After breakfast, we just all sat around trying to soak in the train ride. Stephen and I played some checkers.

Soon enough, it was time for an early 11:30 lunch. We all had a hamburger except Michael who went for a hot dog. While we were eating we arrived into Albuquerque. That is a longer service stop and the last stop before ours. We got off the train and hung out a little on the platform. It was hot!

We reboarded and the end was now too close. We packed everything up and waited for our stop. We got the announcement of 10 minutes until Lamy and we headed downstairs to be ready and get off.

Hey! Everyone needs to look appropriately sad…

We pulled in and got off. Soon enough, we found out about our checked bags. They made it! Amtrak really came through with our complicated routing.

Then, as suddenly as it started, our train adventure ended. We loaded in the truck and drove the four hours back to Amarillo.

Thank you for joining us on this adventure. God willing, we will do another next year.

Until then…

Our bus arrived on time and we had a short 50 minute ride to Stockton, CA.

In Stockton, we had to wait about 30 minutes for our San Joaquin train to arrive. When it did, fortunately, it was not very crowded and we got to all sit together at a table. We ended up teaching the boys to play Rummy and we all played that to pass the time. We also took a break to eat lunch. That train trip was about four hours.

Our train arrived into  Bakersfield, Ca where we got on another bus. This trip was a little over two hours. We all slept some. We arrived into Los Angles Union Station about two hours before our last train, the Southwest Chief, was to board. So we sat and waited some more. Michael and I walked around the station some…

Finally, our train came backing into the station…

We settled into our rooms. Stephen and I played checkers with an app for my phone. We also saw the place where they filmed some of the Transformers movie and Stephen was all excited…

Then we went to the dining car for a late dinner at 8:15.

Vicky and Stephen both joined me in getting the steak. It was their first time and I think they liked it. Michael had the big hot dog. This was our last dinner on the train for this year.

After dinner, we all pretty much went right to bed. It was dark out already so might as well go to sleep and then get up early when it is light out.

It was a LONG day.

Our last night on the train this year.

After a quick lunch, we headed over to the Museum of Flight…

A Presidential plane (former Air Force One)…

The very first 747 ever built…

Oh, and I finally got a decent shot of the mountain we have been seeing since arriving, Mount Rainer…

We then headed back to the hotel for a bit before heading to our favorite fast food place, Panda Express!

After dinner, back to the hotel to rest and get packed up for the journey home. I found out there was to be a fireworks display across the street from our hotel so we went outside to watch. We could not see too much because of the tall trees, but we saw a little before turning in.

Tomorrow, we start home.

We got up and went to Everett, WA to visit Boeing. We started doing the factory tour. For some reason they do not allow cameras or cell phones so no pictures of that part, but it was really impressive. The assembly building is HUGE. There is one spot we saw where it is the only place you can see a kilometer INSIDE.

They also have a small museum that we checked out.

While in Everett, we stopped at another small museum called the Flying Heritage Museum. It had some old, mostly WWII planes.

We then hit a Panda Express for lunch and headed back to Seattle. We went to the Space Needle next.

And then the Monorail…

After the Monorail, we headed back to our hotel for some down time. It was nice to get some relaxing time in. We left again for a quick dinner and then drove over to a nearby park near Puget Sound…

Then back to the hotel to get to bed early.

One more day in Seattle before we start the journey home. It should be a good one.

When we got off, we walked down the boardwalk and visited the USS Turner Joy. A destroyer.

Then a quick stop at the Naval Station Museum…

After a quick lunch at Subway, we were back on the ferry to Seattle. Michael grabbed a quick nap…

We then went down to Pike’s Market and saw the famous fish market…

After exploring the market, we headed down the street to do the Underground Tour…

Above and below views…

After the tour, we got dinner and a local Mexican place. Then boarded the LINK to Safeco Field for the Mariners game. It was an interleague game with the Padres.

Joe Montana threw out the first pitch…

The Mariners lost 1-0.

We got back on the LINK and headed back to the car and finally back to the hotel. It is late so I am going to sleep. Another early morning tomorrow.

They had a submarine on display…

Holding some big freaky bubble…

After a quick lunch at a local Burger King, I dropped the family of at Portland’s Union Station and went and returned the rental car. We checked in and had about an hour to wait for out train.

