Spokane to Washington DC--a five day trip that became six days

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JayPea

JayPea

Engineer
AU Supporting Member
Joined
Sep 9, 2006
Messages
4,470
Location
Colfax, WA (CFX)
I returned recently from my Spokane-Washington DC trip (or, at least Washington DC was the intended final destination) The trip didn't turn out as I intended, but it happens. I once again traveled with my uncle, who had flown out to my neck of the woods from Illinois and was staying at my mom's. I began with the 50 or so mile trip from my mom's to the parking lot near the Spokane Airport, where I would park my car for the duration of the trip. (Yes, I park near the airport for a train trip!!! :p ) The lot in question has a shuttle service that includes transportation to/from the Amtrak station in Spokane. Our first leg of the trip was on the EB, from Spokane to Portland. The EB was an hour late getting into Spokane, not bad considering the problems it has had this summer, and considering it had made up an hour and a half from Havre. We boarded right away as we had a sleeper, room D. Debra, who was the excellent coach attendant on my trip to Portland in June, was the one who directed us to our sleeper. We left Spokane at 3:30 AM, about 45 minutes late. We immediately went to bed. I awoke at the next stop, Pasco, and showered then. Shortly after getting cleaned up, we headed to the lounge for our underwhelming boxed breakfast. It wasn't bad, with a fruit selection, blueberry muffin, yougurt, and bagel, but nothing like the boxed dinners on the Portland section of the EB. Unlike the last time we'd had a sleeper on the Portland section of the EB, we didn't get "preferred" seating in the lounge and so got treated to a spectacular view of rocks and dirt :lol: as all the seats in the lounge facing the Columbia were taken. It's not as if I haven't seen the Columbia at sunrise before, though. After breakfast, I took full advantage of the view out the railfan's window and did a lot of photography and videotaping out the window. It was a beautiful day for travel along the Columbia!

We made good time all along the way, making up a minute or two at each stop. Jason was our car attendant, and he was very personable and did a good job, at least for the small amount of time we were on the EB. He had one personal touch I don't remember seeing before: Along with the usual water, juice, and fruit, he had a dish full of candy, including Havilland mints. Just what a diabetic needs! :lol: At Vancouver, we had to make a second stop, because a couple of passengers had forgotten to get off. We arrived into Portland only ten minutes late, having made up 35 minutes from Spokane and almost 2 1/2 hours from Havre. Gotta love that padding!! After we got checked into the small lounge in Portland, where Frank, one of the best lounge attendants I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with, was on duty, we went to lunch. Our first choice was Wilf's, located next to Portland's Union Station, but discovered it isn't opened on the weekends for lunch. (This was on Saturday the 7th). So we walked down to Jake's Famous Crawfish, a favorite of mine. After lunch, we went to a small grocery store, where my uncle bought amongst other things two 2-liters of diet Coke (which for almost all of the trip didn't do us any good, as you will soon see). Once back at Union Station, we relaxed in the Metro Lounge, waiting for our second leg, the Coast Starlight from Portland to Sacramento. The CS didn't live down to its reputation as the Starlate, as it rolled into Portland 13 minutes early. We boarded the CS, in Bedroom D again, ready for our next leg of the trip. So far, so good!
 
:hi: Jeff: You used to say you only got to do One Trip a Year on Amtrakand now its like you live on the NEC! :giggle:

Looking forward to following you and your Uncle across the Country on your Latest Adventure! (Yes, I'm envious! ;) )
 
I think we already heard about the bonus day in a thread he started while heading to CHI. :eek:
 
