We got up early and went to have our final breakfast on the train.

We all had our usual, Railroad French Toast!

Everyone was still pretty tired after breakfast so back to our rooms to take it easy.

We arrived into Albuquerque and hour early so we had quite a bit of time to kill at the station.

All of the walls at the station have these spike things on the top. I assume it is to keep people from sitting on them.

We started lunch while still in Albuquerque. There were slow orders between Albuquerque and Lamy so we went slow for a long time. It was to bring us to our final stop almost and hour late. We waited in the lower vestibule for our arrival.

We got off the train into a little rain. Nothing much, but it was nice to see some precipitation.

And we watched our train disappear…

So ends another great trip. Hopefully we can do another one next year. Thanks for sharing it with us!

We started the day early by dropping our bags at the train station. Then we rode the Metro to Hollywood.

Jackie Chan’s Star

After walking around for a while, we rode the Metro over to the Universal Citywalk for lunch and to look around.

After checking that place out a while, it was time to return to Los Angeles Union Station to wait for our final train, Amtrak’s Southwest Chief #4.

You might recognize this station from countless TV shows, commercials and movies.

Our train backed into the station around 5:45.

We boarded and settled in for our last ride of the trip. Soon after pulling out of the station, we went to dinner. After dinner, it was already getting dark. The boys and I went to the lounge for one more game of Monopoly on the iPad.

After I won the game, we all turned in for the night. It was a beautiful night out my window. I drifted off as the very bright moon soared across the sky as the train turned back and forth.

Tomorrow our journey will end.

The day started early for us. We had to pack up and leave town. While getting ready, we heard on the news that there was some police investigation of a shooting on the Eastbound Bay Bridge. That is exactly where we needed to go.

After arriving at the San Francisco Amtrak station, we waited patiently to find out what would happen. We were relieved to find out our bus that was suppose to take us to Oakland would now take us to San Jose. We could definitely live with that.

Yes, Stephen bought himself some dorky glasses with clear frames.

Took about an hour to get to San Jose where we had to wait about 40 minutes for our train.

Our train arrived and away we went towards Los Angeles. We had sleeper rooms for this trip but we would not be sleeping on this train.

Had some great coast views!

I tried the dorky glasses. I think it may be my new look.

Tomorrow evening we depart for home. But first, some time in Hollywood.

Well, our luck continues. The day we are to take a bus to Oakland to catch the train, problems. Shooting on the Bay Bridge has shut it down. We are now on an Amtrak bus going to San Jose to catch our train.

Could be worse, but still a pain.

The day started on a Streetcar…

Then went to an underground MUNI train…

To get us to the San Francisco Zoo

After returning back to the hotel area, we had a late lunch. Then we chilled out in the hotel room for a while. We were all pretty tired and some rest was welcomed.

We traveled out to find some dinner and realized then how crowded the Fisherman’s Wharf area has become. Everything had very long lines and the areas transit was shut down. We walked around a while. Came upon a concert…

We finally decided to pick up a pizza from the place across the street from our hotel and we took it back to our room to eat.

Around 8:30, the boys and I ventured out to walk around and see all the interesting stuff going on. Close to 9:30 we climbed to the top of the parking garage next door and enjoyed a San Francisco fireworks show. They actually had two going on. The exact same show at the exact same time and we could easily see both. It was very impressive!

Now it is time to get packed up and ready to move out and begin the journey home. We leave early in the morning.

We slept in a little to start the day. After a quick breakfast, off to the Exploratorium.

We spent a good long time there. Lots to do.

After grabbing a quick lunch, we chilled in the hotel room for a little bit. Then we hit BART to Oakland for an A’s game.

The A’s pulled out a 9th inning win against the Red Sox.

After the game we had fireworks!

It was a late ride back from Oakland…

Got back to the hotel around 12:15am.

Only one more day in San Francisco.

We started early this morning leaving our hotel at 7:45.

San Francisco tip: Go to ride the cable cars EARLY. No lines!

Then we went to the Maritime Historical Park.

This one is for our good friends, the Nash’s…

After that we explored Fisherman’s Wharf…

We then ran back to the hotel for a few minutes to get ready for our evening. Stephen and I also had a nice pillow fight. Of course, I won.

We hopped on one of the F Line Streetcars…

And off to Alcatraz!

Tempting. Very tempting…

When we returned to San Francisco, it was late so we caught the Streetcar back to our hotel…

So a long day, but we had fun. More tomorrow!

Wow, day four and we are still talking about trains. Is that a vacation or what?

I woke up early because we gained another hour in Pacific time. We were all up by 6:30 where we again went to eat.

Soon after breakfast we arrived in Reno where we stepped off for a few minutes.

Well, we all almost stepped off…

Back to our rooms to enjoy some nice scenery. Course, Stephen is watching a movie and Michael is playing on Vicky’s iPhone.

Around 11:00 we headed to the lounge to play another game of Monopoly and wait for lunch. We all had burgers.

After lunch, things went fast. We started arriving early at stops and before you know it we were pulling into Emeryville (across the bay from San Francisco) where we got off the train for good with all our luggage. We then boarded a bus for a quick ride to SF.

While everyone else waited to get our bags, I ran to Walgreens to by our MUNI pass. We then boarded a streetcar and went to our hotel. It was nice to finally dump all our luggage.

We then went right next door to In-N-Out Burger for dinner. Then to Walgreens for a few items and back to the room to rest up and prepare for our next four days of San Francisco!