remembers how to do that after just a couple of mornings with no early bird kids waking you between 5 and 6!  

Iowa was not quite as flat as we expected, but still really flat compared to the Rockies we'd just gone through. We took very few pictures of the scenery.  

Another red barn! Matt was quick to capture it with his camera; I just hate that it's blocked by that tree. 

Remember how I said Matt kept pulling out cards with birthday surprises? This day I got a thirty minute foot massage! Now that's how I do a train trip. :) 

We pulled in to the station alongside the Chicago River an hour earlier than expected. We had to wait a few minutes before they had room for us to pull up.  

Ready to get off the train and explore Chicago!  

While in Chicago for a little over a day, we're staying at the Hyatt Regency. Just like in San Fran, we're on the 20th floor with a spectacular view! 

We changed clothes and headed out. Our first stop was Millenium Park to take obligatory pictures at the Bean.   This tourist attraction wasn't around when Matt lived here 18 years ago! 

We missed our lunch in the plane so good was next on the to-do list. Also, it was really cold so we wanted to be inside! We stopped at a Shake Shack and split a burger and fries. They were so yummy! I wouldn't mind having a Shake Shack close to home.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking Magnificent Mile. We have absolutely no extra room in our suitcase and duffel bag so I couldn't really do any shopping! Such a shame.  

For dinner we ended up at the sports bar in our hotel.  It was a win-win because Matt got to watch March Madness games and I got to get out of the cold and drink a delicious mango martini. 

Chicago deep dish pizza is on the agenda for day five. Let's hope it doesn't disappoint! 

Train Trip: Day Three

Day three was spent on the train again. We woke up in our tiny room after a night of so-so sleep to see the deserts of Utah.  I could watch the scenery while laying in bed! 

Here's a gas station in the middle of the desert. So weird. Nothing else was around it. But I guess if you were driving through you'd be excited to see this.  

We had our first breakfast on the train and it was good. Matt had what you see below and I just had pancakes. The coffee was not that great. We dined with a couple of modern day reformed hippies that do a lot of train traveling. She is a school nurse so they were on their way home after spending spring break in Napa Valley. We learned a lot from them - like that our next train trip should be Seattle to Los Angeles. We'll see! 

Oh, they also travel with a stack of two dollar bills for tips. Their stack was brand new and in sequential order. She said waiters always love to get them! She also carries silver dollars to give out. Maybe we'll do that next time. We've already learned our lesson to have smaller bills because we had to make change at one meal! 

For breakfast and lunch the tables in the dining car are topped with paper. I found this drawing as we were headed back to our room.  "Yeah! It's another great day on Amtrak!" 

Most of the day we rode alongside the Colorado River. It had me itching to go canoeing! The smudged window in the picture below is courtesy of the dining car.  

Our first stop of the day was right after breakfast in Grand Junction, CO.  Man, it was not a good stop! Normally I'd say I'm not opposed to legalizing marijuana, but when you're in a town where everyone on the street is smoking it, it really stinks!! Bluh. 

I bought a postcard with a picture of our train on it and quickly scribbled a message to the kids only to find that they didn't sell any stamps. Lame. 

Our main order of business after returning to the train was to take our first moving showers! We opted to use the bigger shower located in the downstairs section of our car. It has an almost normal sized shower stall and a small area right outside of it for dressing. In all honesty, it wasn't that bad! Actually, the water got really hot and had great pressure so it was pretty relaxing. Felt good to be clean again!  

These pictures were taken from our room window between Grand Junction and Glenwood Springs, CO.  

Check out that green water slide! 

We got out for a quick second in Glenwood Sorings to buy a stamp and finally mail our postcard. Look how bright the blue sky was behind Matt - and the mountains! 

We finally took the obligatory photos of us and the train. We may not look cute, but at least we were clean. :) 

I had to zoom in to get this picture. Can you imagine riding an amusement park ride on the edge of a big cliff/mountain?!  Heck no! 

I love this big red barn.  

We were so full from our pancake breakfast that we missed our included lunch in the dining car. Luckily there is a lounge car where you can buy snack items and we were able to get individual pizzas.  

Our next stop was in Winter Park, CO and it was much cooler with all the snow on the ground. Matt stayed on the train while I got off to take pictures. 

Our train, the California Zephyr, in all the snow.  

Colorado had some beautiful scenery!! These pictures aren't as crisp because it was snowing as we went through.  