Part 2: Coast Starlight

Continuing on, we left Portland right on time. Lorna was our car attendant, one of the best I've had on any Amtrak trip. There was a private car on this train, the Virginia City. It was headed to Emeryville, where it would rejoin us on the next day's CZ. We didn't realize that lunch was still being served on the CS, but we went to lunch anyway, despite having had lunch just three hours prior. Hey, I'm not gonna turn down a meal!!!! :lol: Maurice was our server, as noted earlier, one of the best I've had. Chris was the LSA. We were seated with a couple from McAllen, TX, on their way back home after spending time in Portland. I had as always the Angus burger, which was excellent as usual. I had the cheesecake with blueberries for dessert. The man was an EMT, and he was regaling us with horror stories of working that job while living so near the Mexican border.. At Eugene, we noticed a car that looked like an extra diner at the rear of our train. Turns out that's exactly what it was . It was deadheading from Seattle to Emeryville for the CZ, to replace one that had been damaged when the previous day's #5 had hit a pack of coyotes in Nebraska. This crew (and the overall service) was much better than we had had on the CS a month prior. The ride through the mountains south of Eugene was spectacular. First time I'd been in the Cascades of Oregon when it was sunny and clear.

At dinner, we were seated with a couple from Carbondale, IL who had been in Vancouver and Seattle before heading to San Francisco and home. I stuck with the mahi-mahi, and it was great. The veggies were seasoned and weren't so bland and tasteless as usual. For dessert, it was the chocolate torte. While relaxing in our room after dinner, there came an announcement over the PA, one I've never heard before: Verbal abuse of Amtrak personnel, along with cursing, was against regulations, and would be dealt with by booting offenders at the next stop, into the waiting arms of local law enforcement personnel. And another announcement, concerning the prohibition of smoking anywhere on Amtrak trains, and those offenders would also be put off at the next stop. I wondered if the two announcements were related.

I went to bed right at Chemult, and woke between Redding and Sacramento. The one time I wouldn't have minded the CS to be late, it was an hour early into Sacramento. No pleasing some people! :lol: We got into Sacramento about 5:30, and left our luggage in the baggage room in the Sacramento station. It was my first time at the Sacramento station, and I can see how that long walk between the platforms and the station could be a big problem for some folks. We got into Sacramento so early that we had to wait about 10 minutes for the restaurant across the street, Perko's to open. We had all the time in the world, so lingered there before wandering back into the station to wait for the CZ. Like the CS, the CZ rolled in early . We were indeed rejoined by the private car Virginia City.

The service was excellent on the CS and so was the timekeeping. I've never been on any CS that wasn't at least an hour or hour and a half late in Chico or Redding, regardless of direction traveled. Not so this time. It was no later than about 14 minutes late at any stop. It certainly wasn't the Starlate this time.

Two trains down, two to go! So far so good! Next up the CZ, which was, well, interesting to say the least.
 
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Before I go on with the CZ portion, I have to add one minor detail about the CS. I had mentioned earlier that my uncle had purchased two 2 liters of diet Coke for our trip while we were in Portland. I also mentioned it didn't do us much good. The reason was that he put the Coke into a carry on duffel bag, and forgot it when we boarded the CS. He remembered, just before our Eugene stop, that he'd left it in Portland. He then talked to the conductor, who called Frank in Portland's lounge. Frank then said he'd put the bag in checked luggage, and get it sent to Champaign, the station nearest to where my uncle lives. It was too late by then to put it on that day's Empire Builder (this was on Saturday) but would do so the next day. More on the forgotten bag later.

California Zephyr

The CZ portion of the trip actually started fine. The CZ had arrived in Sacramento early, and we boarded promptly (Room D again). I never did get the name of our SCA, but he did a good job of keeping bathrooms clean, filling ice, keeping water and juice stocked, and was available whenever needed.. The diner wasn't quite ready for lunch upon boarding, so we went into the lounge to wait. Right at 11:30 the lounge opened for business. Our LSA was Dominique. We were seated with Pam and Tricia, two women who had just met moments earlier in the SSL, and seemingly were instant friends. Pam, a former Delta Airlines employee, was on her way to Salt Lake City, to be with her 83 year old mother who was going into surgery. Tricia was a former American Airlines hostess who had been laid off in the wake of 9-11, and had worked on and off since then. She was going back home to Boston after a 45 day trip around the US, visiting relatives in far-flung places across the country.. I stuck with my old stand-by, the Angus burger, and had the cheesecake with the raspberry topping for lunch. Both were excellent. Elliott Barnes was our server, and he, too was excellent. The Amtrak crew on all four trains was top-notch all the way through. I don't remember a trip where the customer service was so good all the way around. Elliott had been working for Amtrak for 30+ years, and he had a great sense of humor. Throughout our trip you could hear him blowing on his toy whistle, which sounded like a whistle from an old steam train.