Our train…

We departed and it took about 3.5 hours to get to Seattle. It was a nice train. Very comfortable.

After detraining, we got our checked bags and walked to the light rail station. We rode the LINK light rail train out to the airport where we got a rental car and checked into our hotel.

We have an early start tomorrow and a long day so my post will probably be really late.

In summary, our train from Lamy to Los Angeles was six hours late which made it 3 hours too late for our connecting train in LA. They took us off our train in San Bernardino and out us on a three hour bus to Bakersfield, CA. We then got on an Amtrak California San Joaquin train for about six hours (coach only) to Martinez, CA. Then we waited two hours for our original connecting train to arrive, the Coast Starlight. We boarded it at 11:00.

Some pics from the train trip…

In the dining car…

In our sleeper rooms…

Outside the parlour car…

Klamath Falls, OR stop…

We went straight to bed, but got up early and enjoyed the time we did have on that train.

We arrived in Portland, OR around 4:00. We got a rental car and headed straight to the Zoo where we spent a couple of hours.

Black bear up a tree!

We then went and checked into our hotel (free nights stay thanks to rewards points!) and then ran and ate some dinner. Decided to go ahead and top off the rental car. Interesting factoid, it is illegal for you to put gas in your own car in the state of Oregon. Guy at the station stopped me right before I was about to to do it. I guess I could have been hauled off by the cops for it.

Tomorrow, a little more time in Portland then off to Seattle.

We had an extended stop here because the police came out to take someone off the train. Not sure what was going on, but it took an extra 30 minutes. So we are looking to arrive in Portland around 4:00.

We boarded last night around 11:00pm. We all went straight to bed. Looking forward to today!

From what I have heard, it sounds like they will take us off the train in San Bernardino and put us on a bus to catch our connecting train. So yippee, a bus.

Our biggest issue right now is making our connection in LA. It is scheduled to depart at 10:15 tomorrow morning but we are currently not scheduled to arrive until 11:15. Nothing like a little stress on vacation.

Will keep you posted.

Here is the itinerary…

Tuesday, June 28th – Drive to Lamy, NM and catch Amtrak’s Southwest Chief to Los Angeles

Wednesday, June 29th – Arrive in Los Angeles, change trains to the Coast Starlight to Portland

Thursday, June 30th – Arrive in Portland and spend about 24 hours

Friday, July 1st – Take Amtrak’s Cascades train from Portland to Seattle

Saturday, July 2nd through Monday, July 4th – Spend time in Seattle

Tuesday, July 5th – Board the Coast Starlight back towards Los Angeles

Wednesday, July 6th – Get off the Coast Starlight in Sacramento, take a bus to Stockton, get on a San Joaquin train to Bakersfield, then off on another bus to Los Angeles. In LA, board the Southwest Chief back to Lamy.

Thursday, July 7th – Arrive back in Lamy and drive back to Amarillo

In case you wondering why the whole train-bus-train-bus ordeal on our return trip, The Southbound Coast Starlight does not arrive in Los Angeles before the Southwest Chief departs, so we have to get off and do this weird routing.

As of right now, nothing is happening that should disrupt this schedule like last year. Does not mean something will not happen, but so far so good.

I also want to publically tell our friend James not to order too many pay-per-view movies this year while he house sits.

I hope you enjoy and will follow us on this adventure.

I also want to add that our prayers go out to all those affected by the incident that happened to Amtrak’s California Zephyr on Friday.

Also some great views and some Navy ships coming into port.

Around on the Pacific side we went down by the water…

We then grabbed some lunch at Fuddruckers and then headed to the train station. I dropped the family off and then went to return the rental car. I then hopped on a trolley back to the station to await our Surfliner train to Los Angeles.

In a couple of hours we were at Los Angeles Union Station to wait to board the Southwest Chief back to Albuquerque. There was some big photo shoot going on. Someone said it was for a movie, but I don’t know.

We boarded the Southwest Chief and got moved into our rooms. Soon after departure we went to dinner.

After dinner, we were all pretty wiped so we turned down the beds and went to sleep.