This is probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip so far. How stinking cute is that bright yellow house? Just sitting out in the snow all by itself.  I want it to come live in my backyard.  

Lots of snow coming down in this pic but if you look closely you can see the river at the bottom of those mountains.  

As a happy surprise, we made it to Denver super early and had a full hour for our stop.  We jumped at the opportunity to get off the train and have dinner on stable ground! 

Didn't really think through the fact that it was snowing and freezing! 

Behind Matt is a bit of a homeless rally. Lots of signs saying "F*** the Police!" and "Houselessness is everyone's right!"  

We saw our first store where you could buy marijuana. Again with the bad smell in the streets.  

We did not want to miss our train so we ate a quick dinner at BD's Monogolian Barbecue. It was good - much better than what we would've had on the train (not that the train food is awful, but you know). So we missed two of our three included meals this day.  

As soon as the sun sets you can't see anything outside the train windows at all. We played cards to kill time before going to bed. I out the beat down on Matt. :) 

We called it a night around 10:00 Mountain Time. While we slept, we rode through the state of Nebraska. I don't have a single picture to show for it! We woke up this morning in Iowa and will get off the train soon in Illinois. More on that later! 

Train Trip: Day Two

Thursday morning we got up, showered and dressed, and said goodbye to this room: 

And hello to this one: 

We went from this big, luxurious bathroom (only halfway pictured): 

To this tiny vanity, where we could sit on the couch to brush our teeth:

I had to stand out in the hallway to take the picture below because I couldn't get back far enough! 

With all of our luggage packed in, opening the door to the toilet/shower combo is a bit of a challenge. The shower is almost right over the toilet. There is actually a sign that says it might be easier to shower while sitting down. I guess that's good for multi-taskers. Thankfully there are bigger showers right downstairs that I think we will use! 

There are two main sleeper cars on our train, and we're on the second level of one of them. We are near the front of the train and just two away from the dining car. The lounge car and coach seats are on the opposite end of the train so we have very little traffic outside our room. It's actually very quiet and peaceful in our room!  Here is Matt standing in the hallway outside our door. Each room has a sliding door with window and a curtain that can be pulled closed. 

This is the hallway through the middle of the other half of our car. Tiny "roomettes" are on each side.  

Each car is labeled so you know what you're entering in to! 

It's a little shaky crossing between cars. The picture below is of me standing between two different are - that bright light in the middle is the ground/track underneath!  

Here is a picture of the dining car. The middle section behind those brown half walls is the wait staff's area, and then there are more booths in the other side.  

Here is the viewing lounge car. We didn't get a chance to sit in it yesterday because it was full! It's pretty noisy in there.  

So yesterday we boarded the train right outside of San Fransisco in Emeryville. We traveled through California - Sacramento and Lake Tahoe being the biggest towns - then on to Nevada where we stopped in Reno. After Reno was Winnemucca and then the last town before we turned out our lights for the night was Elko. We hit Salt Lake City, Utah around 3am. I definitely woke up when the train stopped but I couldn't pull myself awake enough to take a picture!  

Here are some pictures from the day.  

Here comes our new Home Sweet Home! 

I kept laughing because I could see myself in the mirror sitting next to Matt, so I decided to take a picture of us "sitting together." 

The landscape as we left the San Fran area.  

Sacramento station! 

Then we finally started getting to some good scenery! 

Reno was nicer than I expected.  

Can you believe this rock wall up the outside of this building?! It goes all the way to the roof. Not sure I could do that.  

Nice view from the street.  

That's me in the L of Believe! :) 

After dinner we came back to our beds being turned down. The couch in our room turns into a full (ish) sized bed and a twin bed folds down from the top. It was really hard to get a picture of! 

We pulled our door shut for the evening but at some point it opened back up (we hadn't locked it) so it was weird this morning to realize our door had been open all night.  

Interesting tidbit of the day: Since we have a sleeping car, we get three meals a day! Breakfast and lunch are first come, first served and dinner is by reservation. Because of limited tables, it's communal seating. We had lunch with two girls in dental school in Ohio. They were on their return trip home so they were able to tell us a lot about the train since they'd just made the trip a few days earlier. For dinner we dined with a father and son duo. The son is in his residency for medical school and the dad is an engineering professor at Iowa State. They were pretty smart guys. The food is pretty good, definitely better than airplane food. We both had burgers for lunch and for dinner, I had lasagna and Matt had chicken. Dessert is always included! The chocolate torte has been fantastic and pairs nicely with the Haagen Dazs ice cream. :)