The CZ was making great time, and in fact was early into each of the stops at Roseville, Colfax, Truckee, and Reno. Our room was on the wrong side of the train for optimal photography through the Sierras, but was able to get a lot of good shots through the hallway windows just the same. The private car, the Virginia CIty, which had been with us on the CS and joined the CZ in Emeryville, was leaving us in the yard at Sparks, and an announcement was made that it would take about 20 minutes to unhook the car and take care of other associated details. No big deal, as we made up that time into Winnemucca. We had dinner at Winnemucca, with a couple headed to Washington DC. I don't remember the man's name but his wife's name was Linda. They had traveled on the CS to Emeryville and boarded the CZ there. I had the salmon, and it was excellent. I do believe the food in the diner is improving. They had seasoning on the veggies, and they weren't nearly so bland and tasteless as I remember.

I went to bed right after dinner. We lingered in Winnemucca for a long while, so that we were about 25 minutes late leaving. I awoke in Salt Lake City to find that although we had made up time into Elko, we somehow lost over half an hour into Salt Lake, and were 45 minutes late arriving. We took on another private car, a C&O dome, the Moonlight Dome(I think that was its name) and there were problems with the electrical connections with this car, so that we left Salt Lake an hour down. We made up some of that time by Provo, lost it again by Helper, and would continue for a good portion of the way into Colorado about 50 minutes late. So far, no big deal. We had breakfast with a couple from Ohio, and I had my usual, the omelette, with the pork sausage. I had to change from the biscuit to the croissant, though, as I found out on my last trip the biscuit is now a whole wheat biscuit, which I didn't care for. The omelette was undercooked and runny, and the croissant soggy. Not a great meal, but it was the only sub-par meal I had on the train. The weather was rainy and wet for the whole time through Colorado, a precursor to the horrific flooding that would occur later that week.

I have had the poor luck on my previous three trips on the CZ to be at lunch while the CZ was making its way through Glenwood Canyon. Not so this time, as the CZ continued about 50 minutes late. Thus I was finished with lunch before we entered the canyon. We were seated with a couple from Iowa who had been to Grand Junction to visit her sister, and who were departing at Osceola. I had the old standby again of the Angus burger and the cheesecake. While filming and photographing through the canyon, a man in an adjoining room was doing the same, and kept looking at me with a nasty look. I don't know what his problem was. At that time I wasn't acting like a jackass, as I would later, :rolleyes: so I coudn't figure him out. At any rate, I thought we were making good time between Glenwood Springs and Granby. We did get stopped a couple of times, one for a track inspector (that should have been a clue as to what would come above Denver) and once for a UP freight. Just before Granby, the weather cleared and the sun made an appearance. We had somehow lost 45 minutes between Glenwood Springs and Granby, and were over an hour and a half late. No biggie, as I knew there was plenty of padding in the schedule between Fraser and Denver. We gained several minutes between Granby and Fraser, too. It ws interesting in that, because we were behind, we had dinner reservations for the time we would be traversing the Moffatt Tunnel. SInce we were told, as is the case with the Cascades and Flathead tunnels as well, to not move between cars during the ride through the tunnel, I wondered how they'd work that with people trying to get to the diner. As I found out, they did so by calling us to dinner early, before the tunnel. Those who didn't get there in time had to wait until we were clear of the tunnel. We had dinner with a couple headed to Boston. Once again I had the salmon, and once again it was excellent. There is something about the ambiance of dinner while in a long tunnel that makes the food that much better. We had been about an hour and 25 minutes late out of Fraser, and knew there was about an hour of padding between Fraser and Denver, so I figured we'd be in good shape. Wrong answer!!!