Because of time zone shifts, my 6:00 alarm went off on my phone right before it shifted back to 5:00am. So I got up pretty early. Stephen was awake too so we stepped off in Flagstaff where it was really cold.

We all went and grabbed some breakfast in the dining car at 6:30. Then chilled in our rooms. There were only a few stops between Flagstaff and Albuquerque. We took a little time to hand in the lounge car…

Before we knew it, we were getting real close to Albuquerque. But not too close that we could not get one more meal in on the train. So we had a quick lunch as we approached Albuquerque.

We arrived in Albuquerque, collected our checked bags and our car and headed back to Amarillo. We arrived in Amarillo around 6:30.

So, another vacation complete. It was a long time coming. Lots of planning and lots of changed plans. It was a good time and we hope we have the honor to travel again next year.

Until next time…

We rode it down the the Santa Fe station (this is also the station Amtrak uses).

We walked a couple of blocks to the USS Midway and spent a couple of hours checking it out.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed over to the Maritime Museum where we checked out a couple of submarines (one was an old Soviet sub) and some old sailing ships.

Then we went on a harbor tour cruise for an hour…

After grabbing to dinner, we went to Petco Park to watch the Astros take on the Padres.

Here is Stephen watching Lance Berkman and Michael Bourn warm up.

The Astros won 6-3 in 10 innings. The Astros won one for us. I e-mailed Fox Sports where we were sitting and they said they would get us on. It has been reported to us that we were on TV in Houston THREE times and they mentioned my name. I set the DVR to record. Hopefully we got it.

After the game we took the trolley back to Qualcomm and drove back to out hotel. It is now 12:30 so I am going to bed.

We leave tomorrow from San Diego (on a TRAIN this time) at 3:00. I will post as much as I can during the trip.

We then headed to the Wild Animal Park which is part of the San Diego Zoo.

We then had just enough time to run to Carlsbad and stop in the The Museum of Making Music. We were all not too interested in the displays but had a blast on the hands on stuff…

It was a fun day. I am really looking forward to tomorrow.

Until then.

We headed out to the Marine Corps Recruit Depot Command Museum. Was a small Marine Corps history museum. I am a World War II history buff so I love military museums. My Dad, having been in the Marines, also gave it special meaning to me.

We then headed to Balboa Park to spend the rest of the day checking out the museums there.

We started with the Air & Space Museum…

The boys took turns flying a flight simulator…

Then we headed to the natural history museum…

They invited us to be in the first group of visitors to try out their new 3D and motion movie theater. It was cool. The seats moved, it blew air in your face, had some tube that would flop around your legs to feel like you were hitting things and also sprayed a bit of water in your face. It is not opened to the public yet but should be very soon.

We then ran by the model railroad museum…

Then to the Automobile Museum…

Then finally the Hall of Champions (Sports Museum)…

After that, we went to the hotel for a little and then off to eat Mexican food with the Mazos who are friends from Harding.

This was mostly an indoor day. It will be our only one.

More tomorrow.

Shark Tank

Beluga Whales

The boys decided to end the day getting wet on a ride.

Before getting wet…

After getting wet…

SeaWorld was very cool. Great place to spend a day and plenty to do. Course, food prices are crazy high as well as everything else they sell. We bought the Go San Diego cards so it was included.

More tomorrow.

We all got up before 6:00 (we will still on Central time). We went to breakfast at 6:30.

We had French toast all around.

After breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning hanging in our rooms.

We got to step off the train for a couple of minutes in San Bernardino…

We arrived at Los Angeles Union Station around 11:00.

We missed our connecting train so we were put on another leaving at 12:25. We boarded and rode the train for an hour to Irvine.

There we transferred to a bus for the trip into San Diego.

We arrived into San Diego Santa Fe Station around 3:30. I left the family waiting in the depot while I hopped on a trolley to pick up the rental car. I got it and swung by and picked them up. We then hit the hotel to unpack and got right back out headed for the San Diego Zoo.

Yes, we are wearing jackets. It is really cool here!

After a late night at the Zoo (they are open till 9:00 during the summer) and a cool bird show, we are now back at the hotel getting ready to turn in for the night.

More tomorrow.

