Greetings from Michigan

[debmep]

Merry Christmas everyone. Ive been lurking for a few months and decided it was time to join and say hello. I have been busy planning a 30th wedding anniversary trip via Amtrak which has been on our "Bucket List" for a long time. Husband and I will be travelling from Grand Rapids MI (GRR) to Chicago on the Pere Marquette, then onto the Southwest Chief to Albuquerque. We'll spend approximately 48hours in Old Town, then catch the train back to Chicago and GRR. We've taken the Pere Marquette probably a dozen times back and forth to Chicago, most of the time in one day. We have always wanted to do a long distance train trip. I've reserved a roomette for our trip which is scheduled for March 22-26. Once we get to ABQ I have reservations at the Holiday Inn Express Old Town, knowing that its really not located in Old Town but across the street from the Indian Pueblo Visitors Center. We hope to purchase inlay turquois rings for new wedding bands along with hopefully more jewerly for me! I appreciate all your comments and posts as I am a "planner" and love to research things. I get almost as much enjoyment from planning a trip as actually experiencing it.

 

[river]

Hello, and Merry Christmas to you! Sounds like a wonderful trip is planned! We did our first long distance trip (one night) in a roomette and loved it--but now we are upgrading to a bedroom for our cross country trip in the end of January so we can have extra room for our 2 night trip. We also leave from GRR on our trips. (river--named after the Grand River )

Hope you were able to use the discounts available to you: 20% on the Pere Marquette through 3/31/12 and also a 10% discount on the rail portion of the 2nd leg of your trip if you are AAA members. We got AAA cards to get Amtrak discounts and it more than paid for itself as we then needed to use them for a car tow later in the year. (Also used our card for a discount at another hotel as well.) Consider getting AAA membership if you don't have one, is what I suggest!

 

[debmep]

Thanks for the hints. We are AAA members so I got the 10% discount when I booked. Unfortunately we booked before the 20% off special came out for the P.M. Its all good tho, we wouldnt have saved that much more.

 

[jdcnosse]

Hello!

I think it's pretty amazing to see so many West Michiganders around these parts I too leave out of GRR for my trips even though I actually live a half hour from the station. I've made that same trip 3 times now, although I went on to Flagstaff. the SWC is a nice trip I think, especially with all the scenery you get on the second day before you reach ABQ

 

[Shanghai]

I hope you have an enjoyable trip and that the snow if Raton Pass has been cleared!!

 

[the_traveler]

Welcome!

BTW #1: You did not sign in as a member. You posted as a guest.

BTW #2: Also consider both of you joining Amtrak Guest Rewards (AGR) - if you haven't already done so, if not, once you log in, send me a PM (Private Message) with your email address(s), and I will be glad to refer you to AGR!