Speaking of dinner, it's time for mine. ;) Back later!
 
And, as Paul Harvey used to say, the rest of the story, at least when it comes to the CZ.

We actually made good time out of Fraser, and we were going at speed, past the big reservoir for the city of Denver. Those of you familiar with the CZ know what I'm talking about. We were actually less than an hour out of Denver when, first of all, came several minutes of 5 MPH, then the stop, with the conductor announcing the presence of a maintenance of way crew, and that it would be a few short moments before we were underway. Those few moments turned into an hour and a half. In my first childish rant I said it was 2 1/2 hours, but that's because I had set my watch ahead and was too irritated to remember. At any rate, we finally moved, by which time a lovely thunderstorm was happening, at 5MPH for several more minutes, before stopping again. The track crew still wasn't out of the way. This time, however, we were given a timeline---no more than 20 to 30 minutes. And, almost exactly 20 minutes later, we began to move again, at 5 MPH still. Finally, we began to move at speed, and it wasn't much longer before we were cruising the 'burbs of Denver. At this point the announcement was made that it would be about 45 minutes before reaching Denver's station. It was about 8:30 at that time, so it meant an arrival into Denver at 9:15, 2 hours and 40 minutes down. Maybe enough time, if no more time was lost, to catch the Cardinal, on which we were booked, but certainly enough time to make the Capital Limited, if need be. Not so fast. :rolleyes: We lost half an hour, just before entering the freight yards, because we couldn't get ahold of the dispatcher. That was a new one on me. And we lost another 15 minutes, waiting to back into the station. We finally got into the Denver station just after 10 PM, a mere 3 1/2 hours late. In the words of Deniece Williams, It was gonna take a miracle at that rate to catch the Cardinal, and be iffy for the Cap Limited. The private car was left here in Denver, and naturally problems cropped up here, so we were late leaving Denver: about 10:45, 3 hrs and 35 minutes down. I found out later the reason for the presence of the track gang was there had been a slide onto the tracks, leaving boulders strewn on the tracks. Making me feel all the more stupid and juvenile for my rant. :rolleyes: However, no mention of this was made at any time, and all we heard was that it would a few short moments. And kept hearing that same refrain. If only I had known the reason for the long delay, I wouldn't have reacted as I did. Really. ;)

At any rate, I finally went to bed, hoping against hope we at least wouldn't lose any more time, and might even make up time. Forlorn hope it was. I woke up just after Hastings, to find we'd lost another hour, and were now down 4 1/2 hours. At that point, Doris Day's "Que Sera, Sera" was echoing through my head. One minor consolation was that I'd be able to see Lincoln and Omaha in full daylight. Not much of a consolation, I know, but, hey, I had to hang onto something. ;) We had breakfast just before Lincoln, and seated with us was the man who kept giving me dirty looks while I was photographing in Glenwood Canyon. Turns out he was not from the US, and spoke almost no English at all. That at least was a good part of the reason he seemed so unfriendly. He was unable to communicate. I had another omelette/croissant combo and this time the food was so much better, I couldn't believe the same chef prepared the same meal. I'd never been awake at Lincoln before and didn't realize the Nebraska campus was so close to the station. We did manage to make up half an hour at Omaha, where we were treated to the single largest show of law enforcement I'd ever seen at Amtrak, including Chicago's Union Station. I saw 3 TSA agents, an FBI agent, a county sheriff's deputy, plainclothesmen, and a bomb-sniffing dog and its handler. I had no idea what the deal was. The dog and handler entered the last car and emerged a few minutes later. I had a nice chat with the FBI agent, but didn't want to ask what was up. I also managed to contain the impulse to yell "Sic 'em!!!" at the dog :lol: As they were leaving, the FBI cast one last look-see through an open door of the lovely abandoned warehouse there at the Omaha platform. I had never been awake at Omaha, either, so didn't know about that eyesore.