Due to tracks being washed out near Las Vegas, NV, Amtrak’s trains (#3 & #4) Southwest Chief could not get through. There solution is to stop the Eastbound train in Albuquerque and bus all passengers East to La Junta, CO. They then turned the Eastbound train around and it became the Westbound train. They stopped the Westbound train (the one we were suppose to be on) in La Junta, CO and bused all passengers to Albuquerque, then turned the train to make it the Eastbound train. Since our stop (Lamy, NM) was so close to Albuquerque, we just decided to drive to Albuquerque to catch the train.

The Westbound train we were suppose to be on left Chicago 4 hours late. That means the buses left La Junta late. The train that stopped in Albuquerque and became our Westbound train then sat around in Albuquerque a very long time. We were suppose to depart at 4:45 but the buses were nowhere close.

So we settled in for a 8 hour wait! The family was fantastic with no complaints.

They backed the train into the station around 4:00.

They allowed us to board the train at 4:15 and we also got to eat dinner at 5:30.

Buses started showing up around 6:30 and we finally pulled out of Albuquerque at 8:02pm.

We then hung out in our rooms enjoying being on the train.

Around 9:00, we converted our rooms to beds and everyone went to bed (except me cause I am typing this).

SO, I have now decided just to drive to Albuquerque to catch the train. My biggest issue with that is parking. Not real sure where we can park and how much it is going to cost us. I do know they have no free parking like Lamy.

Will update tomorrow from Albuquerque.

However, I will be missing one of my favorite things in train travel. That is waiting for the train to arrive. I just love sitting at the station in anticipation. Waiting to hear the train horn in the distance and finally seeing the train coming around the bend. There is nothing like that in any other form of transportation.

The train will already be sitting at the station when we get to Albuquerque. So we will miss out on that this year. Going to San Diego we will begin and end the trip on a bus.

Bummer.

Saturday, June 26th – Drive to Lamy, NM and catch the Southwest Chief train to Los Angeles.

Sunday, June 27th – Arrive in Los Angeles and board a Surfliner train headed towards San Diego.

Sunday, June 27 – Friday July 2 – Enjoy San Diego

Friday, July 2nd – Board the Surfliner train back to Los Angeles, in LA, board the Southwest Chief.

Saturday, July 3rd – Arrive back in Lamy and drive home to Amarillo.

Couple of last minute issues. Amtrak called and said due to track work being done, the Surfliner going LA to San Diego will be stopped in Irvine and we will be on a bus the rest of the way. Oh, well.

Second BIG issue is there has apparently been some track washed out East of Lamy and the Southwest Chief will be temporarily rerouted through AMARILLO for a few days. This might sound like good news, but we cannot board the train in Amarillo and we would need our car to be in Lamy when we return. If they cannot get repairs done before Saturday, most likely we will be on a bus from Lamy to Albuquerque. I really hate to miss the experience of waiting on our train to arrive in Lamy. We will see what happens.

I hope to have some little blog posts while aboard the trains and even possibly some video. I will then follow up with daily reports.

I hope you enjoy and will follow us on this adventure.

Also, a big “Thank you!” goes out to our good friend James for house sitting for us.

We left Amarillo last Sunday after church. We stopped in Denton and ate at one of my favorite places, Fuddruckers.

We then proceeded to our hotel in the Dallas area.

Monday, we headed out to the Ripley’s Museum.

And we also went to the mirror maze.

And finally, the wax museum.

Okay, is it just me or do these two apostles look like Sean Connery and Mel Gibson?

After grabbing some lunch, we went to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison.

Then on to Medieval Times…

Then back to the hotel for the night.

Tuesday, we parked at a nearby DART light rail station and rode it downtown to Dallas Union Station. We then boarded an Amtrak Train (The Texas Eagle).

We ate lunch in the lounge car.

We arrive in Fort Worth were we got off the Amtrak train and boarded a Trinity Railway Express (TRE) train headed back to Dallas. TRE is a commuter train that travels between Dallas and Fort Worth.

Then, the DART light rail back to our car. We then headed out to dinner in Colleyville with our fiend Caroline and her son Ben. We had a lot of fun and enjoyed catching up.

Then back to the hotel for the night.