Four hours down, we actually did all right going through Iowa. We lost just a handful of minutes, and were about 4 hours and 15 minutes behind at Burlington. At lunch, we were seated with a young couple who had gotten on in Emeryville and were headed to Washington DC. Elliott asked the young lady if her dad knew they were traveling together. They (and we) were confused as to his questions until he said "no rings", meaning he was wondering if her dad knew they shared a sleeper while not married. :lol: Of course he was kidding, and my uncle and I got a good laugh out of it. The couples' faces both turned bright red, and while they laughed, too, I don't think it was quite as much as we did. :D Elliott said he was just looking out for them. I had the old stanby again (gotta love those ruts), but the only dessert left was ice cream or sugarless pudding. I settled for the ice cream.

At Burlington, it was announced that the Capital Limited would be held for us, and those passengers bound for the Cardinal were to be bussed from Galesburg to catch up with the Cardinal at Indianapolis. We had, however, decided not to do that. We were disappointed, because the Cardinal is one of three long-distance routes we'd taken, but we didn't want to endure a 6 hr bus ride, especially my uncle, because the ride along I-74 goes right through his home area, actually passing through farmland he used to own, and in fact you can see his house from the freeway. So we got on the horn to AGR, where we were able to cancel our Cardinal reservation and get reservations for the CL, and still keep our bedroom.

Unfortunately, we began to lose time out of Burlington, due to slow orders because of trackwork and because of heavy freight traffic. And we really lost time after Galesburg, 45 minutes worth, due mainly to being put in sidings to await the passage of #3 and #5. And it was announced, in the middle of these slowdowns, that the CL was going to be released, and that we'd miss it. Which led to a trainload of irked passengers. This passengers wasn't one of them. Really. ;) I knew they'd made the determination to hold the CL based on our position in Burlington. They couldn't know we'd lose over an hour between Burlington and Princeton. At any rate, we were told the procedure for getting vouchers for our hotel and breakfast the next morning. We also got back on the horn with AGR, and were able to change our reservation again for the next day's CL, snagging the last bedroom they had. After that, it was sit back, relax (if possible) and enjoy the rest of the ride (if possible). We finally got into Chicago at 7:30 PM, a mere 4 1/2 hours or so late.

Next up: the end!
 
Ha, 7:30 PM... Even after getting checked into a hotel in a case like that, I'd be taking advantage of the extra time in Chicago, wandering wherever my attention span wanted me to go that day :)
 
MistyOLR said:
Ha, 7:30 PM... Even after getting checked into a hotel in a case like that, I'd be taking advantage of the extra time in Chicago, wandering wherever my attention span wanted me to go that day :)
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Absolutely Agreed.
 
What a ride! We were lucky on our trip that we didn't have a direct connect in NO on our trip but my poor husband had to listen to me, along with the support of others here on-line. I put on a big pout and hid in the upper bunk, refusing to come out until we'd hit Yuma! Looking forward to the rest of your journey!
 
tonys96 said:
MistyOLR said:
Ha, 7:30 PM... Even after getting checked into a hotel in a case like that, I'd be taking advantage of the extra time in Chicago, wandering wherever my attention span wanted me to go that day :)
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Absolutely Agreed.
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Problem was our hotel was about 20 miles from Union Station and by the time we had to wait for two trainloads of passengers to get their vouchers, as the EB was also too late to connect with the CL, it was past 10PM before our bus left Union Station and it was past 10:30 by the time we got to the motel and close to 11 PM by the time we checked in.

Otherwise a good suggestion. ;)
 
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JayPea said:
Problem was our hotel was about 20 miles from Union Station and by the time we had to wait for two trainloads of passengers to get their vouchers, as the EB was also too late to connect with the CL, it was past 10PM before our bus left Union Station and it was past 10:30 by the time we got to the motel and close to 11 PM by the time we checked in.
Otherwise a good suggestion. ;)
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It sounds like they shipped you down to the Holiday Inn near MDW; that happened to me a couple years ago on a blown CZ connection at Galesburg. Other than 2 drunken Wedding Receptions spilling into the Lobby and Hallways it wasn't a bad dump. I used some of my $35 Meal Money to have a Pizza delivered and hopped straight away on the phone to AGR to snag the last Roomette on the next day's Eagle.

And waiting for the bus to load and leave we got to watch all the fun of Union Station Security telling kids from the Lollapalooza they could not come into the station wearing just underwear or bra and panty sets :eek:
 
Before I go on, I must mention that the scuttlebutt about all the law enforcement show in Omaha was due to some poor unsuspecting soul whose name showed up on the Do Not Travel list. I bet he/she was thrilled to find that out. :rolleyes:

Anyway, at CUS, we headed straight for the Passenger Assistance office, where a couple of irate passengers were already reading the riot act to the agents there. The EB hadn't arrived yet so there would be two trainloads of displaced passengers to deal with. There were only three agents there to deal with the mob, and one of them was new and had no clue what she was doing. Those of us that missed the CL were told we were going to be bussed to a Holiday Inn in Willowbrook, some 25 minutes from Union Station, and we were told to wait by the fountain there before getting in line for our vouchers for the hotel and breakfast in the morning. After awhile my uncle went up to the woman who'd told us to wait by the fountain and said we hadn't been given vouchers yet. She got all huffy when we told her we'd been told to waith by the fountain, and when she asked "Who told you to wait by the fountain?" my uncle calmly replied "As a matter of fact, you did, Ma'am." She was now so livid, she was shaking. She did barge up to the front of the line and gor our vouchers, however. Then we were told to wait by the fountain again for an announcement as to when to go upstairs and board the bus. I'm still waiting for that announcement. We finally went upstairs on our own and boarded the bus, as did most of the other displaced passengers. By the time both trainloads of passengers were dealth with, it was past 10 PM, and we still had almost a half hour ride to our hotel. We got there, got checked in, and since we hadn't had dinner yet, walked to the Denny's next door for dinner. It was midnight by the time we got to bed.

The free breakfast we got was a brunch buffet, and really wasm't bad. I especially liked the price. :) We had been told by the bus driver to be outside with our luggage at 10:45 AM and that the bus would leave for Union Station promptly at 11. So of course, just as we were about to pull onto the highway in fromt of the hotel, a woman came frantically rushing up to the driver saying she didn't think anyone had loaded her luggage. She missed the part apparently about being outside WITH the luggage at 10:45. So we had to wind our way back to the hotel, and as it turned out she must have had 10-15 bags with her which she had left inside. Must have been one long trip she was going on. :rolleyes: At any rate, we got underway again, and were at CUS by 11:30. We checked into the Metro Lounge,which took awhile because at that particular time there was only one agent available, checked our bags in with Steve at the luggage room, and wandered around the streets of Chicago for awhile before heading back to CUS. On a whim, my uncle decided to check with the luggage room to see if his bag he'd left in Portland had shown up, as it was supposed to be checked onto the EB which had arrived the night before. After clearing up a bit of confusion with the agent in the baggage room about the bag, she went to look for it, and, lo and behold, came back holding his bag. Amtrak in every way did exactly what they said they would do.