Wednesday, we slept in a little. After getting up, we checked out of our hotel. We stopped by Chick-fil-a for breakfast and then drove to the Museum of American Railroad in Dallas.

We then hit the road for home arriving back in Amarillo Wednesday evening.

It was a fun trip.

Next up, San Diego.

This was a great trip. I feel honored to have been able to take this trip, especially with my family.

As last year, I still struggle with really appreciating being in a place like New York. I mean, I am there, but how do you truly appreciate the fact you are in New York. You can go places and enjoy the city, but something seems missing. Maybe it is something that can not be had without actually living in a place.

New York life is totally different than what I have ever known. Things like being able to live without a car and walking or using the subway and trains to get everywhere. It is awesome to get a small feel for a different way of living.

As always, the train travel was awesome. Nothing like sitting back and watching the country go by your window. You just cannot get the same experience from flying. We went through 15 states and the District of Columbia on this trip.

That is all for this trip. Thank you all for sharing it with us. There is something cool about knowing people are keeping track of us.

Until next time…

It has a enclosed bathroom and counter/sink built right in the room so I did the gentlemanly thing and let Vicky have the nicer room. It had nothing to do with the fact I knew the kids would much rather be in that room than the smaller one.

We made 6:00 reservations for dinner. I know, it seems like all we do on the trains is sit then eat, sit then eat, sleep then eat. Well, that is true. What a way to travel!

We went to dinner at 6. Vicky had the beef dish, I had the roasted chicken, Stephen had a hot dog and Michael cheese pizza.

We returned to our rooms where I spent some time visiting with the guy across the hall. It is weird not having Vicky and Michael over there, but cool I finally get a chance to talk with someone. He was only staying on until Kansas City (10:15 that night).

Vicky and Michael turned in around 8:30 but Stephen and I stayed up to step off the train in Kansas City.

After the stop, we boarded and hit our beds. Slept pretty well.

Got up around 6:00 to go shower and get dressed. Someone was using the shower so I decided it could wait till we got home that night.

Everyone else got up and we headed to breakfast around 7:00. Railroad French Toast all around.

After breakfast, the boys and I hung out a while in the lounge car.

We got to step off the train for 15 minutes or so in La Junta, CO.

Then on through the Raton Pass. Some of the best scenery on this route. Michael was really impressed…

After a quick stop in Raton where we stepped off again…

It was time to eat again! Our last meal on the train. I had a pastrami and cheese sandwich, Vicky had a salad, Stephen a hot dog and Michael had chicken strips. We all a slice of Snickers cake for dessert. (Yes, I am going to have a bunch of weight to re-lose starting Sunday)

Then back to our rooms for the final leg of our train trip. We will stop in Las Vegas (NM) and then our stop in Lamy.

Our train arrived into Lamy about 40 minutes late. We arrived into Amarillo at about 9:30 pm.

After dinner, we made a quick stop at Cumberland, Maryland where Stephen and I stepped off the train for a couple of minutes.

After than, Vicky and Michael made their beds and turned in. Stephen and I stayed up a bit later.

We all slept pretty well. I woke up a few times to see us stopped at at stations like Pittsburgh and Toledo. We got up a little after 6:00 to get breakfast. Because of our early arrival into Chicago, they do not have very long to serve.

After breakfast, back to our rooms to hang out until our arrival into Chicago. The skies were quite grey and looked like it might rain. which does not effect us on the train, but could effect what we do in Chicago.

We arrived in Chicago about 30 minutes late at 9:00.

Our train to Lamy departs at 3:15 so we had about 6 hours to kill. Fortunately, we have the Metropolitan Lounge to hang out in (lounge for sleeper car passengers).

Six hours seems like a long time, and it is, but it is just not long enough to get out and do anything in Chicago. Just cannot risk missing our train.

Not sure if I will get to make another post before we return home tomorrow. There is a chance, but probably not. I will wrap up tomorrow night.

Our train from NY to Washington DC was running late. At about 10:15, we headed to the platform to board. Soon after, our train pulled in.

We were in coach on this train as it is only a four hour ride.

We arrived in to DC at about 2:00 where we had lunch and settled into the CLubAcela lounge.

About to board right now. Will post again from Chicago tomorrow.