After lunch in the food court, we simply kicked back and relaxed in the Metropolitan Lounge until it was time to board the CL. At one point I wandered down to the passenger assistance area to watch the chaos that had resulted from a nearly 7 hour late CONO. Miss Congeniality from the night before was also there, and my uncle and I noted with sadistic pleasure the EB wasn't due into Chicago until past 10 PM. :D

Promptly at 5:45, we began boarding the CL. We had the dreaded room A. We'd made reservations with the agent in the Metro Lounge for dinner at 6:30, so were seated for dinner then, along with two woeen who were each bound for Washington DC to visit relatives. We were ticketed for Washington DC too, but would be getting off in Martinsburg instead, since my friend, with whom we'd be spending the next three days with,lives very close to Martinsburg, Chantay was our LSA, and our server was Bradly, a very personable young man who was new to Amtrak. In fact, this was his first day on the job and his first meal. We told him we'd be gentle with him, and if any mistakes were made, we'd yell at Chantay instead. She looked at us like we were serious :lol: I had salmon and cheesecake again, and both again were excellent. There was no seasoning whatsoever on the veggies, however, and they were bland and tasteless. Phil was our SCA, and I have to say he is probably one of the best, if not the best, SCA we've ever had. Too bad more aren't like him. We retired for the night just after the stop in Elkhart.

We got up right after the Connellsville stop, and went to breakfast. We were seated with a man who had little to nothing to say. I stuck with the omelette/croissant, and both were good. We were basically right on time through Connellssville, but soon after we left, we hit slow orders, and 5-10mph was the rule of the day. I should say sloooow orders, because we crawled along at that speed for hearly an hour. I think there must have been signal problems as I saw no evidence of trackwork, but plenty of workers around various signal boxes. As a result, we were over an hour late into Cumberland. This gave me more time, however, to enjoy the scenery through that part of Pennsylvania and Maryland. We got into Martinsburg about an hour late, and found my friend waiting a bit impatiently for us. We were supposed to be there the day before; what was one more hour late?????? :lol: That ended the train portion of our little journey. Not the way we intended, but all was well that ended well. I will continue with a recap of our three days there next.
 
OlympianHiawatha said:
JayPea said:
Problem was our hotel was about 20 miles from Union Station and by the time we had to wait for two trainloads of passengers to get their vouchers, as the EB was also too late to connect with the CL, it was past 10PM before our bus left Union Station and it was past 10:30 by the time we got to the motel and close to 11 PM by the time we checked in.

Otherwise a good suggestion. ;)
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It sounds like they shipped you down to the Holiday Inn near MDW; that happened to me a couple years ago on a blown CZ connection at Galesburg. Other than 2 drunken Wedding Receptions spilling into the Lobby and Hallways it wasn't a bad dump.I used some of my $35 Meal Money to have a Pizza delivered and hopped straight away on the phone to AGR to snag the last Roomette on the next day's Eagle.

And waiting for the bus to load and leave we got to watch all the fun of Union Station Security telling kids from the Lollapalooza they could not come into the station wearing just underwear or bra and panty sets :eek:
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Yep, 'twas the Holiday Inn. Not a bad place, really.
 
Bringing this to an end.....

This must have been a trip for private varnish, because the CL had three private cars: A Southern Railroad coach car and Southern Railroad dome car, and some sort of support car for the previous two. This car had all sorts of ductwork, and I assumed it had to do with the heating/cooling of the other private cars.

At any rate, my friend met us at Martinsburg, and we had time to drop our luggage off at his house before heading into Baltimore and Camden Yards for the Damyankees-Orioles game. Before heading to the ballpark, we took a look around inside the Babe Ruth museum, which as you might expect held all sorts of artifacts and memorabilia about The Bambino's life and career. The skies were looking very ominous, and, indeed, thunderstorms were predicted. We got to the park about an hour or so before the gates opened, and in waiting struck up a conversation with a young man from Seattle who had just graduated from WSU, 15 miles from me, and my friend's alma mater. He even knew where the tiny town (pop. 500) was that my friend and I were raised and graduated from high school from. Small world department. As we were waiting, the skies broke loose, and we had a lovely downpour for the better part of 2 1/2 hours. Given our luck, we thought the game would be rained out and we'd come 3,000+ miles for nothing. Fortunately it finally stopped, and the game began 1 1/2 hours late. We'd had late trains for the best part of the journey; why not a late game??? :lol: The game was a good one, going right down to the end, but the Damyankees won, unfortunately. Much as I dislike the Dams, I do have to admit being mildly thrilled to see the greatest closer in baseball history, Mariano Rivera, do his thing in the bottom of the ninth, in this his last season.