To go up into the pedestal, we had to wait in a line for over an hour. Here is the original torch that was replaced in the 80’s…

We made a quick stop at Ellis Island but did not hang there long. Here is a picture of Michael with some of the buildings. It looks like he is in deep thought, he is really making sure his glasses do not fall off while looking down at the water.

Even though we were really tired, we figured how often do we get to New York, so we walked the Brooklyn Bridge.

We then stopped by the Sony Wonder Labs. Lots of cool tech stuff that the kids really enjoyed.

Then we ran by Mickey Mantel’s Restaurant…

We were going to eat there, but having to spend $60 for dinner was just too much, so we went by Grand Central again and ate in the the food concourse.  Cheap and easy.

We also ended up walking by this place…

After that, back to New Jersey to pack up. We board a train tomorrow morning to return home.

Should be able to make a post tomorrow from DC.

We spent a couple of hours there. Here is the submarine…

Then on the Intrepid…

After grabbing some slices (and Stephen a couple of dogs), we hit the subway and headed to the Bronx. We first went to the Bronx Zoo.

After that, we got back on the subway and headed to Yankee Stadium. We were bummed when the subway left the underground to the elevated track. It was pouring rain.

We hung out in the subway station for a little, then pulled out our umbrellas and got into the stadium.

After an hour of rain delay, the game started about 8:00.

We had to leave after the 4th inning cause it was getting really late.

Old Yankee Stadium right next door…

We took a LONG subway ride back to Manhattan, then transferred to PATH back to Newark Penn Station.

Since rain was predicted for all week, we have been very fortunate that this has been our only run in with rain so far.

Only one more day on New York.

We started this morning by going to the Museum of Natural History. By the way, it is nothing like the one on the movie. Even so, it did have a bunch of cool stuff including a full scale model of a blue whale. The picture does not do it justice. The thing is HUGE. Much bigger than I imagined.

Here are some more pics from the museum…

Dum-Dum. Got any gum-gum?

We left the museum for lunch. Found a local joint called the Firehouse. Pretty good. We went back to the museum after lunch for a little bit, then off to Central Park.

Then to the Central Park Zoo…

After that, we went back to Grand Central to grab some dinner. We were really tired so we just wanted something easy. On our way to the Subway we passed this place.

Picture NOT TAKEN WITH MY iPhone…

And FAO right next door…

We then went to Rockefeller Center and the Top of the Rock…

Michael checking out Central Park…

And we passed by this place…

This is another night that we are BEAT. Our vacation is now half over. Only two more days of NYC before we get back on the train.

We started off early and got to the World Trade Center site around 9:00. We walked all around. Not much to really see other than that it is a construction site.

I caught Michael trying to make friends with this guy…

We also saw a real interesting parking lot. It makes use of the vertical space.

We then learned something about the New York Subway. Our plan was to get four 7-day passes for unlimited Subway use. Well, it seems that the kiosks you have to buy them from only allow two transaction per credit card PER DAY. AND, there is no way to buy more than one card per transaction. Is that not ridiculously stupid? I have two credit cards, however, PATH tickets to get us from NJ to NYC use the same machines and I had already used one card on those.

We eventually got them all which included using most of the cash we had. Stopped my an ATM and my debit card from my bank was declined and of course it is Sunday so nothing I can do about that until Monday. Of all the things I worried about in making plans, two things I never dreamed would be problems. Oh well.

We then headed out to the New York Fire Department museum.

After that, we took a ride on the Staten Island Ferry.

We decided to be adventurous for lunch on the island…

Can you believe they have a KFC and Taco Bell in the same place? What the big city folk can come up with. (yes, I am joking)

We then went to the Transit Museum in Brooklyn. A very cool museum showing the history of New York train transit system. They also had a huge inventory of historic subway cars. It is housed in an old subway station. Here are some pics…

We then caught the subway to Grand Central Terminal.

We ate dinner in the food court in Grand Central.

Then, we stopped by Times Square…

Then back the hotel to collapse in our beds (and me to type in this report.

More tomorrow.

We hung out in the lounge Friday night and they took us to the our train around 8:30. We dropped our things in our room and went to the dining car for a welcome reception. Cheese and fruit plates with some sparkling cider.

After that, back to our rooms and we sacked out.

I slept a whole lot more. I set my alarm for 5:00 cause I wanted to step off in Cleveland, but I turned it off and went back to sleep. I got up around 6:15 and took a quick shower. Taking a shower on a moving train is an interesting experience!

At 6:30, everyone else was up and we all went to have breakfast. French toast all around. After, back to our rooms to hang out.

This train is not a double decker like the last one (those are too tall to fit into New York City). The sleeper cars are different. They have windows for the top bunk as well as the lower bunk. So instead of converting our room back to seats, I made the seats up on the lower bunk for me and left the bed down on the upper bunk for the boys. They can lay down or play up there with plenty of room.

We got a chance to step off the train in Buffalo. Here are the boys outside our sleeper car.

Here is a picture of me taking a picture of Stephen napping on his bunk.

Stephen watching the world go by…

We continued on to Albany. This is where some interesting railroad stuff happens. The two locomotives and the front 5 cars of our train are disconnected and that train becomes train 448 and goes to Boston. The remaining 7 cars continues to be train 48 and continues on to New York City. They hook a different kind of locomotive up called a dual-mode. This loco can run like any other diesel, however because all the tracks in New York City are underground, they cannot run diesel engines in them. So when we get North of New York City, they shut off the diesel engine and lower a shoe which picks up power from a third rail.

In Albany I found something that reminded me of New York.

The black and white cookie. In case you are not familiar, there was a funny bit on Seinfeld with a black and white cookie. Since Seinfeld was set in NYC, I thought it appropriate. Though Vicky did not get any of the bit I tried to reenact.

Our train followed the shores of the Hudson which is quite a beautiful trip by itself. A great way to finish up our trip to New York. Our train arrive at New York Penn Station about an hour early at 5:30.

A friend of mine I met from an online forum (that discusses, well, trains) who lives in NYC met us at Penn. he showed us around, helped us get our commuter train tickets and even rode with us out to Newark Penn Station (our hotel is across the river in Harrison, NJ). In case you read this, Alan, thanks again. Nice seeing a friendly face in a sea of people!

A hotel shuttle picked us up from Newark Penn and we got settled into our hotel room. It is a NICE BIG room and a fraction of the price of getting a little room in the city.

We have a big day planned tomorrow with many places to go. Should be a long, good day and we are really gonna get our feet wet in the NY subway system.

The video I posted yesterday failed to be converted by youtube. I am uploading it again and will post here if it works.

We got right on and settled into our rooms.

By 4:00, we were all getting real hungry. Our stomachs were on Central time (we were in Mountain time). We got the earliest reservation for dinner at 5:00.

Before dinner, we spent around 30 minutes in the lounge car watching the country go by.

We went to the dining car at about 5:05.

I had a beef dish, Vicky had roasted chicken, Stephen had a hot dog and Michael had pizza. All was really good and we all either had cheesecake or Oreo dream for dessert.

After dinner, we returned to our rooms. After a 20 minute stop in La Junta, Co where we got to step off the train for a bit, we made our beds and turned in.

I did not sleep a whole lot. I usually don’t the first night on the train. Don’t want to miss anything. I did sleep some. I woke up at 5:30 am to find Stephen’s head peeking over the side of his bed staring at me (he said he was looking out the window). Anyway,  no more sleep after that. He and I got dressed around 6:00 and Vicky and Michael got up around 6:30.

At 6:51 we arrived in Kansas City. For those who read last year, this is where we had to get off the train and on to a bus because of flooding. Fortunately this time, we were going to see the route to Chicago on the train this year.

Our train is on the left.

We went to the dining car and had breakfast while still at Kansas City. All the boys had Railroad French Toast and Vicky had something called the “Continental.” Looked a little to healthy for my taste. The trained pulled out of KC while we were still eating.

After breakfast, back to the rooms for hang out time (and a little, very little, dosing off time for me).

Because of the arrival time into Chicago and the time the dining car staff needs to close down shop, they did and early lunch as first come first serve.

Vicky and I split a hamburger and a warm turkey sandwich (we each ate half) and the kids had pizza.