The next day (Friday the 13th) we went out to the old ball game again, this time at Nationals Field in Wwshington. My friend had several errands to run on the way, and we got there just as the gates were opening. The weather for this game was perfect; no chance of rain, and much less hot and humid as the night before. My decades-long streak of seeing the home team lose came to an end on this night as the Nationals easily defeated the Phillies. We were treated to the sight of the Capitol Building, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Washington Monument all lit up. In fact we got treated to two views of them, because my friend somehow took a wrong turn, and we had to circle the area again before heading the right direction. I hope the Washington Monument's restoration doesn't take a long time; there's just something about seeing the Momument all lit up, but with all that scaffolding around it that just doesn't cut it as far as the views go. And yes, I'm fully aware it needs to have all that work done before it's safe for visitors again.

On Saturday, we went to a couple of touristy areas, one being Harpers Ferry. Ryan and the rest of the folk who live in the DC metro area don't need me to tell them how beautiful the area is, but I can tell you it is very pretty there. We took a shuttle bus from a parking area into the town itself, and spent our time in the John Brown Museum, for one thing, and walked around the town. We also crossed the famous Y B & O Railroad bridge that spans the Potomac. We gave my friend a hard time, kidding him that if he'd left earlier, we could have been in Harpers Ferry to see the arrival of that day's CL. As it was, we missed it by about 5 minutes. Naturally my uncle and I had to check out the Amtrak station in Harpers Ferry. After that we went to the Civil War battlefield of Antietam for a short visit. I was one of those nerds with the Coke bottle glasses who paid attention in history classes at school, so the historical nature of both Harpers Ferry ant Antietam were fascinating to me.

Sunday, we returned home. We both flew Southwest out of Dulles, and in contrast to our train journey, the flights couldn't have been better. I flew to Spokane by way of Denver first, and my flight left Dulles early, and arrived into Denver 25 minutes early, despite the bad weather. Flying into Denver you could see a lot of evidence of all the heavy rain the area sustained. My flight to Spokane left right on time, and got into Spokane 20 minutes early. What's more, my bag was the second one to appear on the baggage carousel, which never happens. I was actually at the curb, bags in hand, waiting for the shuttle to the parking lot, before my flight was even due in.

So that was that. Not like I turned out, but we still did what we wanted to accomplish regarding the ballgames, so it was a case of all's well that ends well. I know a lot of disgruntled passengers on our bus were singing the "Never again" tune when it came to Amtrak travel, but I'd still much prefer Amtrak over the airlines. It's now time to sit back, relax, let my bank account build up, and plan for Amtrak 2014. Preliminary plans include a possible journey to Seattle for a couple of days, then go from Seattle to Glacier Park for a couple of days, and back to Spokane. And my uncle and I are mulling over the idea of a SWC trip,to get one last trip on it before it gets rerouted, if indeed it gets rerouted.
 
:hi: Jeff: Alls Well that Ends Well! ;) I'm glad the Damn Yankees won, the Choking Strangers need every Loss they can get by the Os/Rays/Royals etc. I never got to see Mario Rivera in Action,. usually the Damns beat the Strangers so bad he wasnt needed! :giggle:

And remember the Gathering is going to be on the West coast in 2014 so save some Vac time, MOney and Points, perhaps you and your Uncle can ride the SWC and then the CS up to the Bay Area where there is a good chance the Gathering will be unless my Idea of Sacramento catches on! :eek:
 
Your trip started out so sketchy that I'm glad you were able to see so much between Civil War sites and the baseball games. Both of those stadiums are really great. Baltimore is one of my favorites-I thought it was built to look old school until I got to Fenway and Wrigley and realized what 'old school' actually means. :) Let's just say the new manufactured old school look is beautiful and worth a stop.
 
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