After lunch we had about two hours until arrival into the Windy City (that is Chicago, not Amarillo). We hung out in our rooms until we got close. Then we started packing everything up in preparation of disembarking our first train.

We arrived around 25 minutes EARLY into Chicago. We checked into the lounge for sleeper passengers and then headed out to walk around downtown.

We walked under the El (elevated trains).
Then went to our favorite Chicago pizza place, Giordano’s.

We are now back in the lounge waiting to board our second train, The Lakeshore Limited #48 from Chicago to New York.

Part of the joy of train travel is what we are doing right now, waiting for a train.

There is something especially exciting about when the time for the arrival gets close. You step out to trackside and peer down the tracks as far as you can see.

Then, you hear it, a distant horn followed by spotting the headlight of the locomotive.

There comes the train you are about to board to take you on your journey.

Most do not get to experience anything like this. Air travel just does not have the arrival that a train has.

Just one of the many things I like about train travel.

We will be departing Thursday, June 25th and returning July 4th.

Of course, we again will be using our favorite transport to get us there, Amtrak.

We hope you will enjoy sharing a bit of our journey with us as I will be updating this blog as we travel. If you would like to receive an e-mail whenever a new post is made, put in your e-mail address on the right hand column and press the SEND button.

We are very excited and can’t wait to get started. Here is an overview of our itinerary…

I am going to attempt to add some video clips this year, especially of the train trip since I will have plenty of time on the train to edit them.

Hope you enjoy!

After, we grabbed some lunch a local place called Filipes. Then we headed off to ride the Gold Line of the LA Metro system. We rode it out and back in to Union Station.

At this time, we were getting too close to our departure time of our train, so we said farewell to our new friends who were off to ride the blue line.

Dad and I waiting in Union Station for our train. When it got close to time, I went on down to the platform just in time to see our train being backed in. I was the first to board our coach so I was able to get the best seats. Dad got a ride from a red cap and was close behind.

The train ride was fairly uneventful, but of course, fun. I sat up late in the lower level of the lounge car talking to a guy who lives south of LA. He was using the train for the first time for a trip to Phoenix. Dad showed up wondering where I was and we had a nice conversation with the guy. After he left, Dad decided the benches we were sitting on looked kinda comfortable and decided to sleep there for the night (no one else around!). That left our two coach seats for me to “stretch out” across. Both of us slept better this time that last, but it was still not as good as having a sleeper.

We were on time the whole way and arrived into Lamy right on time.

It was a fun trip and good to meet new people who have the same interest I do in trains. It was also a good for me and my dad to get to share time doing what we both love to do, ride trains.

Thanks for sharing. Hopefully, I will be back next summer with another Mashburn family adventure.

We started to day at Union Station at 8:30 where we caught a Surfliner train to San Diego.

We arrived in San Diego around 11:30.

We ate lunch nearby and then spent the afternoon riding the local trolley system. That included a line that took us right up to the Mexico border.

We then boarded a return Surfliner back to LA.

The last hour of the return trip was a great time with several of us talking trains.

Tomorrow, something special before we board the Southwest Chief back to Lamy at 6:15 pm. Not sure if I will get to post again before we return to Amarillo. We shall see.

We got on the train in Lamy and grabbed a couple of seats. We inquired about an onboard upgrade to sleeper but there were none, the train was sold out. So, we sat in the lounge and enjoyed the scenery. Here is a shot of dad at the Albuquerque station…

We went and ate dinner in the dining car at 6:00 and it was very good. Then after some more time in the lounge, we hit the sack, I mean seats. We reclined and did our best to sleep.

At around 2:00 in the morning, we were awakened. The conductors were attepting to throw off a passenger for not buying a ticket. He refused and while the conductor waited for the police, the guy went and hid somewhere on the train. They finally found him and the police took him away.

We got up early and ate breakfast in the dining car…

We arrived at LA Unions Station right on time at 8:15 AM.

We stowed our bags at the hotel and hung out until our first meeting with the group. We met at 12:15 and boarded a Metrolink commuter train.

We rode that for a couple of hours. After, Dad decided to go back to the hotel for some sleep, while I met several people from the group. We rode the Subway over to Universal City and had dinner.

Now, I am back at the hotel and very tired. So until tomorrow.